Anti-union bosses screamed doom when the National Labor Relations Board moved to streamline union representation elections, claiming that any election in which the boss couldn’t drag things out (providing maximum time to intimidate workers away from the union and fire activists, by the way) would be horrible and undemocratic. Their reasons may have been all wrong, but they weren’t wrong that speedier elections have an impact:
Simply put, the NLRB fit 31 more resolved elections into the four-month period following the rule change than it did into the same period a year earlier. What’s more, every one of those 31 additional elections was a victory for the union.
There’s more. In May-August 2014, the median length of time it took a union’s representation petition to reach the election stage was 38 days. In May-August 2015, the median was only 24 days.
A union representation petition doesn’t go to the NLRB, remember, until at least 30 percent of the workers have signed on saying they want a vote. And of course it’s extremely unlikely a union would ask for a vote unless more than half of the workers are on board. So the petition going to the NLRB isn’t, to use an electoral analogy, like the day Ted Cruz says he’s running. It’s more like now, the final stretch before the voting starts, following a campaign that’s already gone on for months.
Consider this another reminder that elections matter even to boards you’ve barely heard of that administer laws you’re not all that familiar with.
A fair day’s wage
● What do you do when you can't afford childcare? You get creative (and worry a lot).
● Company learns the hard way (to the tune of $1.75 million) that you can’t make workers clock out for bathroom breaks, at least not if that means you’re paying below minimum wage.
● Temp agencies are being used to launder racist hiring practices and I mean, wow:
In Oklahoma, Cara Brown applied at a Tulsa temp agency in 2008 and updated her application in 2010. Gloria Ferrell applied in 2007 and 2011, according to court records. They didn’t get placed, and they didn’t know why – until a customer service representative who kept copies of some job orders sued the company. Notes from one job order read, “ ‘Good ol’ boy,’ as per customer, no B ppl.” Applications allegedly were marked with a dot for black workers, a circle for Hispanic and an X for Indian. Now, Brown, Ferrell and other black job seekers are suing, too.
● Retaliation by bosses against workers who speak out is common. So this advice on how to beat retaliation, even if you don't have a union could come in handy.
● Labor board hands Whole Foods workers a victory.
● Utz workers sue snack food company over wage theft.
● Women can't expect equality in the corporate boardroom until 2065.
Education
● How one whistleblower saved New York City schools $727 million.
● Are charter schools like subprime mortgages?
● Chicago Teachers Union joins call for Rahm Emanuel and Anita Alvarez to resign.