Labor Relations Commons^™

Memorial Notice For Professor Emeritus, Dr. Charles Scontras, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

Dr. Scontras was a tireless advocate for workers and for the preservation Maine’s history of working class struggle. For more than half a century Dr. Scontras addressed the history and present condition of labor in Maine. His work appeared in the op-ed pages of Maine’s newspapers, in six volumes of Maine labor history covering the period from 1636 to the present, in presentations at labor halls and in his determination to make the historical records of Maine labor unions available at the University of Maine Fogler Library Labor Archives.

No-Hire Provisions In Mcdonald's Franchise Agreements, An Antitrust Violations Or Evidence Of Joint Employer?, Andrele Brutus St. Val

Articles

As the archetypical franchisor and industry leader, McDonald’s has come under much public and legal scrutiny in recent years for its business practices and its effects on low-wage and unskilled employees. Its no hire provision—which is a term included in its franchise agreements with franchisees that bars franchisees from hiring each others employees—has been found by economist to suppress wages and stagnate growth. This provision is being challenged under antitrust law while its employment practices are being disputed under labor law. McDonald’s is defending its business practices by presenting two seemingly contradictory defenses. This article explores how McDonald’s position in …

Digital Media And Unionization In The “Guilded" Age: How Labor Organizations In The Entertainment Industry Are Swimming Against The Current Of Streaming New Media And Technology, Jacqueline G.H. Kim

Prize Winning Papers

No abstract provided.

Prop Up The Heavenly Chorus? Labor Unions, Tax Policy, And Political Voice Equality, Philip Hackney

Articles

Labor Unions are nonprofit organizations that provide laborers a voice before their employer and governments. They are classic interest groups. United States federal tax policy exempts labor unions from the income tax, but effectively prohibits labor union members from deducting union dues from the individual income tax. Because these two policies directly impact the political voice of laborers, I consider primarily the value of political fairness in evaluating these tax policies rather than the typical tax critique of economic fairness or efficiency. I apply a model that presumes our democracy should aim for one person, one political voice. For the …

Initiative And Referendum: A Maine Odyssey, Charles A. Scontras

Bureau of Labor Education

Maine is no stranger to the nation’s battles involving the development of the tools of direct democracy and how to use them. Since the citizen initiative and referendum were passed in late 1908, Mainers have used “the power of the people” to vote directly on many laws, bypassing the Legislature. Now, after more than 100 years in use, the initiative process may be facing a test: Gov. Paul LePage is preparing blueprints to use the initiative in an attempt to change the state’s welfare system and reduce the income tax — victories denied to him in the Legislature. It’s a …

Supreme Court Tie In Teacher Case Delivers A Crucial Victory To Unions, Angela B. Cornell

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

From Hierarchies To Markets: Fedex Drivers And The Work Contract As Institutional Marker, Julia Tomassetti

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Judges are often called upon today to determine whether certain workers are “employees” or “independent contractors.” The distinction is important, because only employees have rights under most statutes regulating work, including wage and hour, anti-discrimination, and collective bargaining law. Too often judges exclude workers from statutory protection who resemble what legal scholars have described as typical, industrial employees — long-term, full-time workers with set wages and routinized responsibilities within a large firm. To explain how courts reach these counterintuitive results, the article examines recent federal decisions finding that FedEx delivery drivers are independent contractors rather than employees. It argues that …

Right-To-Work:' The Issue That Won't Die — A Historical Perspective, Charles A. Scontras

Bureau of Labor Education

Phoenix-like, "right-to-work" measures have again surfaced in the state Legislature. Such measures are designed to prohibit employers from negotiating union security clauses by which all who benefit from union bargaining agreements pay their share of the costs involved in the union's legal obligation to represent all workers.

Newsroom: Yelnosky On Firefighters Decision, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Do I Have To Cross The Picket Line?, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

Refusing to cross a lawfully established picket line is protected by the National Labor Relations Act. You have the legal right not to cross a picket line in solidarity with your own union, out of sympathy for workers from another union, or just to avoid confrontation. By refusing to cross a picket line while on duty you are essentially engaging in a strike in sympathy with the picketing workers. Refusing to cross a picket line is a legally protected act. When you approach a picket line you may be asked to honor the picket line. Politely asking someone not to …

A Signal Or A Silo? Title Vii's Unexpected Hegemony, Sophia Z. Lee

All Faculty Scholarship

Title VII’s domination of employment discrimination law today was not inevitable. Indeed, when Title VII was initially enacted, its supporters viewed it as weak and flawed. They first sought to strengthen and improve the law by disseminating equal employment enforcement throughout the federal government. Only in the late 1970s did they instead favor consolidating enforcement under Title VII. Yet to labor historians and legal scholars, Title VII’s triumphs came at a steep cost to unions. They write wistfully of an alternative regime that would have better harmonized antidiscrimination with labor law’s recognition of workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively …

Fast-Food Workers Fight For A Raise And Create A Movement, Angela B. Cornell

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Systematic Ict Surveillance By Employers: Are Your Personal Activities Private?, Arlene J. Nicholas

