The Worker Thread

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Vrede too
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Well, on the brighter side, those same policies/laws have made all those three states excellent places for labor attorneys to work. ;)

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:39 pm
Well, on the brighter side, those same policies/laws have made all those three states excellent places for labor attorneys to work. ;)
I'm not sure that some of them have any labor laws left to litigate. :(
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:32 pm
O Really wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:39 pm
Well, on the brighter side, those same policies/laws have made all those three states excellent places for labor attorneys to work. ;)
I'm not sure that some of them have any labor laws left to litigate. :(
You may have thought that funny, but actually the fewer the labor laws, the more litigation. Places like California, that have everything spelled out to a great detail, get things settled administratively. Mississippi, which has basically no labor laws (other than keepin' them New York Jewish organizers out) is a rats nest for lawsuits. What in most states would be a labor violation turns into a personal injury in Mississippi. :lol:

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 8:50 pm
You may have thought that funny,

A little. :( ;)

but actually the fewer the labor laws, the more litigation. Places like California, that have everything spelled out to a great detail, get things settled administratively. Mississippi, which has basically no labor laws (other than keepin' them New York Jewish organizers out) is a rats nest for lawsuits.

Ah, thanks.

What in most states would be a labor violation turns into a personal injury in Mississippi. :lol:

How so?
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 10:01 pm


How so?
[/quote]

Maybe a slight exaggeration, but "intentional infliction of emotional distress" covers a lot of ground.

Keep in mind, though, that most of the factors in the rating scale are all federal, which the states can enhance on, but can't change. Minimum wage, various protective laws and right to organize derive initially from federal law. The ratings were actually which states do a better job of having better laws than the federal, i.e., higher minimum wage, required paid leave, etc. The only one where the states have the greater clout is in union membership, particularly in public sector. Federal law gives the right to organize, but states can make it hard by restricting employer deduction of dues, for example.

All in all, though, I favor the Cali approach over the Mississippi approach.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Got it, thanks.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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It appears a new trade agreement has replaced NAFTA - The USMCA (United States Mexico Canada Agreement).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... 5c78cfc964

The potentially good:
Improved labor and environmental rights. The new USMCA makes a number of significant upgrades to environmental and labor regulations, especially regarding Mexico. For example, USMCA stipulates that Mexican trucks that cross the border into the United States must meet higher safety regulations and Mexican workers must have more ability to organize and form unions. Some of these provisions might be difficult to enforce, but the Trump administration says it is committed to ensuring these happen — a reason U.S. labor unions and some Democrats are cheering the new rules.
Thoughts on the agreement?
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Whack9 wrote:
Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:04 am
... Thoughts on the agreement?
No opinion yet. Heard on NPR that the ratification vote won't come until 2019, so we'll have lots of time to examine the details.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Tennessee 43
O Really wrote:
Sat Sep 29, 2018 7:39 pm
Well, on the brighter side, those same policies/laws have made all those three states excellent places for labor attorneys to work. ;)
Coffee County taxpayers hit with $1 million in damages in employee discrimination lawsuit

Summary:
Members of the public frequently complained about a department head.
A department employee went to the County Mayor about this.
The department head eliminated the employee's position.
The employee sued claiming illegal discrimination/retaliation and won.
The county appealed, leading the employee to also appeal.

Fairly routine stuff to this point. What made it worth sharing to me is that the appeals court doubled the award to the employee.
:lol: :---P

Not that Dem pols and bureaucrats can't be just as bad at times, but Coffee County is more than 2 to 1 GOP.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Image

Nearly 8,000 Marriott workers are on strike right now, taking a stand against one of the most powerful and profitable companies on the planet.

Despite high profits, the hotel chain pays some of its workers so poorly that they have to take second jobs to make ends meet. Their rallying cry will resonate with many of our members: Just like we have championed fair pay for educators, one job should be enough to live on.

I joined the workers’ picket line in Boston, one of the strike locations, on Monday to demonstrate the AFT’s support and solidarity. The workers are grateful for our support, but we need to do more. You can help right now by taking a pledge to not stay at a Marriott hotel during the strike.

Image

It’s not just hotel workers who have to work second jobs or make other sacrifices to take care of their families. Educators take weekend jobs at restaurants or delay having kids or going to graduate school because of low pay. Others, as Time magazine reported last month, supplement their salaries by selling their blood plasma.

These striking hotel workers and the educators who walked out of their schools earlier this year are part of the same fight. America needs an economic framework where the dignity of workers—whether teachers or housekeepers—is respected and people are paid a living wage. It’s what labor unions try to do—fighting for one job to be enough to raise our families on, enough to provide the security and safety we need, and enough to allow us to retire with dignity.

Marriott is a billion-dollar company, and it’s profitable because of the people who work there. Hotel work can be backbreaking—be it housekeeping, working in the kitchen or the laundry room, waiting tables or the myriad other jobs. The people who put that effort into making Marriott successful deserve their fair share of that success. They deserve to be paid enough so that one job is enough for them to live on.

We’re in the middle of one of the most consequential elections of my lifetime. I’ve been crisscrossing the country, working to elect people who share our values and who stand with working people. And I’ve pledged to not cross the picket line. As you know, we can’t show our solidarity only when it’s convenient to do so.

