Mark Kaltenbach is an associate at the law firm of Markowitz & Richman in Philadelphia, where he represents labor unions, workers, and employee benefit plans. For most workers, the right to strike for better wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions ... More »
Lawmakers in Washington state have introduced legislation that would raise Washington’s minimum wage to $12 per hour over four years. Washington’s current $9.47 per hour minimum is already the highest in the nation. The proposal comes as a poll conducted by th... More »
The facts The case arose when the Communication Workers of America (“CWA”) lost a Board election to represent employees of Purple Communications, a company that provides sign language interpretation services. The CWA filed objections and unfair labor practice ... More »
Introduction to members-only unions In his 2005 book The Blue Eagle at Work: Reclaiming Democratic Rights in the American Workplace, veteran labor law scholar Charles Morris asserts that, contrary to contemporary conventional wisdom, the National Labor Relatio... More »
New York City’s police unions are denying that an organized work slowdown is underway to protest a perceived lack of support from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. According to media analyses of police department statistics, arrests across the city have d... More »
Three Kentucky counties have begun the process of enacting county-level right-to-work laws, including Warren County, home of the UAW-organized Corvette plant in Bowling Green. In Warren County, a “final reading” of the right-to-work law—the last step in the en... More »
Fast food workers and their supporters walked off the job and protested in over 190 cities yesterday, calling for $15 an hour, improved scheduling and working conditions, and a union. This fast food strike, occurring just over two years since the first such st... More »
President Obama unveiled the details of his long-awaited executive action on immigration last night. The provisions directly affecting the most people are deferred deportations for (1) parents of legal residents and (2) an expanded number of undocumented immig... More »
President Obama withdrew his nomination of Sharon Block to replace Nancy Schiffer on the NLRB when Schiffer’s term expires on December 16, 2014. He has nominated Lauren McFerran to the position instead On Tuesday, I wrote that Senate Democrats had to decide ho... More »
Board Member Nancy Schiffer’s term will expire on December 16, 2014 during the Senate’s lame-duck session, and President Obama has appointed Sharon Block to replace her On November 12, the Senate will begin its lame-duck session, which is the last chance for t... More »
According to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department, employers added 214,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate ticked down from 5.9% to 5.8%, the lowest rate since July 2008. But the Washington Post article detailing the jobs report says vote... More »
As I wrote in yesterday’s post, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) has filed a motion for declaratory judgment in a Pennsylvania appellate court seeking validation of its unilateral imposition of a contract on its teachers. Here are the steps in ... More »
January 16th, 2015