Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


I believe there are two stories that have unfolded the past few weeks which have the potential to become major discussion points in the coming weeks and months:  the growing dialogue about the Democratic party’s platform and an effort by a group of labor unions to require employers in Nevada to rehire workers that had been furloughed.  I refer the readers to the articles themselves, below, for further reading. 

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


DNC Platform Includes $15/Hour Federal Minimum Wage Rate & Labor Friendly Proposals

Following the Democratic party’s nomination convention earlier this month, additional details have emerged as to the party’s platform and relevant policy proposals.  As a reminder, a party’s platform does not mean these proposals/ideas will become law or even stand a chance of being implemented.  Rather, the platform is created by members of the party in an effort to provide voters with guidance on where the party stands on relevant social and economic issues and provide insight on what that party hopes to achieve should they be voted into office.  On pages 14 and 15 of the Democratic party’s platform, the party supports raising the federal minimum wage rate to $15/hour by 2026, doing away with right to work, and allowing card check elections.  Of note, the party proposes holding company executives personally liable for interfering with a worker’s attempt to unionize.  I refer readers to the platform itself for more information, although I would not call much of the platform (in regard to the relevant labor and employment law matters) to be much of a surprise.


Coalition of Nevada Labor Unions Push “Right to Return”

Earlier this month, Shannon Miller over at Fox 5 reported on the Save Our Jobs Alliance, a coalition of labor unions in Nevada pushing for the Clark County Board of Commissioners to approve an ordinance that would require employers to rehire workers that had been furloughed.  The ordinance, known as the “Right to Return”, is being pushed by a coalition of labor unions that boast nearly 90,000 Nevada workers.  I would expect coverage to ramp up in the coming weeks, especially if the story can gain national attention.  Stay tuned.

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