“Right-to-Work” Laws Reintroduced in Maine and New Hampshire

Freshman Maine legislator Lawrence Lockman, R-Amherst, a member of the Labor, Commerce, Research, and Economic Development Committee recently introduced two bills that would make Maine a right-to-work state.  The first bill proposes to allow employees to work in unionized businesses without the requirement that they financially support the union as a condition of employment.  The second bill proposes to offer paycheck protection to state employees who do not want to join a union, but are currently required to pay fees to the Maine State Employees Association.  In discussing his reason for introduction, Lockman stated: “I introduced these bills to help Maine compete for new jobs . . . . Half of the country is now right-to-work, and unless Maine joins this wave of economic growth, we will be left behind to pick up the scraps.” 

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Challenge to Indiana’s Right-to-Work Law Dismissed

Last week Judge Philip Simon of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana issued a twenty-three (23) page opinion dismissing International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Indiana’s 2012 right-to-work law.

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Overruling 50-year Precedent? The NLRB Will Check “Yes” in That Box

In 1962, the NLRB’s decision in Bethlehem Steel held that an employer’s dues checkoff obligation expires with the expiration of the CBA.  On December 12, 2012, fifty years later, the Board found that the reasoning behind Bethlehem Steel was lacking and found “compelling statutory and policy reasons to abandon the Bethlehem Steel rule”.  In abandoning the Bethlehem Steel rule, the Board’s recent opinion in WKYC-TV held that “like most other terms and conditions of employment, an employer’s obligation to check off union dues continues after expiration of a collective-bargaining agreement that establishes such an arrangement.” 

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Can’t Get There from Here….Or Can You: Could “Right-to-Work” Laws be Headed to New England?

As a Mainah, also known as a Mainer, or a wicked good person from the state of Maine, you’re going to have to travel a distance to find a “Right-to-Work” state.  The closest state to the South is Virginia and the closest to the East is Indiana.  But with the momentum gained from the recent passage of the right-to-work law in Michigan, don’t be surprised if this issue—which was a prominent subject of debate in the state in early 2011—comes back to the forefront of politics and the news in the coming months. 

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President Obama Announces Plan To Make Controversial Recess Appointments To the NLRB

The firestorm surrounding the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") labors on - pun intended.   Between its rulings on employee use of social media and its promulgation of rules that speed up elections and require employers to post notices, the NLRB spent much of 2011 in the limelight.  That trend appears to be continuing in the new year.  

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