James Sherk, senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, writes in response to my post on A Labor Reform Proposal Conservatives Should Support: I support members-only bargaining which prevents non-members from receiving union services.... More »
The touchstone of conservative criticism of unions is worker “coercion” – the idea that individuals who don’t want to be in unions are required to join one if a majority of workers in the bargaining unit votes for one, or at least are required to pay agency fe... More »
Ben plausibly says of Harris: The dicta in Harris about Abood is serious, and it shows that some number of Justices would like to overturn Abood. But the holding in today’s decision shows that that number probably does not equal 5. Most of the Harris dicta i... More »
Late yesterday, UNITE HERE confirmed to the On Labor staff that the union authored a report, The Irony of ObamaCare: Making Inequality Worse, that has been circulating on mainly conservative news sites recently. The report has gained attention because it is on... More »
The Financial Times (behind paywall) reports on a speech by Google’s Eric Schmidt on the effects of robot technology on labor, in which Schmidt says: “There is quite a bit of research that middle class jobs that are relatively highly skilled are being automate... More »
Here is the quickie transcript of the oral argument this morning in Harris v. Quinn. Perhaps the most important takeaway from argument is that Justice Scalia appeared to believe that the First Amendment is not implicated when public employee unions bargain ov... More »
That question is the title of Lyle Denniston’s preview of Harris v. Quinn at SCOTUSblog. After reviewing the history of the case, Denniston explains how it “has mushroomed, since the Court granted it, into a major test of the continuing validity of the Abood ... More »
It can be found here. Oral argument is Tuesday. More »
Today is the 50th Anniversary of Jimmy Hoffa’s greatest achievement as a labor leader: the January 15, 1964 National Master Freight Agreement (NMFA) between the Teamsters Union and the motor carrier industry. The contract covered 400,000 union members and 16,... More »
Respondents filed their merits briefs today in Harris v. Quinn, this Term’s big public sector union case. Here they are: Brief of Governor Pat Quinn Brief of AFSCME Council 31 and SEIU Local 73 Brief of SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana More »
In my quick reaction to yesterday’s dismissal in Mulhall, I wrote that “as long as CA11’s decision stands, the specter of expensive and difficult litigation will hover over neutrality/bargaining agreements in many circuits, and will indeed chill the making of ... More »
In a post published in August (and republished in November), I expressed puzzlement about the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Mulhall. “I am beginning to think that the procedural hurdles to affirmance are so great that the grant might have been imprud... More »