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

This paper reviews the various methods of information and communications technology (ICT) that is used by employers to peer into the work lives and, in some cases, private lives of employees. Some of the most common methods – such as computer and Internet monitoring, video surveillance, and global positioning systems (GPS) – have resulted in employee disciplines that have been challenged in courts. This paper provides background information on United States (U.S.) laws and court cases which, in this age of easily accessible information, mostly support the employer. Assessments regarding regulations and policies, which will need to be continually updated …

Supporting Employment First: Assisting States In Achieving Improved Employment Outcomes For Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Cindy Thomas, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

A membership network of 29 states, the State Employment Leadership Network is a community of practice where members meet to connect, collaborate, and share information and lessons learned across state lines and system boundaries. Participating state agency officials build cross-community support for pressing employment-related issues and policies at state and federal levels. States commit to work together and engage in a series of activities to analyze key elements in their systems to improve the integrated employment outcomes for their citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Black Male Law Enforcement Officers' Perspectives Of Racial Profiling And Their Law Enforcement Career Exploration And Commitment, Gregory A. Salters

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored Black male law enforcement officers’ perspectives of how racial profiling shaped their decisions to explore and commit to a law enforcement career. Criterion and snow ball sampling was used to obtain the 17 participants for this study. Super’s (1990) archway model was used as the theoretical framework. The archway model “is designed to bring out the segmented but unified and developmental nature of career development, to highlight the segments, and to make their origin clear” (Super, 1990, p. 201).

Interview data were analyzed using inductive, deductive, and comparative analyses. Three themes emerged from the inductive analysis …

What You Should Know About "Right To Work" Laws, 2013 Update, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

This is a brief 2013 update to the Bureau of Labor Education’s (BLE) 2011 briefing paper, “The Truth about ‘Right to Work’ Laws.” As documented in the 2011 BLE paper, the term “right-to-work” is highly misleading, and many studies have shown that RTW laws are not helpful to the well-being of working people. “Right-to-work” does not protect against unfair firing, or promote equitable wages and decent working conditions. By undermining unions and the ability of labor and management to bargain freely, right-to-work laws weaken the ability of workers to protect their rights through a union contract. There are two major …

Transnational Business Governance Interaction And Competition Between Standard-Setting Initiatives: Labor Standards In Garment, Toys And Agriculture, Nicole Helmerich, Christopher Kaan

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This paper analyzes interactions within standard-setting networks in the area of social and labor rights. We examine the shape of transnational business governance interactions (TBGI), pathways, and interaction mechanisms in three sectors: garments, toys and agriculture. Our comparative analysis of each of these sectors reveals meaningful differences in both the organization of regulation networks and the resulting level of competition among participants. Overall, we find that the creation of a more inclusive and more coherent standard in a whole business sector comes with the cost of weaker rules and less monitoring. These industry-specific observations provide a springboard for future studies …

The Striking Success Of The National Labor Relations Act, Michael L. Wachter

All Faculty Scholarship

Although often viewed as a dismal failure, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has been remarkably successful. While the decline in private sector unionization since the 1950s is typically viewed as a symbol of this failure, the NLRA has achieved its most important goal: industrial peace.

Before the NLRA and the 1947 Taft-Hartley Amendments, our industrial relations system gave rise to frequent and violent strikes that threatened the nation’s stability. For example, in the late 1870s, the Great Railroad Strike spread throughout a number of major cities. In Pittsburg alone, strikes claimed 24 lives, nearly 80 buildings, and over 2,000 …

Maine Lobster Fishermen Had Early Brush With Organized Labor, Charles A. Scontras

Bureau of Labor Education

In the current effort of Maine lobster fishermen to maintain and enhance their interest, John Drouin, a Cutler lobsterman and vice chairman of the Maine Lobster Advisory Council — a group of fishermen and dealers who work with the Department of Marine Resources to protect the industry — noted that Maine lobstermen operate as independent business owners, compared with Canadian lobster fishermen, who are represented by unions and thus exert greater influence against the processors. “Until the day comes when we become unionized or one big co-op, we are just 5,000 individuals,” Drouin said.

Oklahoma, Maine, Migration And The "Right To Work:" A Confused And Misleading Analysis, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

The recent article released by the Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC), “The Case for Right-to-Work in Maine: Examining the Evidence in Oklahoma” (1/23/2012), attempts to make a case for the supposed benefits of a right-to-work (RTW) law in Maine, by discussing the case of Oklahoma’s RTW law, and then presenting a number of statistics on migration to Oklahoma, and from Maine to RTW states. However, a closer examination of this report reveals that it is based on highly questionable and misleading assumptions, and its assertions are based on incomplete data.

