Posted on 12/23/2017 11:01:36 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
The Supreme Court could be responsible for the most far-reaching change to labor policy in 2018, as the justices will take up a case that could end the practice of forcing government workers to pay union dues.
In September, the justices announced they would hear Janus v. American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. Unions such as AFSCME depend on those funds and are likely to face steep membership and dues losses if the practice ends. Public-sector unions now account for roughly half of the labor movement, so a loss could be a blow to union power.
The case involves Mark Janus, an Illinois government worker who objects to being forced to pay a union regular fee, dubbed a "security fee," as a condition of employment. A 1977 Supreme Court precedent called Abood v. Detroit Board of Education said the fees were allowed in contracts between unions and government entities. Janus argues the provision violates his First Amendment rights by forcing him to subsidize political activities he doesn't support. Unions have long argued that they are owed security fees even from non-members to cover the costs of collective bargaining for all the workers at the site.
No date has been set for oral arguments in the case.
The court appeared to be on the verge of narrowly overturning Abood in a similar 2016 case called Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, but after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia the court deadlocked 4-4, leaving the precedent intact. The replacement of Scalia by Justice Neil Gorsuch is widely believed among court-watchers to give the court's conservative wing the fifth vote needed to overturn Abood.
Public-sector unions fear that would be a disaster for them. An internal survey the union did in 2015 and leaked to Bloomberg News found that only one-third of their members would voluntarily pay dues, and half of its membership couldn't be counted upon to do that.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department is expected to announce new rules covering overtime for workers. Under current federal law, a worker must make at least $47,000 annually before he can be deemed managerial and therefore exempt from the requirement that he be paid time and a half after 40 hours a week. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has said the Obama administration overreached in 2016 when it established the current threshold, but he has added that the prior threshold of $23,000 annually was too low, so the administration likely will find a level somewhere in between.
The department also will likely announce new rules covering tipped professions. The Trump administration has indicated that new rules could allow employers to seize tips given to bartenders and wait staff provided they are paid at least the minimum wage, a reversal of a 2011 rule established by the Obama administration that said the tips were the property of the person that received them. The Labor Department is soliciting public comments on the rule, the first step in the process of rewriting it.
The restaurant industry has pushed hard for the change, arguing that income disparities between the "front of the house" workers and the "back of the house" ones such as cooks and dishwashers have made making a living difficult to people for the latter positions, especially in states and cities with high minimum wages. Redistributing the tips to all workers would solve the problem, restaurant owners argue. They dispute arguments that owners would simply seize the tips, arguing no restaurateur could retain any staff if they did that.
The department also is working to rescind an Obama-era rule that forced lawyers to publicly disclose any consulting with management over labor issues. Previously, the disclosure was required only if the attorneys talked to workers. The Obama administration expanded that to include any consulting, a move that was expected to cause many lawyers to stop consulting altogether. A revised rulemaking reinstating the pre-Obama standard is expected in 2018.
President Trump also will have to find a replacement for the chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency. Philip Miscimarra stepped down as chairman on Dec. 16, leaving the five-member board evenly split between Republican and Democratic members. Under Trump, the board has reversed several key Obama administration-era pro-union rulings, most notably rolling back a "joint employer" rule that made corporations, especially franchisers, potentially liable for workplace violations by other businesses. The eventual pick could face a rough confirmation by Senate Democrats.
Republican lawmakers have proposed numerous bills to roll back the Obama-era changes. The actions of the Labor Department and NLRB are likely to cool those efforts, though leaders may try to hold votes on legislation such as the Employee Rights Act, which would provide workers with additional rights to dissent from unions and requires all union elections have a federally monitored secret vote.
MAGA bump!
I love how the left is “Pro choice on what you want to do with your body” but not “Pro-choice on who you want to work for using your body”...
One reason American business fled overseas, was unions pricing labor out of the market.
Once our manufacturing base returns to our shores, unions will have to be reined in or they will just do it again. I see a big problem there and I have no real answer on how to solve it. Smarter people than I may be able to.
[ All unions must burn.
One reason American business fled overseas, was unions pricing labor out of the market.
Once our manufacturing base returns to our shores, unions will have to be reined in or they will just do it again. I see a big problem there and I have no real answer on how to solve it. Smarter people than I may be able to. ]
One of my family members is a Union Member, I explain to him that sure Unions were needed a long time ago when people were being worked to death etc etc... But I told him that once they achieved their Initial STATED Goals their leadership just hung on to every excuse they could to increase their power as corruption took over. AND HE AGREES WITH ME.... then I tell him that any organisation like UNIONS give people power they will abuse that POWER...... AND HE AGREES WITH ME AGAIN!!!!!!
But then I tell him maybe the UNIONS should be downsized and dissolved, and he starts bitching about how evil the republican supposedly are.... AND HOW WE NEED UNIONS NOW MORE THAN EVER.... Some people are just so damned indoctrinated.... I have literally given up on him, it is sad, he is a philosophical ZOMBIE...
Well, I sure as hell do NOT support the regulations change to allow the “redistribution of tips”. Any tip I give is meant for the person I am tipping and NOT for the dishwasher or the owner/manager!
managers should never get tips but th kitchen staff is difrent. this also should be a decision made by the owner of the buisness how tips were handled. when I was younger I did restraunt work and every restraunt handled the tips difrently. as a dish washer I got a small percentage of the tips at one place at another I got nothing.
Which is just another example of the "Big Lie" philosophy of the left. They make noises that sound good, but only to mask their evil purpose. They know the average person would never support their true agenda, so they gussy it up with "it's for the chirrun" and "we love poor people". It's also why they paint us as racists, sexists, etc. They know it's a lie, but they do it anyway.
EVERY word out of their mouth is a lie. The smart ones know it, and the stupid ones repeat it. Because they are stupid.
“Security fee”?
Well, at least they are honest that what they are doing is little more than a mafia-style protection racket.
I work for the Commonwealth of PA and I think AFSCME is our union. Me and a coworker can’t stand it because we want no part in the union and what it stands for. Even if we’re not in the union we have to pay a fee
Govt. sector unions was a big mistake and I think one of our guys initiated it.....short of a reversal, this will all but kill them.
When this win comes in it will cripple the fake unions’ ability to steal members’ money to give to the evil donkey. This is what happened in Wisconsin.
When this win comes in it will cripple the fake unions’ ability to steal members’ money to give to the evil donkey. This is what happened in Wisconsin.
“The Trump administration has indicated that new rules could allow employers to seize tips given to bartenders and wait staff provided they are paid at least the minimum wage”.
Sorry but that is a terrible idea. Tips are left for the waiter/waitress and should not be the property of the owner.
A great dining experience becomes reality when all personnel work together. The waiter or waitress gets the tip but the credit goes to everyone from the chef to the busboy who do a great part of the work. My wife worked at quality restaurants and she didn’t mind sharing her tips because the staff could just as easily have ruined the experience. The manager doesn’t partake usually but he certainly oversees a smooth operation.
Public Unions should have been outlawed from the start.
They promise future spending, which must come from legislatures not yet elected.
The whole premise of elected legislatures is that the people, indirectly, control their own affairs, including taxation and spending.
In the case of a private business which defaults on a contract, the plaintiff has a cause of action against the business.
But if the Michigan legislature elected in 2026 cancels pension payments to auto workers, who do the auto workers have a cause of action against? The voters?
Executive Order 10988 is a United States presidential executive order issued by President John F. Kennedy on January 17, 1962 that recognized the right of federal employees to collective bargaining. This executive order was a breakthrough for public sector workers, who were not protected under the 1935 Wagner Act.
This was payback to Mayor Daley and the unions for the voter fraud in Chicago that allowed Kennedy to steal the Presidential election from Nixon.
Yea, I know, there is NO DIFFERENCE between Republicans and Democrats. Right.
(...and I do wonder if the people making that claim might just be Democrat trolls here)
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