
Jon Levitan is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab.
Yesterday Senate Democrats released their $3.5 trillion dollar budget blueprint that they hope to pass via reconciliation without needing any GOP votes. A publicly released memo sent by Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) details the provisions in the budget, including universal pre-K, free community college, and a path to lawful permanent status for undocumented immigrants. And Sanders’s memo confirms that “labor enforcement and penalties” are intended to be included in the final package passed. Bloomberg Law reports that the language is designed primarily to do two things. First, Democrats intend to create some sort of tax credit or deduction for money spent on union dues, providing an extra financial incentivize for workers to unionize. Workers had long been able to deduct union dues in some circumstances from their federal taxes before that deduction was eliminated in the 2017 Republican tax bill. Democrats intend to at least reinstate the deduction, or—depending on what the Senate Parliamentarian thinks of all this—even create a refundable tax credit for money spent on union dues.
Second, Democrats intend to include civil penalties for violations of the NLRA in the budget measure. Ben, Tascha, and Maxwell wrote last month about why this provision, which would finally provide the NLRB with some real teeth, is worth fighting for. This measure is seen as having the best chance to clear the Parliamentarian’s watchful eye, since the money collected for violations of the NLRA would go straight to the NLRB, a federal agency.
The Teamsters (IBT) will be electing a new president to succeed James P. Hoffa this year, and UPS—the Teamsters’s largest employer and party to the largest private sector CBA in the country—is nervously watching the race according to Freight Waves. The two leading candidates are Steve Vairma, who is favored by Hoffa, and Sean M. O’Brien, president of the IBT Local 25 in Boston. O’Brien is something of an insurgent, with a reputation as a firebrand and is especially feared by UPS. “He is feared inside UPS for being a no-compromise hardliner,” an industry executive told Freight Waves. “In any situation involving his local, [UPS] felt it had no good way to control him.” O’Brien’s insurgent slate won some key victories at the IBT convention earlier this, including the elimination of a rule that required two thirds of a bargaining unit to vote no on a contract to deny its ratification and enacted a rule that strike funds would begin to be disbursed immediately, rather than on the eighth day of a strike. If O’Brien wins the election, he will be in charge of the negotiations with UPS. The current CBA expires in July 2023.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
August 1
The Michigan Supreme Court grants heightened judicial scrutiny over employment contracts that shorten the limitations period for filing civil rights claims; the California Labor Commission gains new enforcement power over tip theft; and a new Florida law further empowers employers issuing noncompete agreements.
July 31
EEOC sued over trans rights enforcement; railroad union opposes railroad merger; suits against NLRB slow down.
July 30
In today’s news and commentary, the First Circuit will hear oral arguments on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) revocation of parole grants for thousands of migrants; United Airlines’ flight attendants vote against a new labor contract; and the AFL-CIO files a complaint against a Trump Administrative Executive Order that strips the collective bargaining rights of the vast majority of federal workers.
July 29
The Trump administration released new guidelines for federal employers regarding religious expression in the workplace; the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers is suing former union president for repayment of mismanagement of union funds; Uber has criticized a new proposal requiring delivery workers to carry company-issued identification numbers.
July 28
Lower courts work out meaning of Muldrow; NLRB releases memos on recording and union salts.
July 27
In today’s news and commentary, Trump issues an EO on college sports, a second district court judge blocks the Department of Labor from winding down Job Corps, and Safeway workers in California reach a tentative agreement. On Thursday, President Trump announced an executive order titled “Saving College Sports,” which declared it common sense that “college […]