Labor, Industry Fighting Over Unemployment Benefits — Sounds A Lot Like The 1960s, Charles A. Scontras

Bureau of Labor Education

Current legislative efforts to reform the unemployment compensation law (LD1725) by increasing penalties for fraud and tightening qualifications for benefits, e.g., removal of the exemption of vacation time as a factor in assessing benefits and lengthening the search for employment after six weeks rather than the current requirement of twelve weeks, triggers some historical images.

Working Conditions And Patient Safety: Safe Staffing In Maine's Hospitals, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

A growing body of research is now documenting how serious problems in the work environments of nursing care in American hospitals are posing a threat to patient safety, as well as contributing to shortages of nurses working in hospital settings and in greater job stress and burnout among nurses. A major factor in this picture, according to a major report by the National Institute of Medicine, is the issue of chronic understaffing among direct care nurses.

What You Need To Know About Worker's Compensation, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

Annual data compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor consistently reveal that for too many workers the result of their employment is a job-related injury, illness, and in a number of cases, death. These data document the ongoing need and importance of workers’ compensation. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on: • workers’ compensation, how it evolved in the U.S., and the impact of this history today; • developments with Maine’s law, and resources for accessing information on this statute; and • the need to reform workers’ compensation for Maine workers.

Who Should Talk? What Counts As Employee Voice And Who Stands To Gain, Aditi Bagchi

All Faculty Scholarship

This symposium piece responds to an article by Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt titled "Promoting Employee Voice in the American Economy: A Call for Comprehensive Reform." Professor Schmidt argues in favor of increasing employee voice in corporate governance. In this reply, Professor Bagchi distinguishes between "hard voice," "soft voice" and information rights as three variants of employee voice. She casts doubt on the material benefits from Professor Dau-Schmidt's proposals, which focus on hard and soft voice, to either employees or corporate stakeholders more broadly. The present focus of corporate governance on the relationship between shareholders and managers, to the exclusion of employees, …

The Truth About "Right To Work" Laws, Bureau Of Labor Education. University Of Maine

Bureau of Labor Education

There are many misconceptions about “right-to-work” laws. This sounds like it would be a plus for working people. However, this term is misleading, and a distortion of the reality underlying it. Despite its name, right-to-work laws do not guarantee anyone a job, protect against unfair firing, guarantee equitable wages, or decent working conditions. By undermining unions and the ability of labor and management to bargain freely, right-to-work laws weaken the best job security protection workers have -- the union contract. Maine has rejected such a law a number of times in the past, including a 1948 referendum in which state …

A Moral Contractual Approach To Labor Law Reform: A Template For Using Ethical Principles To Regulate Behavior Where Law Failed To Do So Effectively, Zev J. Eigen, David S. Sherwyn

Faculty Working Papers

If laws cease to work as they should or as intended, legislators and scholars propose new laws to replace or amend them. This paper posits an alternative—offering regulated parties the opportunity to contractually bind themselves to behave ethically. The perfect test-case for this proposal is labor law, because (1) labor law has not been amended for decades, (2) proposals to amend it have failed for political reasons, and are focused on union election win rates, and less on the election process itself, (3) it is an area of law already statutorily regulating parties' reciprocal contractual obligations, and (4) moral means …

Reemployment Under Userra Sections 4312 & 4313: At Will Employment Vs. Temporary Employment, Richard L. Pate

WCBT Faculty Publications

As thousands of service members return to the U.S., severe economic conditions render acclimation to civilian life especially difficult. In 2010, as the combat mission in Iraq approached an end, the unemployment rate of Iraq and Afghanistan era veterans had reached 13.1 percent. The Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301-4333 (1994) ("USERRA"), was enacted, in great part, to mitigate harms such as those caused by the aforementioned perfect storm. Among other things, USERRA protects service members by entitling them to reemployment after military service. More specifically, USERRA Sections 4312 & 4313 entitle returning service members …

Family Security Insurance: A New Foundation For Economic Security, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center, Berkeley Center On Health, Economic & Family Security, Uc Berkeley School Of Law

Published Reports

A report released by Georgetown Law's Workplace Flexibility 2010 and the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic & Family Security (Berkeley CHEFS) outlining a blueprint for establishing and financing a new national insurance program to provide wage replacement for time off for health and caregiving needs. The report describes the need among working Americans for time off from work to address personal illness, to care for a new child, or to care for a loved one with a serious illness. It argues that the need for time off is no longer an issue for individual families or select industries, but a …

Federal Employees Part-Time Career Employment Act Of 1978: Overview, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

The Federal Employees Part-Time Career Employment Act aims to utilize the potential of persons who do not work a traditional forty-hour workweek. Having found that part-time permanent employment has a number of benefits,i Congress passed legislation extending part-time career employment opportunities throughout the federal government in 1978.

A Timeline Of The Evolution Of Retirement In The United States, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Memos and Fact Sheets

This document provides key highlights in the history of retirement in the United States. It provides some background on how the concept of retirement, and its legal treatment, has evolved. This time-line does not include every law related to pension and retirement plans. Rather, it emphasizes those laws that have come to shape how we view retirement, particularly the tax laws that encouraged employers to establish pension and retirement plans in the first place.