The right to engage in concerted activity has long been protected by the NLRB. The SpaceX workers collectively chose to share a letter criticizing their boss Elon Musk, which falls into the category of protected concerted activity. The NLRB bars employers from any retaliation for this type of activity. As such, Musk’s choice to fire these workers is what the NLRB refers to as an unfair labor practice.

The NLRB has historically been the federal board that is tasked with ruling on these types of cases, as well as enforcing the laws and penalties for violating them.

After the NLRB issued the complaint against SpaceX, Elon Musk, along with other companies who faced similar charges filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop the NLRB proceedings on the SpaceX case. While this case may seem narrow in scope, it is being watched closely as it sets precedent for similar rulings and calls the NLRB’s authority to rule into question.

The case alleges that NLRB rulings can be overturned or stopped by courts, and that the NLRB’s authority to rule is unconstitutional, because that members of the NLRB are appointed for set terms, and the members and cannot legally be removed from office during their term by a sitting U.S. president. According to SpaceX and the Fifth Circuit ruling, the set terms of NLRB board members interfere with the president's power to control executive branch officials.

This case comes after the Supreme Court recently allowed Trump's firing of NLRB board member Gwynne Wilcox to remain in place while her own lawsuit challenging the removal is in process. Many court watchers see this as a likely sign that the Supreme Court will soon rule that the protections against removal mid term of NLRB board members is unconstitutional, and there is speculation that the NLRB’s existence may be deemed unconstitutional.

For now, the Fifth Circuit’s decision paves the way for court orders against NLRB proceedings to be seen as an appropriate remedy to labor disputes.

What this means right now for workers is that, in at least Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi (the Fifth Circuit’s district), it is highly likely that bosses will be able to win court orders to stop proceedings around any alleged unfair labor practice charge, and other disputes that the NLRB is tasked with ruling on. This ruling allows one more way that employers are being given the green light to violate the long standing labor protections which the NLRB is tasked with upholding.

What is the NLRB?

The National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935 and oversees labor disputes across the private sector in the U.S. The NLRB was established in 1935 as well, by the Wagner Act, which created the board to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.

The passing of the NLRA and creation of the NLRB came after a long period of intense, and often bloody battles across the U.S. as workers fought to form unions and fight back against exploitation by bosses. Before the NLRA and NLRB existed, the primary tool for workers to exercise their power was through production-stopping strikes to force bosses to negotiate over wages and working conditions. Many bosses would respond by hiring armed muscle in the form of union busters to physically assault strikers and break up strikes. In the 1930s, many large-scale strikes occurred and many violent battles happened as a result.

This period of militant action by workers led to the NLRA and NLRB being put into place in an attempt to help employers avoid the losses of profit associated with these battles by giving workers a legal framework through which to form a union. The NLRB serves both the function of upholding workers’ rights to form a union through a legal process, and bosses interests to avoid production stoppages and loss of profit. The protections for workers in the NLRA are limited in scope and frequently violated by employers when workers form a union. The NLRB that enforces the NLRA is often slow or declines to act, or creates hurdles that make it very hard for workers to win in labor disputes.

This attack on the NLRB’s ability to rule effectively is a significant blow for unions and the workers who want to form unions or exercise their rights through NLRB processes. However, unions and labor struggles have existed since long before the NLRA and much of the U.S. labor movement exists as a result of the organizing and production-stopping strikes, often including violent battles.

It is unclear what this ruling will lead to and what the future of the NLRB may look like. If the NLRB were to be eliminated or weakened significantly enough, it would return the U.S. to a time when battles, like happened in the 1930s, would again be the only way for workers to win wage increases, unions, or contracts. It is unclear whether or not the large corporations and finance capital, or the politicians that they support, actually want to do away fully with the NLRB and risk a return to conditions faced before the NLRA.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Labor #Musk #NLRB #NLRA #Feature

Duluth, MN – On Friday, July 19, striking workers were on the picket line at Essentia Health, Duluth Clinic 2nd Street. Friday marked the 11th day of an open-ended strike by around 700 Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Providers (APP) who formed a union in 2024.

The workers are demanding that management sit down with them and negotiate their first union contract, more than a year after they won their union election and formed a union. In February of 2024 the RNs at Essentia Clinics voted to join the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and soon after, in July 2024, the Advanced Practice Providers also joined MNA.

Now, more than a year later, Essentia management is refusing to negotiate a first contract with the advanced practice workers and has filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to throw out the results of the election.

