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Petitioner's Reply Brief in Mulhall

Nov 4, 2013 Jack Goldsmith

Here is the final brief in Mulhall, the Petitioner’s reply. Oral argument in nine days. We’ll have a preview and analysis before then.

Notable Decision – Michigan Building and Trades Council v. Snyder

Nov 4, 2013 Max Utzschneider

This post surveys some recent developments in what might be termed the politics of federal labor preemption. In a recently decided case, Michigan Building and Trades Council v. Snyder, the Sixth Circuit held that a Michigan law prohibiting governmental entities from signing Project Labor Agreements with unions was not preempted by the National Labor Relations […]

House Committee Investigates Role of Worker Centers in ObamaCare Enrollment

Nov 1, 2013 Emily Cusick

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN) today asked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide information concerning the role of worker centers in implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The request is part of an ongoing Committee effort examining […]

Senate Confirms Richard Griffin as General Counsel of the NLRB

Oct 29, 2013 Jordan M. Grossman

Tonight, the U.S. Senate voted 55-44 to confirm Richard Griffin to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). No Republicans voted to confirm Griffin, but seven voted to allow the confirmation vote to proceed. The General Counsel role has not been filled by a Senate-confirmed appointee for over three years. Griffin was […]

Post-Knox Case in Michigan: Chanski v. Michigan Education Association

Oct 25, 2013 Jack Goldsmith

A series of post-Knox cases were filed this week in Michigan. The lead plaintiff (or “charging party”) is Miriam Chanski, a public school kindergarten teacher. She claims that after Michigan enacted a right-to-work law last March, she opted out of the Michigan Education Association, a public sector union, in May. She says she later discovered that […]

Members-Only Unionism in Right-to-Work States

Oct 24, 2013 Benjamin Sachs

In a new paper, Catherine Fisk and I urge the National Labor Relations Board to relax the rule of exclusive representation in right-to-work states. We argue that federal labor law should allow unions in those states to organize, bargain on behalf of, and represent only those workers who affirmatively wish to become members of the […]

The Libertarian Case for Employer-Union Organizing Agreements

Oct 24, 2013 Jack Goldsmith

In his exchange with Ben, Robert VerBruggen articulates the central libertarian critique of unionism: To understand how unions coerce workers, imagine you’re a non-union worker who has taken a job on purely voluntary terms — your employer made an offer and you accepted. Then, a union tries to organize your workplace. You vote against unionization […]

Update: President Obama Addresses The Problems With the Obamacare Exchanges

Oct 22, 2013 Jordan M. Grossman

Yesterday, President Obama addressed the challenges that have plagued the Obamacare health insurance exchanges since their launch on Oct. 1st. He made several key points and announcements: He emphasized that “the Affordable Care Act is not just a website.” He noted that “for 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance through your employer or […]

Unions and Coercion, Cont'd (one more time)

Oct 22, 2013 Benjamin Sachs

Wrapping up what (to me) has been a useful debate, VerBruggen offers a thoughtful reply to my latest post on the coercion question. He writes: My argument that unionism is coercive depends on the fact that the government is involved. If you work for a company at $15 an hour and there’s no contract saying […]

James Sherk on Conservatives and Alt-Labor

Oct 22, 2013 Jack Goldsmith

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation writes in: As a conservative who works on labor policy issues for the Heritage Foundation, I partially agree with Jack’s post on Conservative Support for Alt-Labor. I absolutely agree that the 8(a)(2) ban on alternative forms of employee representation should go, and, like Robert VerBruggen, I agree the greatest […]

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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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