Labor

The National Labor Relations Board said Tuesday that the world's biggest hamburger chain could be named as a joint employer in several complaints regarding worker rights at franchise-owned restaurants. The decision is pivotal because it could expose McDonald's Corp. to liability for management practices in those locations.

An Indiana Judge has ruled that the state’s “Right-to-Work” law is unconstitutional, the second such blow to the legislation since its passage in 2012. Following the decision, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he would ask for a stay to prevent the decision from immediately taking effect. He also argued that the law’s fate is still truly in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The latest “business conditions” survey from the National Association of Business Economics shows an improving economic outlook with higher levels of growth and dropping unemployment. The majority of survey participants represent companies with more than 100 employees and 40 percent represent firms with over 1,000 workers. The survey also showed that wages are rising and echoed arguments made by Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen that discouraged workers would return to the labor force when the economy improved.

Six years after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick created the Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy (JTF) via executive order, the highly successful program will become statute thanks to language in the state’s newly enacted minimum wage law. Recent reports show that in 2013 alone the JTF recovered $15.6 million in back wages, unemployment insurance premiums, penalties and fines following over one thousand investigations. Since its inception, the JTF has recovered over $56 million.

St. Louis County Council member Steve Stenger is asking labor to help him in his bid to become County Executive, claiming incumbent Charlie Dooley’s anti-union record should be enough to encourage union members to get out the vote. With low turnout likely (65,000 of the county’s 700,000+ voters are expected to make it to the polls for the August 5th Democratic primary), every vote will count.

Just weeks after the Fort Wayne City Council passed legislation ending collective bargaining for city employees, it has taken the assault on workers rights further by passing a new law which would make union membership for all public safety employees optional. This local “Right-to-Work” law goes further than the state’s bill which exempted policemen and firefighters.

A few weeks ago, the beloved CEO of Market Basket Arthur T. Demoulas was fired in the latest of the “seemingly never-ending soap opera of a feud with his rival cousin and shareholder Arthur S. Demoulas.” Market Basket employees are now putting their jobs on the line, to stand with Artie T.

Despite losing a close vote to unionize in an election marred by the Tennessee government's union-busting tactics, the United Auto Workers will come to Chattanooga anyway. Workers at the new plant will be represented by the Union and will work closely with Volkswagen as part of a 'works council.'

Teachers and laborers want answers after it was discovered that a minor was working on the $880,000 expansion of Cornelia Elementary in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. Union reps who had been monitoring the worksite snapped photos of a young boy, age 13 or 14, performing dangerous work including operating a bobcat without proper safety gear.

In Minnesota, union organizers are making inroads at charter schools as teachers increasingly feel they need power in numbers to affect positive change at the privatized schools. In January, teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School organized after minor clashes with higher-ups. And in July the teachers and staff of the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul did the same. The two schools are the first of Minnesota’s 150 charter schools to go union.