By Laura Clawson

– The Obama administration is outraging business lobby groups by doing something sort of novel and unexpected: aggressively enforcing labor law. The National Labor Relations Board is leading the way with a new rule modernizing and streamlining union representation elections, bringing them into the 21st century with electronic filing and cutting down on frivolous litigation and stall tactics. The labor board is also holding McDonald’s accountable for its own labor practices rather than allowing the fast food chain to continue shifting blame onto the franchise operators who are required to follow corporate rules. But it’s not just the NLRB:

Meanwhile, over at the Labor Department, the Wage and Hour Division’s collection of back pay has risen by more than a third under Obama, and man-hours dedicated to enforcement are up by half. A misclassification initiative was launched in response to a 2010 finding by Vice President Joe Biden’s Task Force on the Middle Class that 10 percent to 30 percent of all companies classified as independent contractors who met the legal definition of employees to avoid providing benefits and protections required under federal law. Wage and Hour is also now initiating significantly more of its investigations (as opposed to responding to worker complaints), and identifying violations at a much higher rate.

Much of the impetus for these changes has come from David Weil, a Boston University economist who — first as a consultant to Wage and Hour (initially hired under President George W. Bush) and, since May, Wage and Hour administrator — pressed the division to target enforcement efforts on industry sectors where wage theft is most common: restaurants, hotels, construction, janitorial services, agriculture, retail and manufacturing. Now businesses are bracing themselves for a proposed rule due early next year that is expected to at least partly reverse a long-term decline in the percentage of U.S. workers to whom employers must pay time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours a week.

It’s more than a little sad that this is what looks like major progress for workers, since what we’re talking about mostly consists of enforcing existing laws and ratcheting part of the way back to where things were in the 1970s. But that has been the sorry state of labor law in the United States. Even relatively modest actions like enforcing the law or preventing the worst employer abuses of the union representation election process have the potential to level the playing field just enough to give workers a fighting chance, and that’s the last thing groups like the Chamber of Commerce want to see.

Source – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/22/1353544/-Workers-get-a-boost-as-Obama-administration-brings-labor-law-into-the-21st-century

By Edward deSciora

– Believing he is inheriting a debt of $2 billion, incoming Governor Tom Wolf presented a frank but hopeful financial picture of the commonwealth.

In a game of political fingerpointing, Wolf blames the states budgetary deficit on the Corbett Administration’s reliance on non-recurring revenues. Tom Corbett and Co. used the same excuse when he entered office four years ago, implicating former Governor Ed Rendell.

“We have a structural deficit and that it’s a big one,” Wolf said. “We need to think about solutions on the spending side. We need to think about solutions on the revenue side.Just hoping for growth doesn’t seem to be enough.”

Wolf remained committed to his campaign promises of increasing education funding, while also levying taxes against Marcellus Shale extractors.

Remaining hopeful for his upcoming term, Wolf discussed an openness to innovative solutions to budgetary problems.

“If we recognize there’s a problem, we could do some things that could be really actually very exciting” the Governor-Elect asserted.

Source: http://www.politicspa.com/pa-gov-wolf-discusses-the-bleak-financial-state-of-pennsylvania/62526/

By Dave Jamieson

– In a major blow to big franchisers, the National Labor Relations Board issued several complaints against McDonald’s on Friday, naming the fast food giant a “joint employer” alongside its franchisees accused of violating labor law.

The fast food industry has been fearing just such a move by the board, since it shows federal regulators are willing to hold large corporations responsible for the labor violations inside franchised stores. Until now, it’s generally been the franchisees operating the restaurants who’ve been held responsible.

“The complaints allege that McDonald’s USA, LLC and certain franchisees violated the rights of employees working at McDonald’s restaurants at various locations around the country,” the board said in a statement.

The alleged violations by McDonald’s and its franchisees included “making statements and taking actions against [workers] for engaging in activities aimed at improving their wages and working conditions.”

The franchise industry has been blasting the board for months for considering issuing such complaints. In a statement issued Friday, McDonald’s said the board’s actions “improperly and dramatically strike at the heart of the franchise system.”

The complaints issued Friday grew out of the Fight for $15 movement that’s sprouted in the past two years, with fast food workers staging periodic strikes in cities throughout the country to fight for higher wages. The board’s move marks a major victory for the union-backed campaign, as workers have tried to hold major franchisers like McDonald’s responsible for the actions of their franchisees.

McDonald’s took a shot at the campaign on Friday, saying unions were carrying out an attack.

“These allegations are driven in large part by a two-year, union-financed campaign that has targeted the McDonald’s brand and impacted McDonald’s restaurants,” the company said. “McDonald’s has taken the appropriate measures, working properly with its independent franchisees, to defend itself against that attack on its business.”

A McDonald’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for further comment.

