When the statements of a United States Senator lead to the conclusion that he is either ignorant or acting in bad faith, I think the more charitable approach is to assume that the Senator is simply uninformed. And, after watching Senator Lamar Alexander, the ... More »
Two recent circuit court decisions highlight how much the composition of the Board and the courts affects rights protected by the National Labor Relations Act. One case, MikLin Enterprises v. NLRB, addressed whether workers at a Jimmy John’s franchise had los... More »
The Republicans have rightly been criticized for refusing to hold hearings on their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but even when they do hold Congressional hearings, the only benefit to the public is to reveal how little they seem to care about fact-f... More »
According to the sworn testimony of former FBI Director James Comey, President Trump pulled him into a private meeting in the oval office and said, about the FBI’s ongoing investigation of former national security advisor Michael Flynn, “I hope you can let thi... More »
I recently proposed a Workers’ Bill of Rights, and invited others to respond with suggestions for other rights that should be included. I did receive some helpful comments, and in response I would propose adding three additional rights to the ones I had previ... More »
Except for about a month in the summer of 2009 when the Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate, for the entire twenty-first century any proposal to substantially increase workers’ rights at the national level has had to be prefaced by the comment that, “of cours... More »
In February, teaching fellows in eight departments at Yale University voted in favor of union representation. Rather than bargain with the teaching fellows’ union, Yale has insisted upon first exhausting its appeals, apparently hoping that Donald Trump’s yet-... More »
Not surprisingly, at Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing, the Democratic Senators didn’t succeed in getting Judge Gorsuch to reveal much about his views. Instead, Gorsuch insisted that “if I were to start telling you which are my favorite precedents or which ... More »
Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress love to refer to regulations as “job crushing.” When Trump spoke recently at the Conservative Political Action Conference he not only said that companies can’t hire because of regulations, but he also said that “we... More »
We still have a lot to learn about Alex Acosta, Donald Trump’s new nominee for Labor Secretary, but one case he ruled on during his brief stint at the National Labor Relations Board suggests that, not surprisingly for a Trump appointee, he is likely to favor e... More »
When Judge Neil Gorsuch accepted his nomination to the Supreme Court, he professed modesty about his role on the Court, if he is confirmed. He proclaimed that it is the role of judges to “apply not alter the work of the people’s representatives.” But, unfort... More »
People have been writing the obituary of the labor movement at least since the 1980s. These doomsayers fall into two camps. One the one hand, there are those who are eager to squelch worker power. A typical example is Virginia Foxx, the new Chair of the Hou... More »