Blog
UAW revival gets flat tire in Alabama
The United Auto Workers (UAW) on Friday lost a high-profile bid to organize 5,000 Mercedes-Benz workers in a plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The loss…
Blog
UAW loses 13,000 members
The United Auto Workers (UAW) lost 13,000 members in the last year, according to filings the union made to the Labor Department. The UAW said…
Blog
R.I.P. Roger Corman, Filmmaker and Free Marketer
American cinema lost one of its great entrepreneurs last week when producer and director Roger Corman died at age 98. In a career that…
Blog
NLRB seeks to revoke First Amendment for management.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week sent a warning that literally anything management says about a union organizing bid…
Blog
Biden’s veto of joint employer rule CRA a blow to small businesses
President Biden’s veto Friday of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) bill rolling back the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “joint employer”…
Blog
California’s $20 fast food worker minimum wage a regressive tax
California’s new $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants has turned into a regressive tax on the state’s low-income residents. People who wanted…
Blog
Seattle’s new minimum wage rule undermining delivery drivers
A new Seattle minimum wage law meant to boost the incomes of app-based delivery drivers has instead backfired, resulting in less work for drivers. Some…
Blog
Biden says his steel tariffs totally different from Trump’s, speculates uncle was eaten by cannibals
President Joe Biden vowed Wednesday that he would get tough on China’s steel dumping by tripling tariffs on imports. He argued this was totally different…
Blog
OSHA tries to walk union officials into workplaces
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) issued a new rule Friday that will result in union organizers accompanying agency representatives during worksite inspections.
Blog
California laggin’: As Golden State minimum wage rises, so does unemployment
California has been a pioneer in raising the minimum wage for decades, consistently putting its state-wide minimum well above the federal rate. Over that same…
Blog
Diversity, equity, and exclusion: How the NLRB’s double standard on job-related speech hurts workers
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is supposed to protect workers who publicly raise questions about the policies in their workplace. A few recent cases…
Blog
ACLU said NLRB’s general counsel Abruzzo ‘lacks authority’
Here’s some news that slipped through the cracks last year: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the legitimacy of Jennifer Abruzzo’s appointment…
Blog
Gov. Youngkin vetoes two-crew minimum bill in defiance of railroad unions
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently vetoed a slew of bills by the commonwealth legislature. One rejection in particular was well-deserved: nixing an ill-advised…
Blog
Beware the labor regs of March!
A new rule from the federal government meant to protect workers is set to take effect today, March 11. It will instead leave most workers…
Blog
FTC declares mergers to be union-busting
In a classic case of regulatory creep, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently asserted jurisdiction over labor unions and collective bargaining. The agency is…
Blog
NLRB ruling on college athletes may foul foreign players
Nothing produces untended consequences like government action, and no one can say that the National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) isn’t producing its fare share. The…
Blog
Amazon primal: Retailer calls NLRB unconstitutional
Amazon has joined the growing chorus of businesses declaring that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may be unconstitutional. Along with SpaceX and Trader Joe’s,…
Blog
NLRB v. EEOC: Damned if you fire, damned If you don’t
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) aggressive new enforcement stance is creating a terrible bind for some businesses: if they try to avoiding penalties from…
Blog
FTC commissioner wants to regulate worker misclassification, decries ‘unfair competition’
Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya has announced that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will get into the business of enforcing labor law. That was the…
Blog
Businesses ask courts if the NLRB is constitutional
The National Labor Relations Board has made a point in recent years of re-examining the laws and regulations that the federal agency enforces, offering up…
Blog
The Ray Charles Theory of Marginal Utility
Musician Ray Charles’ nickname was “The Genius,” given on account of his ability to blend different genres of music – big band, rhythm and blues,…
Blog
Study Finds that Outlawing Work Reduces Employment
George Mason’s Mercatus Center has provided further proof that California’s AB5 law, which was intended to boost worker employment by preventing them from being misclassified…
Blog
Flight attendants try to decertify union that most never voted for
One of the underlying flaws with US labor law is that it sees workers and the unions that represent them as synonymous, rather than as…
Blog
Congressional Review Act vote shows cracks in joint employer rule
A vote in Congress Friday showed off the cracks in the support for the National Labor Relations Board’s new “joint employer” rule. It is…
Blog
Power to the… regulators? That’s what new worker classification rule will do
