Adjunct Law Prof Blog

Workers Memorial Day 2013

Matt Pelletier writes to tell us about Workers Memorial Day which is on April 28, 2013. He published a tribute page which is full of interesting information about OSHA. I did not know anything about Workers Memorial Day. He describes it as follows:

Workers memorial day is a commemoration day that is celebrated in the U.S and abroad each year on April 28th. It is meant to remember those who have been killed or left disabled as a result of an injury suffered at work. It’s an opportunity to recognize the preventable nature of most workplace accidents and bring greater awareness to safety campaigns and legislation.

His web page is certainly worth reading.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

NBA Union Executive Director Fired

The Executive Director of the NBA Players Union was recently fired. He allegedly engaged in a number of questionable practices and is subject to a criminal investigation as well as a investigation by the Department of Labor. Additional details can be found here.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Breaking News. Unionization Rates Continue to Decline

On January 23, 2013, the BLS released its annual report on the rate of unionization. Overall, the rate of unionization feel from 11.8% to 11.3%. Public sector workers had a 35.8 percent membership rate while the rate on unionization in the private sector dropped to 6.6%.

Significantly, however, union members continue to earn more than there non-union counterparts. As the report states:

In 2012, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly
earnings of $943, while those who were not union members had median weekly earnings
of $742. In addition to coverage by a collective bargaining agreement, this earnings
difference reflects a variety of influences, including variations in the distributions
of union members and nonunion employees by occupation, industry, firm size, or geographic
region. 

The full report can be found here.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Court Allows USW to Proceed With Challenge To Recent Indiana Right-to-Work Legislation

An Indiana trial court ruled Oct. 16 that the United Steelworkers can pursue a legal challenge to the right-to-work legislation enacted in the state earlier this year, finding the court could not “categorically” rule “at this time” that the new statute does not violate the state constitution (United Steelworkers v. Daniels, Ind. Cir. Ct., No. 45C01-1207-PL-00071, 10/16/12). The statute is (H.B. 1001) which took effect March 14, 2012. 

Law review commentary on this important topic is encourgaged. Undoubtedly, there will be further appeals.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

The Future of Unions

On July 17, 2012, the NY Times ran an interesting story about the future of Unions, available here. The point of the article is that Unions need to change and that the Union of the future may be different from the Union of today. As the article states:    

                The future labor movement may have to give up organizing work site by work site. Its                 biggest political fight in the last few years — pushing a law to make it easier to organize a                 workplace — may be irrelevant. And fighting to create new barriers to foreign competition is                 probably a lost cause. Instead of negotiating for their members only, unions might do better                 pulling for better wages and conditions for all workers.

                Some scholars, like the economist Richard B. Freeman of the National Bureau of Economic                 Research, suggest the labor movement could take a page from the AARP’s playbook and                 become a lobbying group. German-like worker councils could discuss workplace issues with                 management, without negotiating over pay.

                Maybe unions don’t have to entirely give up collective bargaining but broaden it. A model                 might be the alliance between the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Domestic Workers Alliance of New                 York City to push for a bill of rights for nonunionized nannies and maids.

                In any event, 80 years from now, labor organizations will probably look as different as our                 current unions look when compared with the guilds of 80 years ago. Today’s strongest unions                 — of autoworkers and airline pilots — could easily be the weakest, decimated by international                 competition. Unions may well be strongest in hospitals, hotels and other businesses not                 exposed to international trade.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

 

National Labor College Closing, Well Sort of

For as long as I can remember, the AFL-CIO owned and operated the National Labor College. Located just outside of D.C., it was a place where union loyalists could get a quality education. As you can imagine, the college also offerred excellent classes on labor relations.

The New York Times is reporting that the AFL-CIO is selling the National Labor College. It just became too expensive, here. Well, all is not lost as the National Labor College will continue to offer online classes and may relocate soon.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Indiana's New Right To Work Law Is Challenged

The Operating Engineers have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to enjoin the implementation of Indiana's new Right to Work law. Reportedly, the lawsuit is based upon Equal Protection and federal preemption grounds. A USA Today article which provides additional details is available here.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Indiana Is Now A Right To Work State

As reported earlier, the Indiana Senate passed right to work bill HB 1001 this week by a vote of 28 to 22. Governor Daniels signed the bill into law on 2/1. The text of the law can be found here.http://act.aflcio.org/salsa/track.jsp?v=2&c=50ycFzaQ8vwwJL%2BpBugVT0inLX1Dxlf4

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Breaking News

Indiana is about to be the first State in my adult lifetime to become a Right to Work State. 

Details here.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Union Membership In Private Sector Declines To Below 7%

On Jan. 27, 2012, the BLS released its annual set of statistics on unions. For those of us supportive of unions the news continues to not be good. Overall union membership declined to 11.8% from 11.9%. Public sector union membership is at 37% and private sector union membership is down to 6.9%. Among States, New York continues to have the highest union membership rate (24.1%) and North Carolina again had the lowest (2.9%). 7.6 million workers belong to unions in the public sector as opposed to 7.2 million in the private sector. 

