California Senator Dianne Feinstein has withdrawn her support for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), according to this editorial in the Oakland Tribune. Because of the recession, the time is not right, according to Senator Feinstein, who stated that she still hopes a union/management compromise is possible.
Senator Feinstein’s withdrawal of support may put the
We expected many changes in federal labor and employment law in 2009 – for the first time in years, Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress and have the political ability to make significant reforms. However, not much has happened in 2009: we have only significant labor and employment bill signed into law. To be fair, President Obama and the Congress have had other things to worry about: a war or two, a lousy economy, health care and selecting a new White House dog to name a few.
But, the 2009-2010 legislative session is still not over, and Congress may yet pass some of the many labor and employment-related bills still pending. Employers may want to take note, as some of these may become law before the end of the session in 2010. Click on "continue reading" for a complete list.Continue Reading 2009 Mid-Term Federal Legislative Update
We have a favorite new website here at the Stoel Rives World of Employment: Card Checked: The Game (sorry, failblog.org). Card Checked is an online game where you can play a "young and talented tattoo artist living in America where the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has become the law of the land." As
According to this article in today’s New York Times, Senate Democrats have dropped the controversial card check provisions from the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
The card-check provision would have allowed unions to organize employees and begin representing them as soon as a majority of employees signed cards saying they wanted a union. Under
The NY Times recently ran a story about internal union squabbles, which are hindering organized labor from achieving its political goals. The high profile dispute is between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
The NUHW broke off from the SEIU and is now trying to take over several bargaining units formerly
The proposed Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act, introduced in Congress last week, would change federal labor law to allow employers to pay higher wages to selected union employees. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Guess again.
The Act was introduced in the Senate by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and in the House by
If passed in its proposed form, the Employee Free Choice Act ("EFCA") will revolutionize federal labor laws by allowing unions to organize without a secret-ballot election. Other onerous provisions include shortening the time to negotiate a first contract and, if the parties do not agree, allowing an arbitrator (a judge) to decide the terms of
The latest news on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a possible compromise in which EFCA’s card-check provision is replaced by a "quickie election" procedure – where an election must be held a very short time (a week to three weeks) after the union requests one from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Another possible
More news on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA): last week, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, long considered a critical swing vote for both sides, came out in opposition to EFCA. Click here to read the New York Times’ coverage. Specter’s "no" means that the pro-EFCA senators will fall short of the 60 votes they
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