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Posts tagged "Union Membership"

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24 Jul 2018 Fiat Chrysler UAW Collective Bargaining Process Under a Microscope

Union Organizing, Unions and Union Membership | Keith Brodie

Yesterday another high ranking UAW official pled guilty in the federal government’s ongoing investigation into Fiat Chrysler’s and high-ranking UAW officials’ payoff scandal (see previous posts: Jun 12 | March 23 | Nov 3) Nancy Adams Johnson, a top assistant to UAW Vice President Jewell Norwood, admitted to receiving illegal payments and using funds illegally from Fiat Chrysler. The government’s investigation now has been expanded to include other automakers as well, but currently the UAW…

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04 Jun 2018 Fractured Workforce: Union Scores “Micro-Unit” Election Win At Boeing

National Labor Relations Board, Unions and Union Membership | David Pryzbylski

Employers breathed a collective sigh of relief at the end of last year when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it had overruled the agency’s infamous 2011 Specialty Healthcare decision that made it easier for unions to form “micro-units” (i.e., organize smaller segments of workforces at company sites).   For those unfamiliar with micro-units, when filing an election petition with the NLRB, a union must identify a legally appropriate group of employees (i.e.,…

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10 May 2018 Illegality of Union Resignation Rule Upheld by D.C. Circuit Court

National Labor Relations Board, Unions and Union Membership | Thomas Payne

The D.C. Circuit recently upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) finding that a union’s resignation rule violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Under the rule, employees who wanted to resign from the union or opt out of paying dues had to travel to the union hall with a picture ID and a written request. The NLRB held that it was inconvenient for workers to have to travel to the hall to resign and…

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25 Jan 2018 Indiana’s Union Membership Falls 12.5 Percent

Unions and Union Membership | Gerald Lutkus

  Is Indiana’s Right-to-Work Act adversely affecting union membership throughout the state? That seems to be the logical conclusion based upon statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).   According to the recently released BLS numbers, Indiana had 266,000 dues-paying union members in 2017, down from 304,000 union members in 2016. That’s a 12.5 percent decline in union membership.   Those 266,000 union members are 8.9 percent of Indiana’s total 2017 workforce. In…

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05 Sep 2017 Labor Day 2017: State of the U.S. Labor Unions

National Labor Relations Board, Union Organizing, Unions and Union Membership | David Pryzbylski

  A broad look at the U.S. labor relations landscape shows it is a mixed bag for labor groups at the moment. In its just-released annual poll tracking public support for labor unions, Gallup data indicates support for unions is growing.   According to Gallup: “In the U.S., 61 percent of adults say they approve of labor unions, the highest percentage since the 65 percent approval recorded in 2003. The current labor union approval is…

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21 Apr 2017 Union Body Count and Big Spending

Unions and Union Membership | Keith Brodie

  Last year, some of the country’s biggest unions continue to hemorrhage membership, while others spent big dollars on organizing for modest gains in membership. In 2016, the union membership body count was not insignificant. According to LM-2 filings:   Steelworkers lost 20,000 members United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) lost nearly 14,000 members Teamsters lost almost 5,800 members Machinists lost nearly 5,500 members   This continues a trend seen over the last decades. The…

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09 Feb 2017 Missouri Adopts Right-to-Work, Are the Feds Next?

Federal Laws and Legislation, Unions and Union Membership | Gerald Lutkus

  This week, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed into law Missouri’s new Right-to-Work Act. At roughly the same time, Republican Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Joe Wilson of South Carolina introduced the national Right-to-Work Act that would amend the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to remove language allowing unions to require membership as a condition of employment.   Republicans, including King and Wilson in 2015, have tried to push a…

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04 Nov 2015 IBEW Rule Requiring Photo ID to Resign Upheld by NLRB Judge

National Labor Relations Board | Gerald Lutkus

The NLRB has been opposing union rules which make it difficult for union members to resign their membership and withdraw dues deduction authorizations. In Sulkowski v. UAW, 07-CB-140311, NLRB Region 7 issued a complaint against the UAW for requiring members to resign in person, with proper identification, and then not effectuating the resignation until these procedures had been met. After Region 7 issued a complaint, the UAW settled.   The Board also brought an action…

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31 Jul 2015 Michigan Supreme Court Throws Out Public Employee Agency Shop Fees

Unions and Union Membership | John Koenig

In a 4-3 opinion released this week, the Michigan Supreme Court invalidated a State Civil Service Commission rule which allowed for public sector collective bargaining agreements to require collection of a mandatory service fee, also known as an “agency shop fee,” from union-eligible employees who opted out of union membership.  A copy of the opinion can be found here.   In sum, the majority found the imposition of the agency shop fee (even though paid…

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27 Jan 2015 U.S. Union Numbers Continue Their Decline – Reach 100 Year Low

Unions and Union Membership | David Pryzbylski

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its annual report on unionization data in the United States, and the numbers continue to be on the decline for unions as a whole. Membership in unions nationally dropped from 11.3 percent in 2013 to 11.1 percent in 2014. Other interesting data points in the report include:   Public-sector workers had a union membership rate of 35.7 percent, more than five times higher than that of private-sector…

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