In a 93-6 vote, the Senate has blocked attempts to override President Obama’s veto of a recent union election law. Last month, President Obama vetoed a Senate Joint Resolution that would have halted the implementation of new NLRB rules on union elections. The Hill discusses the vote.
The Wall Street Journal discusses Bain v. California Teachers Association, a case involving four California teachers whom have sued their unions. Plaintiffs in Bain argue that the unions have unconstitutionally burdened their First Amendment rights by conditioning benefits on agency fees which, in turn, fund political union spending. The case follows the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Harris v. Quinn (analyzed previously at OnLabor), where the court found First Amendment rights to include the right not to be “compelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support.” As Seattle University School of Law Professor Charlotte Garden explained at In These Times, Bain distinctly attempts to “bring a First Amendment claim to force a private association to change its terms of membership.”
At The Washington Post, Lydia DePillis delves into a substantial wage and benefits gap between cafeteria workers at the House and Senate. House-side staff have experienced better pay, paid sick leave, and a more responsive work environment in no small part because they have been unionized for two decades, DePillis argues. Senate cafeteria workers, meanwhile, still lack organized representation, caught somewhat in turf skirmishes between the SEIU and UNITE-HERE Local 23.
As WMTW reports, Maine is now the next state to consider right-to-work legislation. At the New York Times, Monica Davey has argued that prevailing wage laws may become as contentious a labor issue as right-to-work bills, with Indiana repealing its common wage law and at least three other states considering similar repeals.
The Brookings Institute held an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of a landmark work in economics, Arthur Okun’s book Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff. In prepared remarks, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers expressed shifting views on one of Okun’s central arguments: that the pursuits of greater economic equality hinders economic growth. In today’s economy, Summers argued, the worry that “the minimum wage can be dangerously high and excessively strong unions can do damage if jobs are taken away and inflation is promoted” is no longer relevant. More on the conference is available here, including Summers’ full remarks.
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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.