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☆ Federal labor board has been much more pro-worker under Biden. Employers want courts to end that
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The companies are asking federal courts, often with conservative, pro-business judges, to stop the agency from standing behind the more activist unions now making their lives more difficult. “The NLRB has long used the federal courts … to obtain injunctions … before the merits of an unfair labor practice case are fully evaluated,” said a statement from Starbucks. The employer doesn’t have to pay any interest, penalty or fine, to the fired workers, their union or the agency. While this is the first such case to reach the Supreme Court, other cases are emerging in which some high profile employers are challenging the agency’s right to exist. The Supreme Court’s decision is expected by the end of June.

Persons: Biden, …, ”, “, Jennifer Abruzzo, Cathy Creighton, Clinton, Elon Musk’s, Joe’s, Cornell’s Creighton, she’s, “ They’re, “ I’m Organizations: New, New York CNN, Starbucks, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, Memphis, Cornell University’s, Industrial and Labor Relations, SpaceX, nonunion Locations: New York, Memphis, Buffalo , New York

☆ Can college sports teams unionize? We're about to find out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The case for unionizing college sports teams is a precarious one, as athletes face significant barriers under federal labor law. The NCAA, along with the colleges that house sports teams, consider players amateurs and, therefore, not employees of their college. There is an NLRB case that an administrative law judge will hear this November that could open the floodgates for college teams to unionize. If the judge rules in favor of the National College Players Association, it would give both public and private college athletes the right to unionize under the NLRA, LeRoy said. Have other college sports teams tried to unionize before?

Persons: Cade Haskins, Romeo Myrthil, Michael LeRoy, LeRoy, —, Jennifer Abruzzo, Haskins, Myrthil, shouldn't, Northwestern, Irwin Kishner, Herrick Feinstein, Kishner, we'll Organizations: Dartmouth, Service, NCAA, Ivy League, National Labor Relations Board, NLRB, University of Illinois, National Labor Relations, unionizing, National College Players, University of Southern, USC, National College Players Association, Ivy League Agreement, Northwestern, Sports Law Locations: Wall, Silicon, Urbana, Champaign, University of Southern California, Abruzzo, unionize, New York

☆ It's getting easier for workers to unionize. One simple chart shows the new steps.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bosses will sometimes use the period before a union election to dissuade workers from unionizing. But if those tactics are illegal and compromise an election, workers will now automatically get their union. Firms have utilized the period between workers announcing their intent to unionize and when a formal union election takes place to dissuade workers from voting in favor of unionizing. But now, should any of those tactics end up being illegal and compromising an election, workers will get their union anyway. "This isn't a fringe ruling, this is a big ruling," Groshen said.

Persons: Erica Groshen, Jennifer Abruzzo, Groshen Organizations: NLRB, Service, National Labor Relations Board, Workers, Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations Locations: unionizing, Wall, Silicon

☆ Opinion | Inside Starbucks’ Dirty War Against Organized Labor
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Megan K. Stack | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Life was moving faster for Ms. Cruz Borrazas through the spring. She was taking on more union responsibility, using unscheduled hours to advise Starbucks workers who were organizing in other places. At that point, Ms. Cruz Borrazas’ health broke down. Starbucks can’t be blamed for Ms. Cruz Borrazas’ health crisis. Plenty of Starbucks workers are organizing under tremendous pressure without winding up in the hospital.

Persons: “, ”, Cruz Borrazas, Sherrod Brown, Jennifer Abruzzo, ’, she’d, Torregoza, Ms Organizations: Workers ’ Rights, Georgetown Law School, Starbucks Locations: Plenty

☆ Noncompete clauses 'chill' worker rights and are usually illegal, NLRB lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Noncompete clauses likely violate federal labor law, NLRB's general counsel wrote Tuesday. Criticism from across the aisleWorker advocates have long maintained that noncompete clauses are an unjust infringement on liberty that reduces employees' earning potential. But noncompete clauses have also attracted critics on the right. The criticism from both sides of the political spectrum comes as noncompete clauses have expanded from high-salary workers in fields such as technology and finance to lower-wage professions, such as fast food. That proposed rule, which will be subject to a legal challenge if and when it is finalized, came after the White House encouraged the commission to tackle noncompete clauses, framing them as a barrier to healthy competition and wage growth.

Persons: NLRB's, —, Joe Biden, Jennifer Abruzzo, Biden, Najah Farley, John Lettieri, Insider's Juliana Kaplan Organizations: Workers, Service, Companies, National Labor Relations Board, National Labor Relations Act, Worker, National Employment Law, American Enterprise Institute, Federal Trade Commission, House Locations: Abruzzo, California , Massachusetts, Illinois

☆ Misclassifying employees as gig workers creates 'a race to the bottom' for businesses, Biden's top labor and antitrust regulators say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Businesses have an incentive to misclassify workers as contractors to undermine their competitors, according to the DOJ Antitrust Division. It's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those called "gig workers" — freelancers, contractors, on-call workers, and temp agency workers, who for decades have increasingly replaced full-time employees as independent contractors. Not so for gig workers. In 2018, 20% of workers were contract workers, and 65% of part-time workers and over half of contract workers went without benefits, according to NPR. "Our goals are the same," Abruzzo said, as NLRB and DOJ Antitrust want to end "misclassification and employment structures that cause vertical constraints on competition."

