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Author:Mark Kaltenbach

Guest Post: When It Comes to Economic Strikes, Real Change May Be On the Way (But It’s Not Here Yet)

Sep 14, 2016 Mark Kaltenbach

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 of employment is illusory, because the Board has given employers who permanently replace strikers a […]

January 16, 2015
News & Commentary

Mark Kaltenbach

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 the prominent polling firm Hart Research Associates revealed that 75% of Americans—including 53% of […]

The NLRB's Purple Communications decision guarantees organizing workers access to employer e-mail and recalibrates the balance between employer property rights and employee organizing rights

Jan 15, 2015 Mark Kaltenbach

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 charges, alleging among other things that a policy in the employee handbook prohibiting the use of the […]

The Blue Phoenix: If pushed, the current NLRB could recognize the legal status of members-only unions

Jan 14, 2015 Mark Kaltenbach

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 Relations Act provides legal collective bargaining agent status to members-only unions. As their name suggests, members-only unions represent only […]

January 2, 2015
News & Commentary

Mark Kaltenbach

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 dropped dramatically since the execution-style murder of two police officers in Brooklyn by a gunman […]

December 17, 2014
News & Commentary

Mark Kaltenbach

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 enactment process—is scheduled to take place on December 19. The Nation has explained that the National Labor […]

December 5, 2014
News & Commentary

Mark Kaltenbach

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 strike in November 2012, was the largest of its kind to date. […]

November 21, 2014
News & Commentary

Mark Kaltenbach

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 immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. The President’s plan makes several other changes whose impact, […]

Update: The Midterm Elections and the NLRB

Nov 14, 2014 Mark Kaltenbach

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 how to handle replacing NLRB Member Nancy Schiffer, whose term expires on December […]

The Midterm Elections and the NLRB

Nov 11, 2014 Mark Kaltenbach

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 the Democratic majority to act before Republicans take over in January. In addition […]

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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.

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Guest Post: When It Comes to Economic Strikes, Real Change May Be On the Way (But It’s Not Here Yet)

January 16, 2015

The NLRB's Purple Communications decision guarantees organizing workers access to employer e-mail and recalibrates the balance between employer property rights and employee organizing rights

The Blue Phoenix: If pushed, the current NLRB could recognize the legal status of members-only unions

January 2, 2015

December 17, 2014

December 5, 2014

November 21, 2014

Update: The Midterm Elections and the NLRB

The Midterm Elections and the NLRB