Essentia’s argument claims that advanced practice workers do not constitute a legally eligible bargaining unit under NLRB standards. However, this issue was litigated by the NLRB in 2024 and, after hearing both sides in a federal hearing the NLRB, ruled that the bargaining unit was valid and went ahead with the election. Once the workers won their election and formed a union Essentia was legally compelled to begin negotiating with the workers. To date, they have failed to do so and have said publicly that they will continue to refuse to do so as long as their appeal is unresolved.

At this time the union is in place and Essentia is legally required to negotiate with the workers until a time when the ruling is reversed, if it is. MNA has filed federal charges with the NLRB citing that Essentia committed an unfair labor practice by not bargaining with the newly-formed union.

Since Donald Trump was sworn into office in January of 2025, he has fired a sitting member of the NLRB board in Washington DC, meaning that the board no longer has a quorum to rule over cases which are appealed. This sets up a situation in which by appealing the ruling, regardless of validity of the appeal, the case will not be resolved at least until there is quorum again at the NLRB which could be in months or years.

On day eleven of the strike, the picket lines remained large and energetic with around 100 workers picketing at the 2nd Street clinic and another picket location at another Essentia clinic. Many cars driving by on 2nd Street honked and waved. Pizzas were delivered to feed the striking workers, and members of other unions in the area came out and walked the line in support of the strike.

Julie Flotten is an RN in the1st Street oncology building. Flotten said, “We have been working diligently just to try to get Essentia to create a contract with us, and confirm our jobs, not float us to areas that we are not trained, have transparency with us as employees and as an employer just give a promise in writing of how they are going to treat us so we can take care of our patients.”

Flotten went on to say, “We didn’t get hired to become float nurses. I worked really hard to become an expert in oncology. Essentia wants to be able to float us around based on numbers where they have low staff or wherever the need might be, but I wouldn’t be really good in OB or GI or neurology. I am really good in oncology, and so we want to have all of our colleagues work in the area that they are specialized in so they can deliver the best patient care.”

Brittany Ortler is a Nurse Practitioner in the gastroenterology department. Nurse Practitioners, along with Physicians Assistants and Midwives, form the advanced practice providers bargaining unit. Ortler stated, “We felt that the voices of the advanced practice providers were really not being heard at Essentia, and we felt that uniting the group together to unionize was really the only option that we had.”

Ortler continued, “We overwhelmingly voted to have a union. Since that time, after we voted, Essentia appealed that vote up to the National NLRB. The national NLRB – we gave them some time, and then the [U.S. presidential] election came and January 20 happened and the national NLRB no longer has a quorum so they are unable to even hear our case at this time, so we have asked Essentia to drop the appeal, we’ve asked them to come to the table to bargain with us, we’ve asked them to conditionally bargain with us while we are waiting for the appeal and they have just simply refused to acknowledge really that we exist and that we have rights to bargaining, so we are on an unfair labor practice strike.”

When asked what she would say to Essentia management, Ortler said, “We want to have a voice in how we care for our patients, the time we get to spend with our patients, whether that be being able to say no to having two patients scheduled at the same time and having to split your time between them both. We really feel strongly that we should be able to have a voice in how our patients are cared for,” adding, “We want to protect our patients, we want to protect ourselves, and we want to ensure that we are providing the best care for our patients as we can.”

To Essentia management, Flotten said, “Meet with us! Take this seriously! Take this as seriously as we are! People are losing their livelihoods right now. We don’t want to be out here walking when we are trained to be working, It’s a shame for our patients. None of us want to be out here on the sidewalk. It is not a vacation. The only glimmer is that we have made stronger relationships with one and another and made us stronger that way,” and, “Essentia needs to meet with us and bargain every day, and bring the advanced practice providers to the table and recognize their union, and to respect that these first contracts deserve a fair contract.”

#DuluthMN #MN #Labor #Nurses #Strike #Healthcare #MNA #NLRB #Feature

The decision comes six months after the Teamsters union informed Amazon that a majority of the workers at DCK6 had signed cards in October 2024 in support of forming a union with the Teamsters. Around the same time, warehouse workers and drivers also signed cards to unionize at Amazon facilities in Chicago, New York, southern California and Atlanta.

Once the workers demand recognition, Amazon has two weeks to respond with the option to voluntarily recognize the union or challenge it and call for an election through the NLRB election process. Amazon ignored the demand for union recognition at all the facilities, and did not respond to the request for recognition or by challenging the majority and seeking a union election.

