Free Republic

National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter ordered Starbucks to reopen “within a reasonable period of time” two Ithaca locations that closed after employees formed a union, stating that its move to “chill unionism” violated the National Labor Relations Act. Carter ruled on Friday that the May 2023 permanent closures of the Ithaca Commons and Meadow Street Starbucks locations and failure to bargain with the union were unlawful, as the board found the stores were closed for “antiunion reasons” and in an effort to quell unionizations elsewhere. The NLRB similarly ordered on July 6, 2023, that the third...

More than 30 people are now without jobs after the sudden closure of all three remaining OCF Coffee House locations throughout Philadelphia. Workers said they announced a plan to form a union a week earlier.

The unionization vote at the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee has been certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), according to a Tuesday announcement from the manufacturer and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Workers at the Chattanooga plant voted two weeks ago, with 73 percent, or 2,628 staffers, in favor of unionization, and 27 percent against, representing 985 employees. “Volkswagen and union workers around the world have a long history of successfully building vehicles together, and we are jointly committed to a strong and successful future at Volkswagen Chattanooga with the UAW,” the automaker and UAW said in a joint...

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Department of Justice has given the green light to National Guard members on active duty for their states to join labor unions, despite a U.S. law that makes it a felony for military personnel on active federal duty to unionize. The department on Tuesday settled a federal lawsuit filed in Connecticut by labor unions, having conceded the federal ban does not stop Connecticut National Guard members on state duty ordered by the governor from seeking collective bargaining rights. Both sides agreed to a dismissal of the case. Already, the case has prompted some National Guard...

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) on Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed farmers in the state to unionize, the Portland Press Herald reported. The proposal called for agriculture workers to be able to organize and bargain for wages, hours and working conditions.

President Trump should rescind EO 10988, decertify the federal employee unions, and drain more swamp. ... While any federal workplace reform is appreciated, President Trump missed an opportunity (“Fresh Air in the Swamp,” Review & Outlook, June 1.) He could have, and should have, simply rescinded President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10988 that recognizes the right of federal workers to bargain collectively. A strong case for its revocation can be made to the American public. Why should 2.2 million federal workers enjoy both robust civil-service job protection and union representation? No wonder why, according to the CBO, federal salaries are 16%...

United Auto Workers (UAW) president Dennis Williams called the bribery allegations brought against the widow of a former union executive "appalling," adding that they may have led Nissan workers to reject unionization, but denied that they reflect the larger organization.In July, the Department of Justice indicted Monica Morgan, the wife of the late UAW vice president General Holiefield, and former Fiat Chrysler vice president Alphons Iacobelli for funneling $1.2 million from a worker training center to pay off Morgan's mortgage, buy luxury cars, and pay for personal travel. The indictment came just one week before the UAW held a historic...

Liberal digital media companies are threatened by the policies they support, as a growing wave of leftist blog writers resorting to unionization threatens these companies’ survival. The Writers Guild of America East organized Gawker as its first unionized digital media outlet in June 2015. Although Gawker was bankrupt in less than a year later, for unrelated reasons. Since then, the WGA has been able to unionize a growing stable of liberal digital sites including the Huffington Post, VICE, The Root, ThinkProgress, Fusion, Salon and Gizmodo Media Group. So far this year, the WGA has unionized workers at MTV News, Group...

Members of the National Right to Work Foundation believe two German labor groups have failed to completely disclose their full level of involvement in the United Auto Workers’ attempts to set up shop in Chattanooga. As previously reported, the UAW wants to formally establish itself at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant. The UAW’s attempts have so far been unsuccessful. VW workers, by a tally of 712-626, for instance, voted in February not to join the UAW. Members of the NRTW represent an unspecified number of VW workers who oppose the union. They say that VW’s Global Works Council and IG Metall, a...

Unions took $4 million from Michigan daycare workers; class action lawsuit now possible. Michigan daycare operators who had millions of dollars taken from them in a unionization scheme that has since been outlawed, may get some of their money back. On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Harris v. Quinn that people who take care of others and are paid with funds that partially come from the state cannot be unionized because they are not state workers. It also opened the door for Michigan daycare workers involved in a previous, separate scheme to revisit a class action...