☆ House Republicans subpoena labor authorities in Starbucks union dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 22 (Reuters) - The House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday issued a subpoena to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging officials of the labor body failed to conduct fair and impartial union elections at Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O). She has requested a regional NLRB official to provide documents to see if the federal labor board mishandled Starbucks Union elections. The NLRB was investigating a substantial number of additional allegations against Starbucks and working with the Congress, the spokesperson added. Starbucks did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while Starbucks Workers United declined to comment. Employees at more than 280 of Starbucks' roughly 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021 seeking better pay and benefits, improved health and safety conditions and protection against unfair dismissal.

March 22 (Reuters) - A recent U.S. labor board ruling limiting what employers can include in severance agreements is a reminder that companies must be careful not to ask workers to sign away their rights, the agency's top prosecutor said on Wednesday. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in a memo to agency staff said the February decision prohibits agreements that restrict workers' ability to file lawsuits or communicate with the board, unions and the media. The decision also applies retroactively, Abruzzo said, meaning agreements offered to workers before the NLRB decided last month's case could still be deemed illegal. In the new ruling, the board found a Michigan hospital operator broke the law by offering workers severance agreements that included confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions, because they could discourage workers from filing complaints with the NLRB or publicizing labor disputes. Companies routinely ask laid-off workers to sign agreements in exchange for severance pay that limit their ability to file employment-related lawsuits and bar them from disparaging their former employers.

☆ Union membership dropped yet again in 2022 to the lowest rate on record, showing that workers still face an uphill battle in organizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The union membership rate fell in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union membership has been mostly declining for decades, even though union workers tend to make more money. At the same time, the union membership rate, which tracks the percentage of workers in a union, fell to 10.1% — the lowest rate on record, per BLS. The union membership rate of 10.1% in 2022 was just half the 20.1% in 1983, the first year BLS compiled comparable data. Even so, the union membership rate for retail workers is just 4.3%, down from 4.4% in 2021.

☆ U.S. labor board region sides with USC athletes seeking 'employee' designation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) director of the agency's Region 31 office issued a finding of merit in an unfair labor practice charge brought by the student athletes against USC, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 athletic conference. The parties to the case were informed of the decision on Thursday, according to NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado. read moreA separate case filed by college athletes in Indianapolis against the NCAA and others has been held in abeyance pending the outcome of the USC case. The judge's ruling could then be appealed to the full NLRB, which would render a decision as to whether USC, NCAA and Pac-12 are employers under labor law, and could order its own remedies. The National College Players Association, which brought the charges on behalf of 113 USC athletes, also could not be reached for comment.

☆ NLRB opens door for union for college athletes with finding on unfair labor practice complaint
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Are college athletes employees? This could open the door to previously unsuccessful efforts to form the first union of college athletes. The complaint had been filed by the National College Players Association (NCPA), an advocacy group. It filed an unfair labor practice complaint on behalf of the athletes. The matter of whether college athletes are professionals, and thus employees, has been hotly debated for decades.

☆ US labor officials say Apple violated the law by allegedly interrogating employees and holding mandatory meetings about unionization
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An Atlanta NLRB director found merit to allegations that Apple violated labor law. Apple, which did not respond to Insider's request for comment, has previously denied wrongdoing in a complaint with similar allegations concerning a New York Apple Store. We commend the NLRB for recognizing captive audience meetings for exactly what they are: a direct violation of labor rights." The Atlanta Apple Store in Cumberland Mall became the first Apple retail location to file for a union election in April. The employees in Atlanta eventually withdrew their call for a union vote days before the election, alleging intimidation from Apple.

☆ Vice President Harris is wrapping up her midterm campaign push by meeting with union leaders a day before the elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with union leaders on Monday in California. Along the way, according to a White House official, she is prioritizing meeting with local labor leaders. In May, Harris — along with co-chair Marty Walsh, Biden's Secretary of Labor — welcomed union organizers from the likes of Starbucks and Amazon to the White House. The Biden administration has made clear its intentions to embrace organized labor. Harris "has been focused on reaching women, young people, and communities of color," a White House official said.

☆ Worker complaints alleging anti-union shutdowns rise as organizing surges
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

The company, G&D Integrated, had closed the factory, saying it had suddenly lost its decade-old contract with a Japanese company, workers said. Starbucks closed multiple stores this year following union activity. Trader Joe’s, for example, abruptly closed a wine shop in the center of New York City where workers had been organizing. Demonstrators protest outside a closed Starbucks in Seattle on July 16. More than 40 percent of the stores had union campaigns, according to data from Starbucks Workers United, the union that has been organizing the workers.

☆ The federal government wants to stop your boss from spying on you
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Companies are using surveillance technologies to keep tabs on remote workers. Under current law, some level of employee surveillance is generally allowed. Some experts have called this "productivity paranoia" a sentiment that's led some companies to expand the use of various surveillance technologies. These are among the reasons Abruzzo's memo called on the NLRB to review companies' surveillance technologies and assess whether they restrict workers' rights. While the emergence of remote work has brought this surveillance into the spotlight in recent years, the legal landscape remains murky.

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