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What I've Been Reading This Week


On Wednesday, President Donald Trump formally sent the Senate Eugene Scalia's nomination to head the Labor Department.  For the time being, there will be likely a fair bit of scrutiny by Democrats of the nomination.  While we could touch on that, I will save special reference to that nomination when things get closer to an actual vote.

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


In Midst of Contract Negotiations, Transport Workers Union Claims Assaults of Workers on the Rise

Politico had an interesting article it published earlier this week in which it was reported that assaults on subway workers in New York City are on the rise this year, to the tune of a 39% increase.  Some have pointed out the timing of this report is no coincidence as the Transport Workers Union (which represents the subway workers) is in the middle of contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Transit Authority ("MTA".)  The MTA has argued it is stretched thin as the subway workers are only available to work about 40 weeks a year (because of provided vacation, sick days, etc.), however the Union has countered this time off is provided because of the physically and emotionally grueling job.  Whether this reported increase in assaults leads to a further development in contract negotiations remains to be seen.



This past Monday, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") issued a decision in which it held that a small unit of Boeing employees at one of the company's plants in South Carolina could not organize.  (The International Association of Machinists sought to organize fewer than 200 mechanics, which represented about 7% of the plant's overall work force.)  In its decision, the NLRB wrote that the smaller unit would be inappropriate as a result of the two classifications in the petitioned for unit did not share a community of interest with one another.  With an employer friendly NLRB, I would not call this decision a surprise...but it is worth reading.

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