Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


I had intended to write a note about the minimum wage vote in Kansas City a few days ago, but work kept me tied up.  However, I did want to highlight that article in particular, given the protracted and drawn out legal fight that is likely to follow.  The article from The Kansas City Star gives readers a good idea of where things stand at the moment, with an eye to to the future.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Harvard Appeals NLRB Decision to Invalidate Unionization Vote

Readers might recall that last year, a student unionization election occurred at Harvard.  After the vote occurred, there were subsequent challenges made to several ballots cast in the election as well as claims that Harvard had improperly prevented eligible students from participating in the election.  While the initial results appeared to show a vote against unionization, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board, John J. Walsh, Jr., wrote a decision last month that invalidated the election and called for another vote.  In recent days, Harvard has taken steps to appeal that decision and has taken their case to the National Labor Relations Board in D.C.  Interesting to see what comes of this...especially given the fact that the National Labor Relations Board is expected to take on a decidedly more conservative tilt.


Kansas City Minimum Wage Rate Clashes With Missouri State Law

Bylynn Horsley at The Kansas City Star wrote an article last week on a minimum wage vote that recently took place in Kansas City.  That vote sought to raise minimum wage rates in the city from its current rate of $7.70/hour to $10/hour on August 24th and then eventually to $15/hour by 2022.  However, this proposal conflicts with a Missouri state law, set to take effect on August 28, that bars Kansas City (and other cities in the state) from setting its own minimum wage rates.  With that being said, voters in Kansas City approved the measure and now advocates of the $15/hour minimum wage rate are "demanding" that Kansas City businesses honor the outcome of the vote.  (Yes, the Kansas City minimum wage ballot initiative is set to take effect four days before the Missouri state wide "ban" would go into effect...).  This is one to keep an eye on as I expect it to end up in court sooner rather than later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more