OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Author:Andrew Strom

Andrew Strom is a union lawyer based in New York City. He is also an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.

Trump’s Justice Sticks it to Workers

May 24, 2018 Andrew Strom

After the oral argument in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, I wrote that the five Republican appointees on the Supreme Court would have to put their thumbs heavily on the scale for the employers to prevail. Sadly, it was no surprise that this is exactly what happened. At one point, Justice Gorsuch asserted that using […]

The First Amendment and Judicial Overreach in Philadelphia

May 8, 2018 Andrew Strom

In 1964, Congress outlawed discrimination in employment based on race or sex, yet there is still a significant gap in the wages paid to white men compared to wages paid to other groups. Last year, the City of Philadelphia tried to address this wage gap by passing a law prohibiting employers from relying on a […]

The Supreme Court Quietly Made a Big Change to Wage and Hour Law

Apr 16, 2018 Andrew Strom

Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court decided Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, one of those “boring” cases that no one pays attention to. The question in the case was whether service advisors at car dealerships are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and at first glance it would appear not to matter […]

Will Masterpiece Cakeshop and Janus Create a First Amendment Right to Strike for Teachers?

Apr 5, 2018 Andrew Strom

Sometime in the next few weeks, the Supreme Court will issue its decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, one of the most closely watched cases of this Term. In that case, Jack Phillips, the co-owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, argues that the State of Colorado violated his First Amendment rights when it […]

Even Without Trump, Labor Law is Still Broken

Mar 23, 2018 Andrew Strom

So far, President Trump has appointed a Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch, who may cast the deciding vote to upend decades of settled labor law in two major cases, Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and Janus v. AFSCME; he has nominated dozens of right-wing lawyers for life-tenure on the federal courts, including one, Thomas Farr, […]

Will the Court Consider the Facts in Janus?

Feb 28, 2018 Andrew Strom

Mark Janus’s lawyers are desperate to have the Court decide Janus v. AFSCME without considering any facts. Janus is an Illinois state employee, who is represented by AFSCME Council 31. Like all other employees in his bargaining unit, he is required to pay fair share fees to the union to cover the costs of providing […]

Janus Should Lose, and the Justices Know It

Jan 31, 2018 Andrew Strom

Most of the coverage of Janus v. AFSCME, like this recent piece in USA Today, simply (and perhaps correctly) assumes that the five Republican appointees on the Supreme Court will use the case to overturn Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the 1977 case upholding fair share fees for public sector workers. But, now that […]

Second Circuit Judges Teach Interns a Valuable Lesson

Jan 2, 2018 Andrew Strom

Unpaid interns who sued Hearst magazines under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) recently learned an important lesson: judges often make law in the guise of statutory interpretation. The lawsuit against Hearst, along with a similar lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures, alleged that interns received little training, and often performed repetitive tasks that should be […]

At the NLRB, GOP Board Members Show How to Play Hard Ball

Dec 21, 2017 Andrew Strom

While the media was focusing on the drama over the Republican tax bill, last week the new Republican majority on the National Labor Relations Board issued five decisions overturning precedents: UPMC, Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, The Boeing Company, Raytheon Company, and PCC Structurals, Inc. Sharon Block has provided a short summary of each of these cases […]

Janus’s Lawyers Want to Make a Federal Case Out of Every Public Employee Grievance

Dec 14, 2017 Andrew Strom

The petitioner’s opening brief in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 contains many eyebrow-raising assertions, but one of the most audacious claims is that “enforcement of a collective bargaining agreement, such as through the grievance process, is just as political an act as bargaining for that deal.” This one sweeping statement is practically all that Janus’s […]

Newer
1
…
7
8
9
10
11
…
15
Older

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.

Learn more about OnLabor

OnLabor is unable to accept unsolicited submissions.

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Contact: [email protected]
Site design: Jon White Studio

Sections

All Editorial Writing
All News & Commentary
From The Editor
From Senior Contributors
Analysis From Guest Voices
OnLabor In The News
All Featured Coverage
About

Connect

Follow OnLabor on X
Subscribe via RSS

Search for:

Trump’s Justice Sticks it to Workers

The First Amendment and Judicial Overreach in Philadelphia

The Supreme Court Quietly Made a Big Change to Wage and Hour Law

Will Masterpiece Cakeshop and Janus Create a First Amendment Right to Strike for Teachers?

Even Without Trump, Labor Law is Still Broken

Will the Court Consider the Facts in Janus?

Janus Should Lose, and the Justices Know It

Second Circuit Judges Teach Interns a Valuable Lesson

At the NLRB, GOP Board Members Show How to Play Hard Ball

Janus’s Lawyers Want to Make a Federal Case Out of Every Public Employee Grievance