07/20/2010
The Labor Department has launched a new web-based employment law guide on how to conduct union elections. The purpose: Walking union members and officials through the steps necessary to comply with labor-relations law. If you have union workers, you owe it to yourself to learn how they'll probably conduct their next election.
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07/15/2010
There’s at least one upside to having a unionized workforce: Employees who have disagreements over pay or benefits generally have to use the arbitration process authorized in the union contract to pursue their claims. Your collective-bargaining agreement can save employers from expensive trips to the federal courts.
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07/02/2010
Q. A group of our employees recently voted to strike. To ensure that our operations aren’t disrupted, we would like to hire replacement workers. When the strike ends, will we be required to reinstate the strikers?
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06/28/2010
Last year, Rutgers University asked for a wage freeze for its 13,000 employees in exchange for not cutting any positions. This year, the state Legislature cut aid to the university by 15%. Faculty and staff bargaining units are threatening to sue because they voluntarily agreed to the wage freezes last year with the understanding they would receive them this year.
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06/28/2010
New Jersey public school teachers are accepting smaller raises in the wake of the ailing economy and state aid cuts. Thirty-three new collective-bargaining agreements resulted in an average 3.35% pay increase for teachers, down from 4.35% in 2009.
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06/24/2010
When the Hershey Co. decided to stop making chocolate at its 106-year-old factory in the heart of Hershey, the company faced the choice: Move all 1,500 jobs to other states, or cut about one-third of those positions and move the remaining workforce three miles to a more modern plant. Hershey asked the Chocolate Workers Union Local 464 to accept a seven-year contract that sacrificed some jobs while boosting pay for remaining workers.
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06/21/2010
If your organization is a contractor or subcontractor with the federal government, it’s now required to post a new and decidedly pro-union poster: Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act. The new requirement took effect June 21.
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06/18/2010
The Communications Workers of America union and Verizon West have agreed to a new three-year contract that promises higher pay, continuing health benefits and more union jobs. Under the new collective-bargaining agreement, workers will receive an 8.25% wage increase over the contract term and will continue to receive free health benefits.
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06/09/2010
Disabled employees may be entitled to transfer to an open position as a reasonable accommodation. But if that open position is subject to a collective-bargaining agreement, and another employee should receive the job under that agreement, the transfer would be unreasonable.
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06/08/2010
In two weeks, you must begin posting a new notice of employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act if you’re a government contractor doing $100,000 or more in business with the federal government or a subcontractor with contracts worth more than $10,000.
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06/01/2010
Employers must stay abreast of an alphabet soup of federal laws—ADA, ADEA, FMLA and so forth—each with its own requirements. To comply, you first must know which laws apply to your business, based on the number of people you employ. Here's how to tell which laws affect your workplace ... and which ones you can safely ignore.
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06/01/2010
During the past few years of deep recession, employees mostly understood your organization’s need to freeze wages, stop 401(k) matches and, in some cases, trim payrolls. But the improving economy and resulting positive headlines are causing more employees to wonder when this good news will trickle down to their own paychecks. And unions are using this unease as a way to organize new members.
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05/28/2010
According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), North Carolina lost 17,000 union jobs last year, cementing its position as the least-unionized state in the nation. Just 3.1% of North Carolinians belonged to a union in 2009, down from 3.5% in 2008.
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05/28/2010
If a recent decision is any indication, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers North Carolina employers, is willing to let arbitrators do their jobs.
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05/17/2010
According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois gained 12,000 union jobs last year, and the rate of union membership jumped almost a full percentage point, from 16.6% in 2008 to 17.5% in 2009. Illinois is bucking the nation’s broader union job loss trend. Nationwide, union jobs took a proportionately bigger hit during the economic downturn than nonunion jobs did.
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