Take the One Job pledge. Let’s make sure Marriott knows that America stands with these workers.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers President
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Trump’s NLRB Just Quietly Ruled to Make Union Pickets Illegal

An all-Republican panel of President Trump’s National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) recently ruled that janitors in San Francisco violated the law when they picketed in front of their workplace to win higher wages, better working conditions and freedom from sexual harassment in their workplace. The ruling could result in far-reaching restrictions on picketing that limit the ability of labor unions to put public pressure on management.

The NLRB reached its conclusion by using the complex and convoluted employment structure created by the janitors’ employers. The janitors were technically employed by one company, Ortiz Janitorial Services, which was subcontracted by another company, Preferred Building Services, to work in the building of a third company.

This type of confusing employment relationship is increasingly common, resulting in workers being put in a position where it’s difficult to negotiate higher wages and better working conditions, or protect their basic employment rights.

The NLRB based its decision on a particularly onerous provision in federal labor law that prohibits employees from engaging in boycotts, pickets or other activities that are aimed at a secondary employer. The provision was added as part of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, taking away one of labor’s most powerful weapons.

In this case, the NLRB overturned an administrative law judge’s ruling that because the second company had significant control over the employment relationship, it constituted a joint employer. The judge based her conclusion on evidence that Preferred Building Services was involved in the hiring, firing, disciplining, supervision, direction of work, and other terms and conditions of the janitors’ employment with Ortiz Janitorial Services. Therefore, both Ortiz and Preferred acted as joint employers to the janitors.

This matters because if the various companies were joint employers, there were no prohibited secondary activities. But the NLRB held that the janitors worked for the subcontractor, and any actions aimed at any other company was illegal under the law....
:bs: :cussing:
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Not to nitpick (OK, to nitpick), but the NLRB ruled that the picket action in this instance violated a long-standing prohibition against secondary picketing. One could argue over whether it's a good ruling (I would say "no"), but it didn't "make union pickets illegal."

An item of bigger concern from the Nazi Labor Reprobate Bastards is their overall weakening of the joint employer standards, which does indeed make it easier for big companies to dodge the law.
Last edited by O Really on Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:00 pm
Not to nitpick (OK, to nitpick), but the NLRB ruled that the picket action in this instance violated a long-standing prohibition against secondary picketing. One could argue over whether it's a good ruling (I would say "no"), but it didn't "make union pickets illegal."

over at the harding hom scul for religious nuts there ain't no "ism" in capitalism, or feudalism or fascism

https://youtu.be/Oz9fX_HfsXA
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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:00 pm
Not to nitpick (OK, to nitpick), but the NLRB ruled that the picket action in this instance violated a long-standing prohibition against secondary picketing. One could argue over whether it's a good ruling (I would say "no"), but it didn't "make union pickets illegal."

An item of bigger concern from the Nazi Labor Reprobate Bastards is their overall weakening of the joint employer standards, which does indeed make it easier for big companies to dodge the law.
:lol: I KNEW you were going to (and should) say that. It's why I made sure to include the text explaining exactly what you point out. I don't know how things work at IN THESE TIMES, but at other entities the author does not write the headline.

That said and not to nitpick (OK, to nitpick), the headline doesn't say that the ruling will make ALL "Union Pickets Illegal". ;) :P (yeah, I had that one ready, too)
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Well, you know me. I think there's enough horror in Trump administration wreckage without need for exaggeration or distortion. This one really should - and previously would - have been considered joint employment, though, IMNVHO. Several years ago the distinction was drawn between a "payrolling service" and a "professional employment organization." The payrolling service simply provides the software, recordkeeping, tax payments and sometimes benefit programs for employees but has no real control over them in regard to their hiring, termination, work place, schedule or performance. That isn't what this was, and the janitors got screwed.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Tue Nov 13, 2018 4:31 pm
Well, you know me. I think there's enough horror in Trump administration wreckage without need for exaggeration or distortion. This one really should - and previously would - have been considered joint employment, though, IMNVHO. Several years ago the distinction was drawn between a "payrolling service" and a "professional employment organization." The payrolling service simply provides the software, recordkeeping, tax payments and sometimes benefit programs for employees but has no real control over them in regard to their hiring, termination, work place, schedule or performance. That isn't what this was, and the janitors got screwed.
What is remarkable about this case is how it makes things much worse for workers by only subtly reinterpreting the law.
The full description of 1st Amendment limitations for unions is depressing.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Unions in general have done a really awful job for a couple of decades. They haven't changed with the times, haven't adapted to different working environment and employment culture, and haven't made themselves attractive to workers. Sure, NLRB members and Administrations come and go - some more friendly with unions than others - and you do get the occasional Scott Walker that gets lucky, but back in the day they weren't deterred by a little resistance or legal obstacles. Picture this- how can a firefighter or cop, they of the "band of brothers" and "thin blue line" not only vote "no" on union, but find the union despicable? How does someone like the former poster known as nascar even exist - believing the city unrestricted won't screw them over but the union is? Guy that will believe that probably tells his daughter he'll get her a unicorn for her birthday and keep it in the backyard. How in the world does a coal miner in West Effin' Virginia not join the union? Somewhere along the line, the unions have let themselves become irrelevant to a wide majority of workers.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Sounds like the Dems, the peace movement, blacks, Latinos, women somewhat, Muslims, not all tree huggers but definitely the ones hoping to really stop AGW. Even civil liberties is a dirty phrase.
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