Posted on Feb 04, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
You may have noticed that the price of gasoline has plummeted recently. Good news, right? Well, not if you’re the United Steelworkers (USW): The union just walked out on strike at nine oil industry facilities in Texas. The Houston Chronicle quotes an employment lawyer noting that USW’s strategy seems lacking: The strike could be a […]
Posted on May 14, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Ann Twomey, president of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE)—a health care labor union and affiliate of Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—faces a lawsuit filed by five of the union’s members that alleges she steered $1.4 million in legal fees to her boyfriend without properly disclosing the relationship. The New York Post quotes the attorney for HPAE members […]
Posted on Apr 29, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The Employee Rights Act (ERA), a proposed piece of federal legislation that gives a host of individual rights to workers, is picking up steam in the press. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently editorialized that protecting workers’ secret ballots is a “must” to protect workers’ rights and end corrupt union practices. The editors noted that ERA would do just that. Meanwhile, […]
Posted on Apr 16, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
On December 21, 2011, the NLRB announced a change in NLRB election procedures, moving bargaining unit disputes to after unionization elections instead of before them. In practice, this “quickie elections” rule would give employees less time to learn about the drawbacks that come with unionization. Not surprisingly, unions win a higher percentage of elections when employees have less time to become informed about unionization, giving them incentive […]
Posted on Nov 25, 2013 by LaborPains.org Team
In an effort to try to fluff up its Astroturf campaign against the world’s largest retailer, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) front group OUR Walmart has a “grassroots” “Associate Voices” page. Here are some sample comments that Wal-Mart employees have left on the site. Many complain about particular managers or difficulty getting hours, but […]
Posted on May 01, 2013 by Center for Union Facts
Unions have always turned to the same trump card when trying to convince employees to unionize: Unions members make more money. It’s a compelling and appealing argument. But it’s also becoming less true by the year. Bloomberg BNA has released a new report demonstrating that the wage gap is growing smaller—and mainly because union wages […]
Posted on Mar 28, 2013 by Center for Union Facts
Organized labor knows that employees are leaving it in droves. That shouldn’t be surprising: A history of corruption, forcing employees to pay up for political causes with which they don’t agree, and driving companies into bankruptcy (and employees onto the unemployment line) with unreasonable demands should all be warning signs that unions aren’t the way […]
Posted on Mar 27, 2013 by Center for Union Facts
According to the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of private-sector employees in unions has tumbled to a 70-year low. Only 6.6 percent of private-sector workers were union members in 2012. Unions’ failure to represent their members’ interests and overzealous defense of unsustainable benefits has hamstrung the airline, manufacturing, and automotive industries, and […]
