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Content about Labour relations

December 14, 2011
Battleships, Broadsides and the NLRB (Part 2 of 2)

EVANSTON, Ill. — As we predicted here several months ago (Could The Unions Still Clean Up?), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is continuing its pro-union agenda with the same thunder as a battleship blasting a broadside.

On June 21, the NLRB published the proposed changes it wants in rules governing union representation elections. When adopted, these rules will make the jobs of union organizers easier by handcuffing management and fast-tracking representation elections in which a company’s employees vote whether or not they wish to unionize.

Following the defeat in Congress of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have allowed “card check unionization” and eliminated nearly all representation elections, union leaders are trying a different way to reach their easy organizing goals. They know “if you can’t legislate, regulate.” And the NLRB regulates labor relations in America.

March 23, 2011
Could The Unions Still Clean Up? (Part 2 of 2)

CHICAGO — Executives of large drycleaning and laundry operations are awakening to an unfortunate fact: That although unions lost their battle in Congress for the Employee Free Choice Act—a.k.a. the “card-check” law—they may be winning the war to make organizing easier.

The Employee Free Choice Act would have allowed unions to organize employees just by obtaining “authorization cards” from a majority of a company’s workers  without a secret-ballot election. While the House passed the EFCA, the bill ran into such stiff opposition in the Senate that “compromises” were offered, including quickie elections that would have been held five to 10 days after a petition was filed.

 Businesses objected. Quick elections wouldn’t allow time for them to present their side of the case to employees, they said, which often includes the argument that the cost of negotiating labor contracts and work rules can hurt employers, and therefore, employees’ job security.

July 27, 2009
Senators Drop Card-Check Provision of Employee Free Choice Act

WASHINGTON — Several Democratic senators have decided to drop a central provision of the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041) — the so-called “card-check” provision — to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

The provision would have required employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards in support of it. Currently, employers can demand a secret-ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

July 6, 2009
Federal Minimum Wage Set to Jump to $7.25

WASHINGTON — The last of three scheduled increases in the federal minimum wage will hit on July 24, when all U.S. businesses will be required to raise eligible employee wages to $7.25 and display the proper labor law notice at each business location. To be compliant, all businesses with at least one employee must display the new regulation, regardless of whether employees are hourly, salaried or compensated at more than the minimum wage.

October 17, 2008
Cut Costs with a Four-Day Workweek

Is business down? Are expenses piling up and cash reserves low? Is your frustration level off the charts? It may be time to make some tough decisions.

One alternative is to lay off staffers. But another strategy might be more palatable for your operation and anyone in it who’s anxious to keep their job: going to a four-day workweek. Reducing wages and FICA costs 20% might just be what your company needs to get through tough times.

June 25, 2007
Organized Cleaning?

EVANSTON, Ill. — Legislation is now being introduced to change the rules by which unions can organize private employers — including those in the commercial laundry and drycleaning industries. The bill was scheduled for a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives at the beginning of the month.