According to Politico, the NLRB has prohibited McDonald’s from subpoenaing various contractors hired by SEIU as part of its Fight for $15 campaign. McDonald’s had planned to point to communications between SEIU and BerlinRosen, a progressive communications firm, to show that the Fight for $15 is, at least in part, aimed at tarnishing McDonald’s national brand. In McDonald’s view, this would be relevant to showing that greater control over franchisees was justified in the name of brand protection and thus not indicative of a joint employment situation. This Thursday, the NLRB disagreed, rejecting the subpoena request as irrelevant to McDonald’s defense.
The Wall Street Journal reports that initial unemployment claims filed last week totalled a seasonally-adjusted 265,000. Although a slight increase from the week before, the level of jobless claims has remained below 300,000 for the 54th straight week, which constitutes “the longest such streak since 1973” and indicates a healthy jobs market.
Politico tackles the question that President Obama’s recent Supreme Court nomination has everyone wondering – “Should Labor Love Merrick Garland?” Although Garland has shown little receptivity to the use of first amendment arguments to challenge agency regulations, his practice of deferring to the NLRB’s decisions have typically benefitted unions. For OnLabor’s analysis of Garland’s labor positions, see here.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.