Going forward, every NATO member state must step up and carry its share of the burden. — President Barack Obama, March 26, 2014 On Wednesday, addressing an assembly of young Europeans, President Obama issued a challenge. Faced with a resurgent Russia, he said, and in view of the shaky global economy, Europeans must spend more on defense. His sentiment is well founded. Let’s be clear: EU defense spending is woefully inadequate. Excluding Britain, France, Germany, and perhaps Italy, the EU states are fundamentally incapable of full-spectrum operations. And the military of America’s greatest ally, the British, is being forced...

Government unions tout their ability to get workers higher salaries and better benefits, but union workers are finding that unions cost them more than they are worth. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was able to pick up nearly 40 percent of union households when he triumphed recently in his recall election. But this is just one example. On June 21, the Supreme Court struck another blow when it ruled that public-sector unions could not just extract dues from non-members without proper notice. [Snip] Many union members object to their union’s political spending. In fact, 80 percent believe that a government job...

Under the guise of granting higher wages and healthcare benefits to daycare providers and personal care attendants, Connecticut’s Democratic-led state House has passed a bill that will force these workers to collectively bargain with the state. However, the director of the Connecticut chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP)said on Friday that the measure, proposed as an amendment to another bill, will force daycare providers to unionize with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). According to JR Romano of AFP in Connecticut, the bill is “a direct assault on female business owners.” State Sen. Edith Prague (D- Working Families Party) and...

The “take” so far from Michigan's forced unionization of supposed home health care workers for the Service Employees International Union is $28 million. That tally is going up on a monthly basis. The overwhelming majority of these dollars can be used for almost anything the SEIU desires, including advertising, issue advocacy, lobbying, get out the vote efforts and other political purposes. According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, the amount of "dues" taken out of subsidy checks that go to "home health care workers'” checks and passed on to the SEIU so far is as follows: 2007: $5,040,263 2008:...

Graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan who do not want to belong to a union have some high-profile allies who have kept a low profile. The Mackinac Center has obtained a confidential letter to U of M Provost Philip Hanlon expressing a “deep and collective concern about the potential negative impacts that would result from the unionization of the University’s graduate student research assistants.” The letter was signed by 18 Deans of the university’s 19 schools and colleges. Also signing was the University Librarian and Dean of Libraries. The lone holdout was Christopher Kendall, Dean of the...

A drive to unionize thousands of in-home child-care workers in Minnesota is intensifying into a full-scale political battle between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP leaders at the Capitol. Dayton on Tuesday sharply criticized legislators for announcing that they will hold a hearing this week on attempts by labor groups to unionize Minnesota's more than 11,000 licensed, in-home child-care providers. Republicans say unionized day-care providers raises concerns among parents and providers and they want a thorough airing. "The parents are unhappy, the owners of day cares are unhappy," House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said of the possibility of unionization....

As organized labor faces declining membership, one of the country's most storied unions is looking to a new growth industry: marijuana. The Teamsters added nearly 40 new members earlier this month by organizing the country's first group of unionized marijuana growers. Such an arrangement is likely only possible in California, which has the nation's loosest medical marijuana laws. But it's still unclear how the Teamsters will safeguard the rights of members who do work that's considered a federal crime. "I didn't have this planned out when I became a Teamster 34 years ago, to organize marijuana workers," said Lou Marchetti,...

One interesting thing about the Obama administration is the strange domi nance of labor unions. Yes, President Obama and other Democratic leaders owe the unions something: Unions gave $400 million to Democrats in the 2008 campaign cycle, and expect to get something in return. What they haven't gotten out of the Democratic Congress is the thing they wanted most -- the card-check bill that would effectively abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections. Unions now represent only 7 percent of private-sector workers, the lowest percentage since the early 1930s. Union leaders believe that with card check they could vastly increase...

The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007, but Democratic backers couldn't end a Republican filibuster against it in the Senate. Democrat Mark Udall backs the act and Republican Bob Schaffer doesn't, making Colorado one of about eight states where dueling groups could spend a combined $40 million nationally to highlight issues raised in the legislation. Employees at private companies now can unionize by getting 30 percent of the work force to sign cards seeking union representation and then getting a majority of workers to back unionization in a secret-ballot election. The EFCA would allow...

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether a state should be able to prohibit employers from using state money to influence employees' views on unions in their workplace. The Chamber of Commerce and the Bush administration argue that California is trying to silence employers from weighing in on union organization efforts. They say that position isn't permitted by federal labor law, which allows employers to be involved as long as they don't threaten reprisals. The outcome of the case could affect attempts by other states to restrict use of state money for unionization-related activities. California contends that its law...