Many of you skip over my posts about labor unions because you view them as out of sight and mind. “My business isn’t union. I’m not concerned about it.” But that may change soon. Attempts to form labor unions are skyrocketing, and the Labor Board’s top lawyer wants to facilitate…
There aren’t enough Republicans in Congress to provide the votes needed to pass this new bill — let alone overcome a veto from President Biden. But that won’t stop me from talking about it and dreaming wistfully about one day what could be for my employer audience. What is the…
In case you missed President Biden’s State of the Union Address last night, I’ve got you covered with everything HR compliance that came up. Pay equity and higher minimum wage. When President Biden took office in January 2021, part of his initial plan was to raise the federal minimum wage…
Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Last season, COVID-19 breakouts on several teams threatened to cancel many National Football League games. But, NFL scrambled to make it work. However, this year, with the vaccinations widely available, the NFL will be cracking down on teams that don’t take prophylactic…
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board issued this decision in which it found that a union did not violate the National Labor Relations Act by displaying a 12-foot inflatable rat with red eyes, fangs, and claws. You and I know him as Scabby the Rat. Not to be confused with…
Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay Last Wednesday, as part of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s EXCEL Conference, three of us (me and two of the EEOC’s education and outreach coordinators) gazed into our crystal ball to predict some of the issues that employers will face as more employees return…
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Last month, President Biden publicly supported the failed unionization attempt at Amazon’s distribution center in Alabama. Yesterday, he doubled down with an Executive Order reaffirming his Administration’s policy to “encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining.”…
Ivan Radic, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Imagine a non-union widget factory in which widget makers want to unionize. As part of the unionizing campaign, one of the widget makers decides to wear a vest on which he writes “Widget Lives Matter.” Management is concerned that this vest is…
Scabby the Rat, the infamous union picket line protest symbol, fears no cat — especially not this one. Scabby feared no man either, except for Peter Robb, the former General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. GC Robb, you see, was on a mission to deflate and exterminate ‘Ol…
Last week, both the House and the Senate re-introduced two pieces of prior legislation. One would overhaul federal labor law — oh, is that all? The second is a new(ish) paid family leave bill that never made it to the President’s desk for signature. But, this time around, with the…