Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

 

It had been a few weeks since we heard of an effort to unionize at a major company.  This week, a unionization effort at MSNBC is worth noting and leading this off for this post.

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


200+ MSNBC Workers Move to Unionize

Last week, over 200 MSNBC workers moved to unionize and become a local chapter of the Writers Guild of America, East.  As The Hill reported, MSNBC President Rashida Jones said that while she respected the decision to unionize, the union would not be recognized unless a majority of eligible employees vote for unionization by way of an election.  The timetable for that election is not certain at this time.  However, critics have been quick to point out that while MSNBC has championed pro-worker and labor friendly coverage and reporting over the years, they have chosen to not voluntarily recognize a union in their very own “backyard.”


Aloha? For Some Remote Workers in Hawaii...Not So Much

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article that serves as somewhat of a follow up on workers that have chosen to relocate to Hawaii (temporarily) to work remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.  As the article notes, some of the workers that have gone to Hawaii have been able to enjoy the beaches, hiking, sightseeing, and overall ability to get off the grid.  Although getting off the grid also comes with poor WiFi in parts of Hawaii, time zone differences resulting in early morning conference calls, along with a general malaise with sitting behind a computer screen when paradise is right outside the door.  Unfortunately for some, even a (work) get away to Hawaii might not be all that it is cracked up to be.


Which Large Scale Employers Are Calling Employees Back to the Office...and Which Are More Flexible

With any luck, things are on the backside of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic (in regard to disruptions to the workplace/work routines).  As a result, many employers (large and small) have started to bring workers back into the office and resume a more “traditional”/pre coronavirus schedule.  This article from CNN has a breakdown of how a few large scale employers are handling bringing their workers back to the workplace.  This is worth a read for those interested to see where the trend is going, in regard to work vs. in person work.


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