By Albert Van Lare, Esq.

April 2021

In a January 15, 2021 presentation to members of the Professional Staff Congress at City University of New York, the author discussed the implications of New York’s public employees law, and particularly its no-strike clause, on unions and their members. The article speaks to the need to organize in the face of the law’s restraints against labor.

By Nelson Lichtenstein, Ph.D.

January 2021

In an industrial dispute that started over two jobs on the Portland, Oregon docks, a federal jury last year awarded an employer $93.6 million, a judgment large enough to bankrupt the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. At the core of the case is the Taft-Hartley Act’s prohibition of labor protests, strikes and boycotts that are “secondary” to a dispute rather than “primary.” As the author, a labor expert, explains, we live in a world of fissured employment and any effort to mount an effective work stoppage or boycott will necessarily impact a “secondary” employer and its employees. If this verdict is upheld on appeal, it will provide a roadmap for any employer who seeks to eviscerate the solidarity and mutual support that stands at the heart of trade union power.

By James C. Sturdevant, Esq.

October 2018

In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act and individual arbitration agreements override all federal labor law, including collective action under the National Labor Relations Act. The author, a noted consumer law expert, discusses how the decision is part of a larger effort to dismantle the civil justice system, limit worker access to the courts, limit class actions and block attempts to protect individuals from overreaching corporate entities.

By Mark R. Humowiecki, Esq., and Piper Hoffman, Esq.

July 2008

In Coke v. Long Island Care at Home, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in-home care workers are excluded from the minimum wage and overtime protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act, upholding the Department of Labor’s redefinition of “companion” and “babysitter” to exclude a growing sector of the workforce. The authors discuss the ramifications such decisions have on the workforce.

By Maria M. Perales

October 2004

The exploitation of day laborers in Freehold, New Jersey, as in other cities around the nation forms the basis of an ongoing construction boom. Excluded from the protection of federal labor legislation, they are also subject to feudalistic laws permitting their arrest on unspecified charges, restricting their right to seek employment in public areas and criminalizing them as “illegal guests” not registered with the town. Assisted by the LatinoJustice PRLDEF, these workers have won some gains, but their fight has only begun.

By Marco Sulpizi

October 2004

July 2004 marked the 70th anniversary of the epoch-making 1934 San Francisco General Strike, begun by longshoremen and maritime worked, that changed the position, legally and organizationally, of Labor forever. Now, with the membership of labor unions under the Wagner Act decreasing and their power at the bargaining table facing threats from downsizing and outsourcing, participants in the strike, historians and current-day labor leaders analyze the significance of the strike and what we can learn from it today.