The NLRB had to define “mail-ballot election” for Workers United:
At a Starbucks location in Seattle, a unit of 24 workers didn’t exactly vote with enthusiasm to join a union. For that matter, not many of them voted at all. A 4-4 tie was followed by the union claiming that two challenged votes should be counted to decide the matter, and Starbucks challenged those votes because they weren’t mailed to the regional office (as is not only customary but required for a mail-ballot election).
As the Board’s decision pointed out, “The record is clear that the voters in this case were specifically instructed to return their ballots via U.S. Mail, with no indication that ballots could be delivered in person.”
In this case, one of the voters decided to hand-deliver their ballot, and the other voter “had her boyfriend” drop her ballot off at the regional office. This presented chain-of-custody issues that needed to be addressed via testimony, and ultimately, all three current NLRB members (James Murphy, Scott Mayer, and David Prouty) concluded that this election outcome wasn’t going to be changed by two voters who didn’t follow directions. Next?
It’s been a minute since we’ve done a strike roundup, and it’s a good week for one:
– Around 800 Southern California grocery pharmacists at multiple retail chains (including Albertsons, Ralphs, and Vons and Pavilions) authorized a strike with UFCW claiming that negotiations stalled on an expired contract.
– The Teamsters’ Breakthru Beverage strike has reached the two-month mark in the St. Louis area, weeks after some bar-related establishments began to go elsewhere for their alcohol needs.
– The opening days of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey saw a slight wrinkle in Seattle. Although no screenings were cancelled, around a dozen SIFF Cinema Workers Union members went on a weekend-long strike over frustrations at not reaching a first contract after three years of bargaining.
– At Brooklyn Defender Services, around 500 workers (including public defenders and support staffers) ended a five-day strike this week. Their union, the UAW-affiliated Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, claimed that their tentative agreement included provisions on remote work and increased sick pay. And on the heels of this deal, 300 workers at The Bronx Defenders also authorized a strike that could begin on Jul. 24.
– About 4,400 WestJet flight attendants green-lit a strike in Canada, where a cooling-off period is required by law. If the two sides don’t come to an agreement on ground pay, these workers could walk out on the Civic Holiday three-day weekend.
The AI battle lines are intensifying in healthcare:
We’ve talked a lot about how AI is fast becoming an organizing issue in healthcare. Sure, physicians are reportedly loving how this emerging technology means less time spent on paperwork and more time on patient care. Yet nursing unions are pushing an opposing script and even contributing to a model contract language library. This week, NYSNA–the union behind this year’s high-profile, costly-for-nurses strike–claimed that AI replaced around a dozen nurses at Bronx’s Montefiore Medical Center.
The hospital denied these claims as “inaccurate and misleading,” but the truth rarely stops unions from spreading their fictions in the name of future recruitment. Elsewhere, the California Nurses Association has been negotiating a new contract for around 25,000 Kaiser nurses, some of whom protested AI strategy outside this year’s American Hospital Association Leadership Summit earlier this month in Denver, CO.
Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling is a step closer to losing the “acting”:
Soon, the Senate HELP Committee will likely advance Sonderling for a full Senate vote, which will put him closer to receiving the official title. At last week’s initial HELP Committee hearing, Sonderling cited his years of experience in multiple federal agencies, including the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and at the EEOC, as having “prepared me to lead the department with a deep understanding of its mission, its people and most importantly, the American people we serve.”
Thus far, Sonderling has spearheaded new proposed rules for independent contractor and joint employer standards. Some legal experts believe that he earned the “secretary” title at least a year ago, and we’ll see if his full confirmation vote happens before the Senate recess that starts on Aug. 7.
Another effort to loosen the joint employment standard:
As mentioned above, the DOL’s proposed joint employer rule is moving through the required notice-and-comment period. Likewise, the NLRB restored the more employer-friendly 2020 standard, but that’s not all.
This week in more Senate HELP Committee news, the American Franchise Act was advanced for full Senate consideration. The bill’s text stresses a requirement for “substantial direct and immediate control” over employment terms in order to trigger franchisors’ joint employment liability. That’s also a more employer-friendly take on joint employment, but with the House and Senate being pretty darn close in party balance these days, will this legislation pass? We’ll be paying attention.