Of 291 charges filed against McDonald’s by workers since 2012, the board said it found merit in 86 of them. As is custom, the board’s general counsel tried to hash out a settlement between McDonald’s and the complainants over the last few months, but only achieved that in a small number of the cases. The remaining charges have been grouped into 13 different complaints that will now be heard before the labor board’s regional offices.

Michael Wasser, policy analyst at the worker group Jobs with Justice, said in an email that the complaints provide McDonald’s workers with an opportunity to hold their “real boss” accountable.

“We know that McDonald’s sets rigorous operating standards for its franchisees, from menus, to uniforms to employment practices,” Wasser said. “And we know that they monitor and enforce those standards at the corporate level. So when these practices appear to break the law, accountability should start at the top.”

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/19/mcondalds-nlrb_n_6355810.html?ir=Business

– City Council passed a resolution sponsored by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson to hold hearings that would discuss raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. There are questions as to whether Council has such authority. If it does, would you support the higher wage?

Is raising the minimum wage in Philadelphia to $15 an hour a good idea?

To Vote, Go To: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/pulse/poll/is-raising-the-minimum-wage-in-philadelphia-to-15-an-hour-a-good-idea/16172101

Brief PhillyLabor Editorial: Yes, providing low income workers the opportunity at a living wage will not only provide them with a better life, it will help give those people working in poverty the chance to get off of public assistance and thus will also help all tax payers.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/pulse/poll/is-raising-the-minimum-wage-in-philadelphia-to-15-an-hour-a-good-idea/16172101

By The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO

– On December 10, 2014 the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO unanimously passed resolutions supporting 2 labor peace bills before City Council. One bill pertains to subcontractors at Philadelphia International Airport; the other to hotels in which the city has a direct financial interest. City Council passed both bills the following day.

Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO Resolution
In Support of City Council Bill #140860 on Labor Peace

WHEREAS Philadelphia is a world class city in a convenient location, with a unique place in our national history, great restaurants and an expanded convention center; and

WHEREAS our national AFL-CIO and its affiliated 57 national and international unions spend millions on conventions and meetings each year; and

WHEREAS labor unions strive to hold their events at unionized hotels with a labor peace guarantee, rather than run the risk that a labor dispute might mar their event; and

WHEREAS Philadelphia is losing out on an additional $30 million in union convention business, according to the Convention and Visitors Bureau as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer (9/7/10); and

WHEREAS AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka AFL-CIO wrote to the City Council last year, urging a labor peace agreement at the W/Element hotel, adding “Labor peace enhances the marketability of Philadelphia as a meetings destination, especially for progressive groups such as ours;”

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the AFL-CIO urges the Philadelphia City Council to pass Bill #140860 to require labor peace agreements at hotels where the City retains a proprietary interest.

Approved unanimously, December 10 2014

Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO Resolution
In Support of City Council Bill #140829 on Labor Peace

WHEREAS, the Philadelphia City Council recently introduced an ordinance, marked Bill No. 140829, Amending Section 18-201 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Leases of Airport Facilities,” by requiring Ground Handling Service providers under service contracts with air carriers, including subcontractors providing such services, who are operating at Philadelphia International Airport to secure labor peace agreements to minimize the risk of service disruptions and lost revenue to the City generated from enplanements.

WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia has a strong proprietary interest in protecting the substantial revenues it receives from the efficient operations of air carrier transportation at the Philadelphia International Airport (“the Airport”) and the volume of passenger enplanements at the Airport; and

WHEREAS, The poor working conditions of contractor employees who perform Ground Handling Services at the Airport has elevated the risk of strikes, boycotts and other forms of service disruptions due to labor disputes among these employees which directly threatens the critical volume-based revenues the City receives from efficient operations at the Airport; and

WHEREAS, A requirement that air carriers who lease Airport terminal space from the City retain only those Ground Handling Service contractors who have a proper Labor Peace Agreement in effect to ensure the continuity of such services at the Airport effectively protects the City against any loss of volume-based revenues the City receives from Airport operations by preventing labor disputes among these employees; now, therefore

RESOLVED, that the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO supports airport workers in their ongoing efforts to improve working conditions at the Philadelphia International Airport; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO urges all Philadelphia City Council members to support and vote for passage of Bill No. 140829 as introduced by City Council on October 23, 2014 ; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO will support any effort on the part of city officials to encourage a fair resolution to current labor disputes at the Philadelphia International Airport and to grant airport workers long-term job security; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO shall transmit this resolution to all relevant elected officials in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, including the Governor, members of the State Legislature, the Mayor of Philadelphia, and members of the Philadelphia City Council
Approved unanimously, December 10 2014

Source: http://www.pa.aflcio.org/philaflcio/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=847921df-9080-4d97-ba0d-b2eef1b11e5b