The organizing effort by the Teamsters at Amazon includes more than 10,000 workers across their supply chain. The DCK6 demand for recognition is one of several across the country in which, in each case, Amazon has refused to respond to.

At each facility where workers unionized and Amazon did not respond, the Teamsters filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the company for refusing to fulfill its legal obligation to bargain. Still having heard no response by the end of last year, workers across the country led a nationwide ULP strike the week before Christmas to protest Amazon’s illegal union busting tactics.

The DCK6 complaint is the first one in which a complaint was issued by the NLRB, the federal agency that legally certifies unions, for any of the facilities organized in 2024. This first complaint and hearing order is likely to give a framework for similar complaints for Teamsters at other Amazon locations. The hearing for the complaint will take place on August 5.

Amazon Teamsters who organized in 2024 are seeking a national contract that includes better pay, safer working conditions and job security.

#StPaulMN #MN #Labor #Teamsters #NLRB #Amazon

The vote was triggered after UAW filed cards with the NLRB. Union spokespeople say that they turned in “super majority” on signed union cards in February. This super majority on cards signed came about after a two month campaign to organize a union, signaling strong energy around the idea of unionizing.

Isaac Meadows is an assembly worker at Volkswagen said, “We’re voting yes to win a better life for ourselves and our families.” Meadows went on to say, “We need a say in our schedules, benefits, pay and more. We’re proud to work at Volkswagen, but we also know the value of a voice at work.”

At the same time as the vote is occurring in Tennessee, UAW has now secured a vote for thousands of auto workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The NLRB announced on Thursday that the vote for the Mercedes-Benz workers will take place from May 13 to May 17, with the voted being counted on May 17.

These votes to join UAW happening in the South follow a contract fight at the Big Three automakers in 2023 that saw thousands of UAW members striking in a highly successful wave of “stand up strikes” across the U.S. which resulted in major contract gains. UAW has long talked about and even attempted organizing in the South, however previous attempts have all floundered and the elections were filed for without ever seeing a majority on cards.

While the results of these elections are still to be seen, it is clear that UAW is serious about its intention to organize the South, and to organize across more auto companies. According to the union, more than 10,000 non-union auto workers have signed cards to join UAW in the last few months. They now also launched organizing campaigns publicly at Mercedes in Vance, Alabama, at Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama, and at Toyota in Troy, Missouri. The UAW says that workers at more than two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing.

One clear way to see the difference between this attempt and previous ones is that UAW says that over 5000 autoworkers who will be part of the Mercedes vote in Alabama have signed union cards, and as of 2023 the total bargaining unit affected was around 6100 workers, signaling a dominant majority in support of forming their union.

#ChattanoogaTN #TN #Labor #Auto #UAW #NLRB

A group of 176 Flight Line Inspectors and Technicians voted nearly 2-to-1 in May 2018 to join the IAM. Violating federal law, Boeing has refused to bargain with the IAM and resorted to harassing and unjustly terminating six union supporters on the Flight Line during the 2018 holiday season. The IAM filed unfair labor practice charges against Boeing alleging illegal retaliation for their open support for the union and Boeing’s refusal to bargain.

The regional director found five of six termination cases constituted unlawful discrimination against union supporters, including all three of Boeing’s alleged “bird-strike” cases, in which the company selectively and without precedent used safety inspection rules to unjustly terminate IAM members. This is the critical first step in an NLRB process that should lead to the return to work of these unjustly terminated workers.

Boeing is challenging the May 2018 NLRB election results despite the regional director’s ruling that the collective bargaining group of 176 Flight Line workers meets the requirements of an appropriate unit under the National Labor Relations Act.

Elected officials from across the country have joined the IAM in calling on Boeing to negotiate with its Flight Line workers and raised questions about Boeing’s repeated practice of fabricating safety violations to retaliate against union supporters at its South Carolina plant.

#WashingtonDC #PeoplesStruggles #NLRB #Boeing #InternationalAssociationOfMachinistsAndAerospaceWorkersIAM

Tampa, FL – A recent ruling of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said that janitors who were picketing for better working conditions were not protected from unfair labor practices committed by their employer. The Board ruled that the janitors, who were being contracted by a building management company, were engaged in secondary picketing. With a Trump-appointed NLRB, workers fighting for rights on the job will be facing new challenges.

