Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


It is not everyday that we have a chance to look at labor developments across the pond.  While there is often some noteworthy events taking place outside of the U.S., I often do not highlight those matters as there is enough to cover in these 50 states.  With that being said, a looming strike by Royal Mail workers is noteworthy and worth leading things off this week.

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



As reported in The Guardian recently, Royal Mail workers are to hold 19 strikes over this month and November following disputes over their pay and working conditions.  These strikes come on the heels of claims that the Royal Mail Group’s senior management has taken steps to move forward with cuts to workers’ terms and conditions of employment and sideline the union.  Notably, these strikes are set to take place around Black Friday and Cyber Monday as Royal Mail workers seek to dramatically slow down Royal Mail’s business.  Will this lead to a change for Royal Mail Workers?  Stay tuned.



Last week, two more Congressional offices voted to unionize with staffers overwhelmingly voting in favor of unionization.  The offices of Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna voted 9 - 1 and 21 - 0 in favor of unionization.  With these two successful votes, that now brings the total number of Congressional staff offices that have unionized to three.  I would expect that in the coming weeks more will follow suit.



NPR published an article last week in which it noted that despite over 300 Starbucks stores voting to unionize over the past year, that does not mean that the desired changes sought by these workers and their union have gone into place.  In fact, as the article notes, discussions between the union and Starbucks are only just beginning with the company offering several weeks this month to discuss a collective bargaining agreement.  Granted, there are still hundreds of unfair labor charges that have been asserted against the company, with Starbucks also challenging several of the results of the elections.  That has led to a long, slow, and arduous process for these workers as they seek to reap their expected benefits of unionization.  As NPR reports, the unionization amongst Starbucks stores has only just begun.

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,...
Post a Comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more