Labor

Republicans controlling the U.S. Senate are trying to reverse a new National Labor Relations Board rule that would shorten the time between a union’s request for representation and the vote on whether to certify a union. Senator Al Franken (DFL-Minnesota) expressed his disapproval of striking down NLRB reforms which he said modernize and streamline the election process in which workers choose whether or not to form a union.

Last week’s events in Wisconsin largely dominated the “Right-to-Work” news cycle, but Republicans in West Virginia and Michigan have been hard at work on the issue as well, with varying results.

An investigative report from NBC Bay Area writers Vicky Nguyen, Liz Wagner, and Felipe Escamilla discovered several systematic failures with the OSHA Whistleblower Protection Program that has resulted in botched or falsified several whistleblower cases. Among their main sources is Darrell Whitman, an agency investigator, who now considers himself a whistleblower after calling out the agency. Whitman is a five-year veteran of OSHA in its District 9 office which covers California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and Guam.

There's trouble brewing in Washington D.C. for American workers. In the coming weeks, our congress will decide whether or not to pass Fast Track legislation that will allow trade deals to be made behind closed doors and without any oversight from the people most impacted: American workers.

The weekend edition of the Messenger carries an editorial by Rob Roper of the right-wing Ethan Allen Institute advocating for Vermont to join 24 other states in passing a so-called "Right-to-Work" law. The timing is odd since this red-flag originally saw the light of day way back in August, when it was carried by Vermont Digger.

Last week, an appeal was made to the Supreme Court in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), a case that could severely weaken the power of public sector unions. The case invovles a California elementary school teacher who does not want to pay $650 in annual “fair share fees” to the CTA for costs associated with collective bargaining and administration.

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman appeared before Congress Tuesday to make the corporate argument for fast track trade promotion authority. The USTR and President Obama are pushing fast-track pre-approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other big trade agreements they are working on.

New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the percentage of the workforce represented by a union fell to 11.1%, down from 11.3% the previous year. Overall, 14.6 million Americans belonged to a union in 2014.

A federal judge in California has approved a settlement between Lowe’s Home Centers and a class of its home improvement contractors who claimed they were misclassified as independent contractors. The maximum settlement amount in Shepard v. Lowe’s HIW is $6,500,000, depending on the number of contractors who file claims.

With counties across Kentucky rapidly passing unprecedented “Right-to-Work” ordinances, activists and lobbies on both sides of the issue are scrambling to establish their position on what they once thought would only be a state-level type legislation. This is not limited to “Right-to-Work” opponents. The National Right to Work Committee has actually come out against these local-level laws.