OnLabor

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Author:Andrew Strom

Andrew Strom is the Legal and Policy Director for the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), and has been contributing to OnLabor since 2014. The views he expresses on this blog are his personal opinions and should not be attributed to AGMA.

Top Ten Labor Law Decisions

Aug 21, 2026 Andrew Strom

With Labor Day approaching, it seems like a good time to offer my take on the ten most significant labor law decisions. As with any top ten list, this one is highly subjective, and somewhat arbitrary, recalling Justice Frankfurter’s words about “the drawing of lines more nice than obvious.” These decisions, a mix of good […]

Does Mental Illness Count as Illness? Not in the Fifth Circuit

Aug 12, 2026 Andrew Strom

In 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) in an effort to “assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions.” That Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which was charged with gathering information and setting health and safety […]

Why are Bosses So Thin Skinned?

Jul 24, 2026 Andrew Strom

Decisions by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) rarely get much attention, so it was surprising when the New York Times gave prominent coverage to a recent decision by a National Labor Relations Board ALJ finding that a software company, Atlassian, illegally fired a worker for criticizing the company’s top managers. When I read the ALJ’s decision, […]

Democrats of the World (or the U.S.), Unite

Jul 20, 2026 Andrew Strom

The labor movement in this country has long been torn between those who embrace the term “socialist,” and those who shun it. Eugene V. Debs went from leading a railroad workers’ union to running for President as a Socialist. By contrast, Samuel Gompers, the first President of the American Federation of Labor had this to say about […]

How Judges Chip Away at Statutory Protections for Workers

Jun 17, 2026 Andrew Strom

It’s not easy to write a statute. A statute can’t list every conceivable scenario that might arise, or every way that someone might try to evade the obligations the law imposes. Congress used to solve this problem by empowering administrative agencies to fill in any gaps or resolve any ambiguities in a statute. But, as […]

The National Labor Relations Act Suffers Another Blow

May 28, 2026 Andrew Strom

The anti-government zealot Grover Norquist once said his goal was to shrink the government to the point “where we can drown it in the bathtub.” In recent years, right-wing judges have applied that same approach to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Most recently, in Kerwin v. Trinity Health Grand Haven Hospital, two Trump judges in […]

Loyalty Tests

May 5, 2026 Andrew Strom

A recent D.C. Circuit decision, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC v. NLRB, shrinks the protections the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides to workers by misreading a Supreme Court opinion regarding statements by workers that disparage their employer’s product. The decision allowed Oncor to fire the lead negotiator for its technician’s union for his testimony before the state […]

Can Workers Have Free Speech Rights?

Mar 30, 2026 Andrew Strom

When the news of former FBI Director Robert Mueller’s death broke, Donald Trump wrote, “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” Just a few months ago, workers across the country were fired for making similar remarks related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Reuters found more than 600 instances of individuals who were punished for criticizing Kirk after he was killed. Public sector workers […]

Employers Keep Trying to Impose Forced Arbitration on as Many Workers as Possible

Feb 17, 2026 Andrew Strom

In Flowers Foods v. Brock, for the third time in four years, the Supreme Court is deciding whether an employer may impose mandatory arbitration on a certain group of workers as a condition of employment. The reason for all this litigation is the Supreme Court’s 2001 five-to-four opinion in Circuit City v. Adams. Darin Dalmat has a recent post providing […]

Guns, Leaflets, and Default Rules

Jan 28, 2026 Andrew Strom

The Supreme Court recently heard oral argument in Wolford v. Lopez, a case involving the clash of gun rights and property rights. One reason I was interested in the case is that the plaintiffs are making the argument that their Second Amendment rights are infringed if they can’t bring their weapons onto private property that is otherwise open to […]

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OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government — all three branches — in each of these issues.

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Top Ten Labor Law Decisions

Does Mental Illness Count as Illness? Not in the Fifth Circuit

Why are Bosses So Thin Skinned?

Democrats of the World (or the U.S.), Unite

How Judges Chip Away at Statutory Protections for Workers

The National Labor Relations Act Suffers Another Blow

Loyalty Tests

Can Workers Have Free Speech Rights?

Employers Keep Trying to Impose Forced Arbitration on as Many Workers as Possible

Guns, Leaflets, and Default Rules