Unions remain baffled in how to organize workers in the gig economy. The gig economy is a term use for companies, like Uber, whose business model is built on the use of independent contractors. Independent contractors are, by law, not allowed to join unions. But that is not stopping unions from creatively trying to represent…

By now readers of this blog have heard about worker centers and the worker center called Fight for $15 whose mission is to establish a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers. Anecdotally, the Fight for $15 leader (who is the subject of this post) said that $15 was chosen as their preferred minimum wage…

The outcome of this case surprised me because the NLRB has previously found less egregious activity to be protected by the National Labor Relations Act. A union represented nurses at a hospital. The hospital and nurses’ union were negotiating a collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations became somewhat ugly. This caused the employer to cancel a bargaining…

The NLRB’s Regional Director recently approved a bargaining unit consisting of only warehouse workers (the unit sought by the union) and rejecting the employer’s contention that the unit should include the production employees in the plant as well as the production employees working in the employer’s plant across the street. This bifurcation of the workers…

Surprisingly, most unions were slow in reacting over the past several years to the pro-union NLRB. It seemed as if unions were content on allowing the NLRB to do their heavy lifting. I fully expected unions to file more unfair labor practice charges (since the Board rarely found in favor of an employer), more petitions…

The Obama-era NLRB is determined to go out with a bang. The brief facts of this case, decided by a 2-member majority of pro-union Board Members, is as follows: A beverage supervisor worked at a casino for less than one month. After her employment ended, she frequently socialized at the casino’s nightclub. Six months after…