Steelworkers Playbook on How They Plan to Reform Labor Law

September 30, 2014 /

The United Steelworkers of America recently wrapped its annual convention where it called for “true labor law reform in the United States” and where it vowed to enact these changes:

  1. Workers should have a right to a representation election within 30 days of filing a petition for one
  2. Workers should have access to neutral voting locations
  3. NLRB penalties should be increased to meaningful levels and indexed to inflation
  4. Triple back pay without deductions should be the baseline for unfair labor practice terminations
  5. The union will also actively work to unseat Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn) who spoke out against the UAW’s presence at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant
  6. Workers should have the right to organize in non-traditional work settings, including the development of worker centers and the continued USW support to organize college athletes

These are some very lofty goals. It will be interesting to see whether any of them are achieved in the next year. Smartly, the USW never put a timeline on when these reforms should be made.