The janitors were working for Rafael Ortiz, under a company called Ortiz Janitorial Services (OJS), which was hired by Preferred Building Services to fulfil a contract with Harvest Properties in San Francisco. The workers had reached out to SEIU Local 87 and the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition (SFLWC) to help them organize for higher wages and an end to sexual harassment on the job.

The workers began picketing outside of the building they were cleaning, distributing leaflets and holding picket signs saying “Preferred Building Services unfair!” and “We prefer no more sexual harassment.” Following another picketing by the janitors, a meeting was held between Harvest Properties, SEIU Local 87 and SFLWC.

As a result of the meeting, Harvest Properties requested Preferred Building Services investigate the workers’ grievances and not allow Ortiz Janitorial Services back onto the property until the investigation was completed. Rather than complete the investigation, Preferred Building Services cancelled their contract with Harvest Properties and notified OJS, which then fired a total of four employees.

The NLRB ruled that these firings were not unfair labor practices and the workers were not protected by the federal labor law because, in their opinion, secondary picketing had taken place. Secondary picketing is when employees picket a secondary employer who is not involved in the labor dispute. Secondary pickets and boycotts are forbidden by repressive, pro-boss federal labor law.

Historically, however, the picketing of a primary employer at a secondary site was allowed if it followed a set of criteria known as the Moore Dry Docks standards. A previous judge had ruled that the picketing by the janitors had met these criteria and the workers were protected against unfair labor practices.

The NLRB overturned this ruling because of the meeting that was held with Harvest Properties, meaning the fired employees were not protected under federal labor law. Despite the fact that the workers made it clear during picketing they were targeting their employer and they met the other Moore Dry Docks standards, the NLRB found their picketing to be illegal.

The implications for the labor movement are clear: any actions taken by workers trying to improve their working conditions will be under intense scrutiny by the Trump-appointed NLRB.

#TampaFL #InJusticeSystem #US #PeoplesStruggles #Strikes #NLRB #DonaldTrump #secondaryPicket #picketing

The origin of the case goes back to June, 2014, when several hundred workers at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, a first-tier suburb of Minneapolis, picketed in a park and on public property near the hospital. The workers were members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and SEIU Healthcare MN. The workers joined together in a show of solidarity to fight for safe staffing levels at North Memorial, where cuts in staffing levels consistently put both the workers’ and patients’ safety at risk.

North Memorial management has had a long history of engaging in anti-union behaviors.

After the pickets brought public attention to the staffing and safety issues, North Memorial stepped up its attacks and began to engage in systematic retaliation against union members who led the pickets and on the members’ ability to communicate with each other and with their union staff.

North Memorial management blocked union members’ access to bulletin boards in an attempt to shut down communications. They spied on union members’ conversations and they threatened to spy on and retaliate against those who engaged in union activities. They blocked entrance to the hospital to members and staff who wore union insignias or t-shirts. North Memorial also blocked members’ and staff’s legally protected access to public areas. Then, to show just how far they were willing to go, North Memorial retaliated by firing SEIU Healthcare MN member Melvin Anderson, who actively engaged in and led turnout for the pickets.

SEIU and MNA filed charges against North Memorial for their outrageous illegal behaviors. In October of 2014 the NLRB found that the charges had merit and announced that a trial would be held starting in January of 2015. In that trial more and more chilling evidence came to light demonstrating the clear retaliation by North Memorial.

On Sept. 4, the NLRB issued their final ruling. Melvin Anderson was completely exonerated of any and all discipline related to these charges and was ordered reinstated with back pay plus interest. North Memorial was found to have violated the law on many counts. In addition to fully rescinding the disciplines from Anderson’s record, reinstating him, and making him financially whole, North Memorial was ordered to post a statement by the time clocks stating that they did indeed break the laws, letting each employee know that they have the right to engage in concerted union activities, and that management will not retaliate in the future.

This is just one case. Management here at North Memorial made some serious errors and got caught. Because of this, workers were able to win a victory this time. In truth these same types of threats and retaliation are used routinely by employers when workers try to organize and make improvements, because management knows that as a union the workers have real power.

Members at North Memorial will continue to fight for issues they believe in, like safe staffing, and this victory only affirms that what they are doing is right. This fighting and winning attitude can be clearly seen in statements by Melvin Anderson. He states, “Despite the challenges that North Memorial’s retaliation has caused for me, I don’t regret for one second that I spoke up for safe staffing levels and patient safety.”

Anderson continued, “I hope this ruling makes North Memorial understand that they can’t intimidate employees and that it is time to finally address their staffing levels.”

#MinneapolisMN #unions #NLRB