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

The Changing Face of Unions

Redefining the Union Boss is an interesting Nov. 19, 2011 New York Time article. It highlights Susan Pope, who is the first woman to ever woman to run for President of the Teamsters. So are unions changing? Unions are simply a reflection of society. Society is becomming more white collar so I would expect more female union leaders. The Teamsters are certainly not a white collar workforce. Any time leaders such as Ms. Pope want to get involved, that is a great thing.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein 

Major League Baseball-Employer Lawyers and Player's Union Lawyers

MLB as well as the Players Union pays their lawyers very well. The Am Law Daily ran a story about this on Nov. 19, 2011. The article only points out what the Union pays their lawyers. If you ask me, the Union lawyers have done a great job over the years and given the salaries that are paid in MLB, the amounts paid to their union lawyers are worth it. No, I am not one of them...

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

 

 

Gov. Walker To Now Use Prison Labor

Remember Gov. Walker and Wisconsin. Whatever your views on the so called "Budget Repair Bill," you must admit that this guy is radical. He now wants to use prison labor to replace union labor with prison labor. The Cap Times reports:

Gov. Scott Walker ran for election on a promise to create 250,000 jobs during his first term in office. Now it seems some of that job growth has found its way to at least one county jail in Wisconsin.

Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig told several media outlets earlier this week he plans to add shoveling, landscaping and painting to the to-do lists of county inmates. Until recently, inmates were only allowed to cut the grass along highways.

That changed Wednesday when the state's controversial collective bargaining law took effect.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/capitol-report/article_abc24a50-a362-11e0-bef3-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1Sqwooa8h

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

 

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Union Busting Law

In case you have not heard (it has been all over the media), late yesterday afternoon the Supreme Court of Wisconsin reversed Dane County Circuit Court Judge Sumi’s decision. Act 10, Wisconsin's union busting law, becomes effective upon publication. he link to the decision is: http://wicourts.gov/supreme/scopin.jsp?begin_date=06/14/2011&end_date=06/14/2011&SortBy=date.

I am sure that this is not the end of the battle. But round one goes to Governor Walker

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

8 Recall Petitions Filed In Wisconsin

Courthouse News Service reported that 8 recall petitions have been filed in Wisconsin (5 with respect to Republicans and 3 Democrats) and more are expected. Democrats need to pickoff 3 Republicans to gain control of the Chamber. 

This is certainly an important development and something worth keeping an eye on.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Breaking News Judge Enjoins NFL Lockout

A federal judge recently issued an injunction ending the lockout impose

d by the NFL. Details here.                    Mitchell Rubinstein

 

 

Indiana bill restricting teacher collective bargaining rights clears state senate, goes to governor

A bill to restrict Indiana teachers’ collective bargaining rights has cleared its final legislative hurdle, and has been sent to Gov. Mitch Daniels for his signature, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. The Indiana Senate voted 30-19 in favor of a House-passed version of the bill, which would prohibit contracts between school districts and teachers’ unions from including anything other than wages and wage-related benefits. The limits would affect contract agreements between districts and unions for teachers and any other school employees, such as bus drivers, custodians and nurses, starting July 1, 2011. 

Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/19/11, By Deanna Marti

Interesting NYT article about AFSCME President McEntee

Countering the Siege is another excellent New York Times article by Steven Greenhouse. Students of the labor movement will certainly want to read it. It is about Gerald McEntee, a name that you do not hear very often in the news, but Mr. McEntee heads one of the most powerful public sector unions in the country, AFSCME with 1.2 million members.

AFSCME is also under attack in several states, including Wisconsin which makes for some difficult times, to say the least.  As the article states: 

In Wisconsin and Ohio, Republican lawmakers argued that public sector unions had grown too powerful and that it was vital to weaken public employees’ bargaining rights, so as to give state and local governments flexibility to help erase their budget deficits. In what is largely a decentralized union, Mr. McEntee is doing his utmost to serve as national field marshal, strategist and megaphone for the counterattack.

He sent money to Wisconsin to help fight Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union legislation, initially to mount the huge protests in Madison before the law was enacted and more recently to try to elect a labor-friendly Supreme Court justice and gather signatures to recall eight Republican state senators who voted for the law.

Mr. McEntee has also been pouring resources into Ohio to promote a statewide referendum to overturn that state’s new anti-bargaining law.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Airport Security Personnel Are Expected To Form Union

Steven Greenhouse, Labor Reporter, for the New York Times wrote an interesting article on the unionization of airport security screeners on April 15, 2011, here. The major point of the article is that even though public sector workers are under attack, these workers are likely to vote in favor of unionzation. As the article states:

By next Tuesday, the screeners, employees of the Transportation Security Administration, are to finish casting their votes on whether to unionize. Almost everyone agrees that they will choose to do so.

That may seem surprising when so many public employee unions are being forced into wage freezes and paying more toward health coverage and pensions, and when they have become the target of widespread public criticism. Many Republican leaders say public employees should not be allowed to bargain collectively, asserting that it pushes up costs for taxpayers and impedes management’s flexibility. What is more, they warn, letting airport screeners unionize could jeopardize national security if strikes and work slowdowns crippled airports and resulted in inadequate security checks.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

 

Information and Copies of Legal Documents Concerning Wisconsin Union Busting Law

The Wheeler Report contains copies of documents concerning the Wisconsin Union Busting law, i.e, known by the Tea Party as the Budget Repair Bill. This is a wonderful resource where you can find copies of the pleadings, briefs and court decisions. Researchers will find this cite of great assistance.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein