With the August 27, 2021 expiration of the term of former National Labor Relations Board member William Emmanuel, the NLRB now has a democratic majority again for the first time since 2017. The composition of the Board is driven by the party that occupies the White House at any given time in that Board members…
Read More »Starbucks is facing another unionizing effort amongst its barista “partners” again, this time in Buffalo, New York. You’ll recall that we reported just a few weeks ago that two employees fired from a Philadelphia Starbucks for unionizing activities (protected under the National Labor Relations Act) had prevailed in a legal challenge before an NLRB Administrative…
Read More »Earlier this month, Starbucks announced that it will increase the starting wage for its baristas in all stores to $12 an hour beginning in October. The company had previously announced plans for the across-the-board increase to take place in January, but pointed to better than expected performance to justify the early increases. Elsewhere, two baristas…
Read More »Last week, President Biden further prepped the transition within the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from red to blue dominance with his nomination of attorney David Prouty to fill the seat currently occupied by Trump appointee William Emmanuel. Although Emmanuel’s term on the NLRB does not expire until August, the President is obviously intent on…
Read More »Earlier this week, President Biden nominated labor attorney Gwynne Wilcox to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), tapping the union-side practitioner to fill the long-vacant fifth seat on the panel. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Wilcox would become the first black woman to sit on the NLRB in its 85-year…
Read More »Republicans have introduced a counter-measure to the joint employer expansion contained in the PRO Act, which as we’ve reported previously, has already passed the House. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Representative James Comer (R-KY) introduced the Save Local Business Act, which seeks to amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Fair Labor Standards Act…
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Dunkin’ and other quick-service franchise owners face some big challenges as we head into the summer. The good news is that the economy is picking up steam, with rising demand for everything from coffee and snacks to cars as people return to work. But as the economy comes back to life, the quick-service restaurant sector…
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Once elected, President Joe Biden made it clear he would make swift and sweeping changes at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in order to advance his pro-worker agenda. Soon after promising to be “the strongest labor president you have ever had,” Biden fired General Counsel Peter Robb along with Robb’s deputy. He has since…
Read More »It’s no surprise, but becoming more apparent with each day that the positions taken by the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board under President Biden will be more closely aligned with the anti-business posture adopted under the Obama administration than the free-market positions espoused under President Trump. As a glaring case in…
Read More »Just weeks after he fired NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb, whose appointment didn’t expire until November 2021, and subsequently the agency’s acting General Counsel Alice Stock, President Biden last week also fired Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson, whose appointment to the post was valid until 2023! Both individuals, each of…
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