This morning, I appeared on Ray Dunaway’s show on WTIC radio (1080 AM) to discuss the NLRB’s new proposed rules on union representation elections. (A link will be available when it is posted online.)
Of course, in 5 minutes, there wasn’t much time to
The other shoe has dropped. For now.
Governor Malloy late today released his official “Plan B” detailing the layoffs expected as a result of the union concession vote. And it’s ugly.
It calls for a 15 percent staff reduction at the Department of Labor, 30 percent reduction at the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities,
Imagine there’s no …..
A few years ago it would have been unfathomable to be considering life in Connecticut without a Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. After all, it is a necessary step in filing a discrimination complaint in this state.
Imagining a Connecticut without the CHRO? No way.
But suddenly, dramatically,
The Connecticut Supreme Court, in a decision to be officially released next week, has ruled that a municipal employee’s hybrid duty of fair representation claim against his or her union and the employer , must be brought to the State Board of Labor Relations first, and not directly to Superior Court.
The case, Piteau v.
UPDATED 2 p.m.
About five weeks ago, I wrote about the new Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed union membership and representation was down in Connecticut in 2010 from 17.1 percent of the overall workforce to 16.7, or in raw numbers from 265,000 workers to 258,000. 
But I also noted that compared with 2007 (when
Haven’t we heard this before?
A Bourne, Massachusetts firefighter was recently fired for — imagine this — his Facebook posts in which he "allegedly railed against [a] police officer over some incident, angrily carried on about being forced to work on the Fourth of July holiday and made a homosexual slur", according to press reports
The Connecticut Supreme Court, in Board of Education v. State Board of Labor Relations, (a decision that will be officially released next week), clarified when it is appropriate for education officials to deal directly with employees and when the union needs to be brought in. The court adopted federal NLRA principles in doing so.
The
At last night’s gubernatorial debate, the issue of potential layoffs of state union workers was a hot topic of conversation. (See CT News Junkie for a more detailed report.) Each candidate indicated that layoffs weren’t ruled out if elected.
That’s all very well and good, but none of them have mentioned how a
Let the politicians and the newspapers cite a new Second Circuit decision as being important for "saving jobs" in Connecticut. It makes for good press, but for employers, the decision is more important for a different reason than highlighted in the press: The Court has weakened one of the arguments that employers use to support their
In posts earlier this week, I’ve discussed what the NLRB’s Connecticut Office is doing and what to expect for 2010. 
But as I continue to recap the breakfast I attended earlier in the week with NLRB (Region 34) Regional Director Jonathan Kreisberg, of particular importance to employers was the discussion about what issues the