Since the nation’s main labor law was enacted, employers have fought it. And they have mostly won.
How so? More than half our states forbid compulsory union dues. Great, you say? The idea behind dues paid by everyone reflected the fact that unions are by law the exclusive bargaining agent for all employees in that group. Example: If Employer A has 100 employees, and 51 vote for a union, the union must represent all 100 employees. (If you're in an HOA, it's identical logic. You pay whether you are in the majority or the minority for a special charge.)
Old-style unions wanted a contract with their employers. Yes, they would often strike for this. Once a contract was in place, strikes were forbidden by contract and replaced by arbitration.
So, what’s new? Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to hear a federal appeals case that upheld the NLRB’s idea of “micro-unions.”
Cosmetics sales people in stores such as Macy’s wanted their own union. Macy’s countered, “Let’s have an election involving all employees.” When employers seek “wall-to-wall units,” they win almost every time. It’s the main reason that Wal-Mart remains totally nonunion.
The NLRB said that cosmetics sales people are paid differently than others sales people, so they can have their own “micro-union.”
Going forward, unions will continue their recent efforts to organize smaller, more skilled workers in a larger work group. They don’t necessarily want to have a contract, given how one-sided these have become (e.g., employers force employees into their own arbitration systems and also force employees to waive all their legal rights to public courts).
If there is a bottom line, it is this: The Fight for Fifteen and Occupy movements typify the wave of the future—loosely organized, energized, boisterous protests usually centered on a very specific demand, for example, a living wage.
Labor relations is dying, and so are collective bargaining agreements. But worker unrest is not going away.
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