Héctor Figueroa died last week at the tragically young age of 57. I had the good fortune to work with Héctor for the past seventeen years, and to watch him grow into a truly inspiring leader. For the past seven years Héctor was President of SEIU Local 32BJ, ... More »
The Trump NLRB has held that an employer may withdraw recognition from a union even if the union has the support of a majority of workers at the time of withdrawal. This decision is yet another reminder that the Trump appointees have repeatedly chosen to prot... More »
Volkswagen has tried to kill its employees’ union organizing drive in a remarkably brazen fashion, and all too predictably, the Trump Labor Board has acted as its accomplice. Back in 2015, after a failed attempt to organize all 1,300 production and maintenance... More »
One of the most widely observed weaknesses in federal labor law is the absence of effective remedies. Scholars have been writing about this problem for decades, and a Human Rights Watch report issued in 2000 described a “culture of near-impunity” resulting fr... More »
The House Education and Labor Committee recently revealed that the Trump appointees on the NLRB are hiring a private contractor to help review the public comments submitted in response to their proposed joint employer rule. NLRB Chairman John Ring told the Me... More »
When Donald Trump was elected, one of the top priorities for the Chamber of Commerce at the NLRB was to overturn the Specialty Healthcare decision that clarified the test for determining when a union’s proposed bargaining unit must include an additional group ... More »
According to CNN’s exit polls, Donald Trump won the Presidency due to his support among voters who were over 45. Hillary Clinton was favored by 53% to 39% for voters under age 45, while Trump won older voters by a 52% to 44% margin. I’m sure very few of thos... More »
When the Supreme Court issued its decision in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira last week, it was reported as a win for workers. While that’s true, it was more like winning a consolation game after a bad call by a ref deprived you of your rightful place in the champ... More »
When three Republican appointees on the D.C. Circuit tell the NLRB that its approach to an issue is “without foundation in the Act, relevant case law or any general legal principle,” you might think the Trump appointees on the Board would take heed. But,... More »
If you don’t know about the Powell Memo, you should. And, if you’ve heard of it, but haven’t read it, you ought to read it. The Powell Memo, written in 1971 by future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell to the Chairman of the Education Committee of ... More »
Louis Brandeis famously wrote “publicity is justly recommended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” We now live in a world where citizens, armed with c... More »
I wrote about the now-infamous case where Brett Kavanaugh dissented from an opinion upholding a fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) against SeaWorld after a killer whale lived up to its name by killing a trainer. As a result of th... More »