The US Labor Department’s new worker classification rule is a major step backwards, causing trouble for worker and employer alike as they try to…
Blog
The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild recently concluded a lengthy strike against Hollywood studios with a contract that included new protections for its members from artificial…
Blog
A steel sumo that might wrestle China to the mat
There are ironies a-plenty in the news that Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. plans to buy U.S. Steel. The fact that a foreign company would own…
Blog
Common sense has left the building: The push to redefine joint employer rule
The National Labor Relations Board did something earlier this year that union leaders and their allies on Capitol Hill have long demanded: It expanded…
Blog
Is UAW still an automaker union? How Gaza became a top issue
The name “United Auto Workers” would appear to pretty clearly indicate who that union represents, but it is increasingly becoming inaccurate. Today, only about…
Blog
Biden admin: Taxpayers don’t need to know about ‘official time’
The Biden administration is actively rolling back transparency requirements for unions, most recently by no longer posting information on the controversial practice of…
Blog
Ringside seats at today’s Senate cage match
A lot of preparation goes into testifying before a Senate committee. To borrow from the late Donald Rumsfeld, there are the “known” things that…
Blog
NLRB responds to CEI on government ‘encouraging’ unionization
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a rulemaking that included a direct rebuttal to an argument made by the Competitive Enterprise Institute regarding…
Blog
UAW strike epilogue: Big Three will continue to shrink
The United Auto Workers has won, according to the headlines. What the union has won will force three companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis, owner…
Blog
NLRB expands ‘joint employer’ rule to include kitchen sink
The National Labor Relations Board has issued its new rule for “joint employer status.” As expected, it extends the rule for when one company…
Blog
Ford-UAW deal: Declare victory and go home
The current United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three automakers has been more of a public relations spectacle than an actual strike. At no…
Blog
As Predicted, UAW Strike Remains Limited, Spares Automakers From Full Walkout
It only took about three weeks, but mainstream journalists are becoming aware of something the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been pointing out from the start:…
Blog
The year of strikes ain’t over yet
2023 has had the most major labor strikes the country has seen in decades, with likely more to come. Unions leaders are itching to do…
Blog
UAW’s Fain says new strike strategy has produced no ‘meaningful progress’
UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that the union would expand its strike against Ford and GM. Fain said an additional 7,000 members…
Blog
UAW strike mostly a PR move
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is making much of the fact that the union is currently engaged in its first-ever strike against three…
Blog
United Auto Workers want a bigger slice of a shrinking pie
If the United Auto Workers go on strike this week – and as I write this it appears as though they will – it…
Blog
An invitation for union organizers to cheat in elections
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule for union organizing elections that says the election will go ahead even when there…
Blog
Biden administration working overtime to regulate working overtime
The Biden administration issued a new rule this week that vastly expands of the number of workers covered by federal overtime rules. While some…
Blog
What you don’t know about the Wagner Act
What stance does the National Labor Relation Act, the main federal law regarding union rights, take towards workers joining unions? A long-held article of…
Blog
The Paycheck Protection Act gives Congress a chance to defend the little guy
Freshman Missouri congressman Eric Burlison (R) has introduced legislation called the Paycheck Protection Act. The act, a project of the nonprofit American Legislative…
Blog
Hollywood and the collateral damage of strikes
The current Hollywood strike by writers and actors has forced several others who don’t have an issue with the studios to stop working.
Blog
Teamsters’ UPS win suggests more strikes coming
Tuesday’s announcement that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS have agreed on a contract is a likely sign that strikes and other union…
Blog
Actors and writers unions are fighting technological change. Expect change to win.
The current strike by Hollywood writers and actors is a reactionary, rear-guard effort against changes in technology. The members of the WGA (Writers Guild of…
Blog
The Teamsters want UPS drivers to go on strike
UPS’s drivers will likely go on strike at the end of the month. It would be a huge disruption to the broader economy – and…
Blog
Supreme Court’s Janus case 5 years later: Workers are invoking their rights
A common argument made by unions and their allies is that workers want to belong to unions but that big business uses all manner of…
Blog
Biden Labor pick Julie Su claims she cannot recall her Prop 22 vote
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su claimed multiple times Wednesday that she could not recall how she voted on California’s Proposition 22, the ballot initiate…