According to the Washington Post, executives from three progressive employers, Costco, Whole Foods and Starbucks, have offered a compromise of sorts on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Their proposed compromise would drop the card-check and mandatory arbitration provisions of the act, but give unions greater access to employees and guarantee union elections within a
Let the Fireworks Begin! EFCA Introduced in Congress
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which will amend the National Labor Relations Act to make it easier for unions to organize, was introduced in Congress yesterday. Separaste bills were introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education
Hilda Solis Nomination for Labor Secretary in Trouble
We recently reported that President Obama nominated California Representative Hilda Solis as our next Secretary of Labor. It now appears her nomination is in serious trouble. The Senate delayed confirmation hearings after finding out that Solis’ husband owed some back taxes on his auto repair business. Whoops.
Conservatives opposed to Solis’ nomination – and her
WSJ Reports EFCA Unlikely to Pass Soon
According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is not likely to become law in the first 100 days of the Obama Administration. Because Republicans are threatening a filibuster, congressional Democrats are likely to instead focus their early efforts on two other low-hanging fruit: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
The Employee Free Choice Act: Maybe Not a Done Deal?
As reported earlier in the Stoel Rives World of Employment, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will be a high priority for Congress and President-Elect Obama in 2009. The EFCA would be the most wide-ranging revision to federal labor law in 50 years. It would, among other things, require employers to recognize a union
Obama Nominates Rep. Hilda Solis as Labor Secretary
Today’s New York Times is reporting that President-Elect Barack Obama will nominate California Representative Hilda Solis as his administration’s Secretary of Labor, the cabinet-level position that oversees the Department of Labor.
John Sweeney, head of the AFL-CIO (a coalition of labor unions) praised the appointment of Solis to the position. And not without good reason: