The House passed the GOP tax reform bill yesterday afternoon, but will have to vote on it again today to avoid potentially violating the Byrd Rule, which governs the types of legislation that can be passed under reconciliation. The Senate passed it last night on a party-line vote. Reuters has a good, simple run down of what made it into the final version.
Sharon Block details the NLRB’s December Massacre of Obama-era NLRB decisions here. She notes that “[i]n every one of the precedent-reversing cases, the Board split along political lines with the Republican majority having its way. The breadth of the carnage was unexpected in light of the fact that this majority has been together only since the end of September.” Mark Joseph Stern at Slate, also remarking on the NLRB’s past five decisions claims that, “[t]he Trump administration is engaged in a full-fledged legal assault on unions that’s poised to wreak havoc on collective bargaining.”
But the NLRB rejected Columbia University’s appeal and certified the graduate workers of Columbia union – which was organized by the UAW. Columbia graduate students voted for a union over a year ago. Earlier this month the NLRB also upheld a previous NLRB decision that the Harvard graduate student union vote was invalid. Harvard had previously appealed the decision but will now have to hold new elections, which could be as early as January 2018.
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Uber is a taxi-cab business, not a technology/information business. The case arose out of Barcelona. “In its ruling, the ECJ said that a service whose purpose was ‘to connect, by means of a smartphone application and for remuneration, non-professional drivers using their own vehicle with persons who wish to make urban journeys’ must be classified as ‘a service in the field of transport’ in EU law.”
Following an announcement that it would meet with pilots’ unions in order to avoid a strike originally planned for today, Ryanair also announced that it would meet with cabin crew unions in the new year.
Happy New Year! Apparently 18 states and 20 cities will implement minimum wage increases on or around January 1, 2018.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 20
Three state bills challenge Garmon preemption; Wisconsin passes a bill establishing portable benefits for gig workers; and a sharp increase in workplace ICE raids contribute to a nationwide labor shortage.
June 19
Report finds retaliatory action by UAW President; Senators question Trump's EEOC pick; California considers new bill to address federal labor law failures.
June 18
Companies dispute NLRB regional directors' authority to make rulings while the Board lacks a quorum; the Department of Justice loses 4,500 employees to the Trump Administration's buyout offers; and a judge dismisses Columbia faculty's lawsuit over the institution's funding cuts.
June 17
NLRB finds a reporter's online criticism of the Washington Post was not protected activity under federal labor law; top union leaders leave the Democratic National Committee amid internal strife; Uber reaches a labor peace agreement with Chicago drivers.
June 16
California considers bill requiring human operators inside autonomous delivery vehicles; Eighth Circuit considers challenge to Minnesota misclassification law and whether "having a family to support" is a gendered comment.
June 15
ICE holds back on some work site raids as unions mobilize; a Maryland judge approves a $400M settlement for poultry processing workers in an antitrust case; and an OMB directive pushes federal agencies to use union PLAs.