By Nelson Cary and Jesse Meade on Posted in Courts,Union MembershipThe Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it will re-visit the issue of whether public sector employees can be made to pay mandatory fees to a public sector union despite not being a member of the union. As readers of this blog will recall, this question was at the center of a Supreme Court decision… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in CourtsLast week, I provided an overview of Judge Gorsuch’s decisions involving the NLRB. This week, I take a deeper dive into the opinions, discussing a few of the holdings below. As noted in my last post, Judge Gorsuch’s most recent opinion is actually a dissent. It offers the most interesting insights about his view of… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary, Angela Gibson and Mike Griffaton on Posted in Prevailing Wage,UnionsKentucky has become the 27th state in the nation to enact right-to-work legislation. It did so on one of its legislators’ first days back in the office in 2017. The “trifecta” is made up of three different bills, all directed at compulsory union membership and union-scale wages. Read more about Kentucky’s right-to-work law, repeal of… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Natalie McLaughlin on Posted in Courts,Union MembershipToday the Supreme Court issued a decision in the closely watched case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which keeps mandatory union fees for public employees alive. In a one-sentence opinion, an equally divided Supreme Court simply affirmed the Ninth Circuit’s decision in favor of charging school teachers mandatory union fees. The decision doesn’t apply… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Management,NLRB,Union OrganizingLast week I looked back at the five most important labor law developments in 2015. This week I look forward to the top 5 most important issues labor professionals should find a place for on their “to do” list this year: Prepare for the DOL persuader regulations. Going on five years now, the DOL has… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Management,Negotiations,Union Membership,Union NegotiationsReversing a rule that has been in place for over 50 years, the NLRB has ruled that a “dues checkoff” provision in a union contract outlasts the termination of the contract establishing it. The 3-2 decision, which came out earlier this year, but was overshadowed by the hullabaloo over the joint employer decision, is a… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union MembershipIn a close decision earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to unions representing government employees. The case, Harris v. Quinn, dealt with an effort in Illinois to permit unions to organize a group of individuals who provide services to those who are unable to live in their own homes without assistance. Under the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBUnion members have a right to claim what is known as “objector” status. If they do, a union is obligated to recalculate the dues that those seeking objector status have to pay. The union must reduce the dues by a proportional amount that is equal to money the union spends on activities not related to collective bargaining,… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBIn an opinion released today, but decided last week, the NLRB reversed a 50-year-old precedent regarding dues checkoff provisions. For those unfamiliar with the term, a dues checkoff provision is a clause in a union contract by which an employer agrees to deduct union dues from the paychecks of employees who authorize it and pay that money… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in LegislationBy Nelson Cary and Steve Miller On December 11, 2012, Michigan became the 24th state to enact a right to work law. This new law has garnered a lot of national attention, most likely because Michigan is seen as the “birthplace” of the modern labor movement. (Much less attention was paid when Indiana became the 23rd state to… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBIn non-right to work states, an employer and a union may lawfully agree to include a "union security" provision in their labor agreement. This clause requires all employees to become a member of the union. If an employee refuses to join the union, the contract typically requires the employer to terminate that employee. Many years ago,… Continue Reading
