Collective Bargaining and Employees in the Public Sector

Faced with distressed state budgets and lower revenue, many governors and state legislatures have focused on the collective bargaining rights of public employees as a way to control expenses. Legislation that would limit such rights has reportedly been introduced in at least 22 states. In general, the sponsors of such legislation contend that unionized state and local employees enjoy unsustainable salaries and benefits as a result of collective bargaining. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 26.8% of all federal employees are members of a union. A slightly higher percentage of state employees—31.1%—are union members. At the local government level, 42.3% of employees are union members. Although all of these employees engage in some form of collective bargaining through their unions, the scope of such bargaining is generally different for federal and state and local workers. In addition, because the collective bargaining rights of state and local employees are defined by state law, other variations in bargaining may exist among these workers. Subjects that are negotiable in one state, for example, may not be negotiable in another state. This report examines the collective bargaining rights of federal, state, and local workers. The report also discusses the constitutional concerns that may be raised by state legislation that attempts to invalidate existing collective bargaining agreements. In Michigan, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act (“Fiscal Accountability Act”) was adopted on March 16, 2011. Under the Fiscal Accountability Act, the governor may appoint an emergency manager if he determines that a local government financial emergency exists. The emergency manager would have broad powers to rectify the financial emergency, including the ability to reject, modify, or terminate one or more terms and conditions of an existing collective bargaining agreement. If the emergency manager were to reject, modify, or terminate one or more terms and conditions of an existing agreement, constitutional concerns would likely be raised under the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits a state from passing any law “impairing the Obligation of Contracts.

Labor and Mandatory Arbitration Agreements: Background and Discussion

CRS ReportCRSLaborMandatoryArbitration0501.pdf: 279 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

The Employee Free Choice Act

[Excerpt] This report discusses legislative attempts to amend the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) to allow for union certification without an election, based on signed employee authorizations. The Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”) has been introduced in the past three Congresses to allow union certification based on signed authorizations, provide a process for the bargaining of an initial agreement, and prescribe new penalties for certain unfair labor practices. The report reviews the current process for selecting a bargaining representative under the NLRA, and discusses the role of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in resolving bargaining disputes under that act. The EFCA was introduced in the 110th Congress as H.R. 800 and S. 1041. H.R. 800 was passed by the House on March 1, 2007, by a vote of 241-185. On June 26, 2007, proponents of S. 1041 fell nine votes short of the 60 votes needed to limit enate debate and proceed to final consideration of the measure. The EFCA is expected to be reintroduced in the 111th Congress

The Family and Medical Leave Act: Background and U.S. Supreme Court Cases

This report provides background on the eligibility and notification requirements for taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA")

The Employee Free Choice Act

[Excerpt] This report discusses legislative attempts to amend the National Labor Relations Act ( NLRA ) to allow for union certification without an election, based on signed employee authorizations. The Employee Free Choice Act ( EFCA ), introduced in the 111th Congress as H.R. 1409 and S. 560, would have allowed union certification based on signed authorizations, provided a process for the bargaining of an initial agreement, and prescribed new penalties for certain unfair labor practices. This report reviews the current process for selecting a bargaining representative under the NLRA, and discusses the role of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in resolving bargaining disputes under that act. The EFCA has been introduced in the past four Congresses. During the 110th Congress, the measure was passed by a vote of 241-185 in the House. In the Senate, proponents of the EFCA fell nine votes short of the 60 votes needed to limit debate and proceed to final consideration of the measure. The EFCA is widely expected to be reintroduced in the 112th Congress

The Employee Free Choice Act

CRS_October_2004_Employee_Free_Choice_Act.pdf: 527 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

21cm forest probes on the axion dark matter in the post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scenarios

We study the future prospects of the 21cm forest observations on the axion-like dark matter when the spontaneous breaking of the global Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry occurs after the inflation. The large isocurvature perturbations of order unity sourced from axion-like particles can result in the enhancement of minihalo formation, and the subsequent hierarchical structure formation can affect the minihalo abundance whose masses can exceed ${\cal O}(10^4) M_{\odot}$ relevant for the 21cm forest observations. We show that the 21cm forest observations are capable of probing the axion-like particle mass in the range $10^{-18}\lesssim m_a \lesssim 10^{-12}$ eV for the temperature independent axion mass. For the temperature dependent axion mass, the zero temperature axion mass scale for which the 21cm forest measurements can be affected is extended further to as big as of order $10^{-6}$ eV.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, published in PR