Some workers at Tesla’s Freemont, California electric car factory are following a common play from the union organizing handbook: file specious unfair labor practice charges. Unions often file these to increase the employer’s cost of defending against unionization, to throw red herrings at the employer during the organizing campaign, and to foster media interest in…

Organized labor has been on a crusade to organize all facets of higher education. The NLRB has granted unions the right to organize adjunct professors, graduate assistants, and Division I scholarship athletes. These wins have been controversial but successful for unions. You can now add to that list Resident Advisors. The Regional Director of the…

In-N-Out Burger has a uniform policy that forbids employees from wearing buttons, pins, or stickers on their uniforms because the burger chain wants to create the public image of a “sparkling clean” restaurant. This policy was challenged by workers who were refused to remove a “Fight for Fifteen” button. Let’s get to the law. First,…

According to Cathy Ebben Eaton, a postdoctoral scholar and executive board member of UAW Local 5810 and Kathy Setian, former US Environmental Protection Agency project manager and a steward of Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, “Of the attacks on our civil society, the attacks on science pose perhaps the greatest existential threat.” And…

The United Steelworkers union recently released a “dues calculator” on its website. After employees input information, the calculator tells them how much they owe the union on a weekly basis. Here is how it works:           Calculation 1          Gross Weekly Earnings            …

Some unions are terrified that their membership will shrink dramatically while President Trump is in office. The SEIU slashed its budget by $90 million dollars because it foresees a shortage of members paying into the union’s coffers. Likewise, other unions are laying off and restructuring. I applaud the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, though,…