New Data: NLRB Process Fails to Ensure a Fair Vote
» Press Release
June 2011 by John Logan, Erin Johansson, and Ryan Lamare

This study finds that current NLRB procedures, which grant employers significant control over the timing of the election process, can prevent workers from fairly choosing whether or not to have union representation.

The failure of U.S. labor law to protect America’s workers from pervasive unionbusting is well-documented. Yet little attention has been paid to the practice of foreign companies operating in cooperation with their employees in their home countries, where labor laws are stronger, while failing to respect the rights of their workers in the United States. The same company, under two different systems of law, results in two very different situations for workers.

This report exposes a systematic campaign to prevent employees from forming a union by T-Mobile USA and its parent company, German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom (DT), presenting overwhelming evidence that DT is guilty of operating by a double standard: The company respects workers’ rights in Germany, where it cooperates closely with unions, but mistreats workers in the United States and interferes with their right to organize.

» Statement by U.S. Rep. George Miller

This report documents Tesco Fresh & Easy's "poor labor practices" in the United States. It was written in response to complaints from Fresh and Easy workers and information and testimony obtained by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW).

» UNI press release

This report includes 13 essays on the Employee Free Choice Act, labor law, and unionization by professors and experts at nine universities and colleges throughout California. It addresses such topics as problems with current U.S. labor law; the potential impact of labor law reform on the economy; and how unionization affects such industries as the long-term care sector. Its contributors hail from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, and Occidental College.

In the context of the Employee Free Choice Act, John Logan compares the recognition and collective bargaining rights in the U.S. with those in Europe, Canada and other democracies, and argues that even with the passage of this legislation, the U.S. would still have relatively moderate recognition and bargaining rights. He also finds lessons for the U.S. debate on the Employee Free Choice Act from considering the example of Canada’s labor laws and practices.