The Starbucks at the Milwaukee Hilton: Unit Clarification Story

Starbucks-logo

It is so rare that I actually get to write a post about traditional labor law that I usually jump at the chance.   Especially when the labor law concerns a local Milwaukee institution that most of us are aware of.

What you might not have know is that Hilton food and beverage employees are represented by a union.  Recently, the Starbucks located inside the Hilton became unionized as well. The question became whether the Starbucks employees could just join the Hilton union.

Even though the local regional director in Milwaukee ruled that such a combination was lawful, the National Labor Relations Board (in a 2-0 decision) reversed because (according to BNA) (subscription required):

Chairman Wilma B. Liebman and Member Peter C. Schaumber found that the baristas, who are employed by Milwaukee City Center LLC, have a separate identity from the bargaining unit and constitute a separate appropriate unit and that the two groups do not share an overwhelming community of interest.

The board emphasized the lack of interchange between Starbucks baristas and food/beverage employees in the bargaining unit and the absence of common supervision of the two groups.

Actually, not much controversy here. Just wanted the Marquette Faculty Law Blog readers to have a taste of what goes on in labor law once in a while.

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Baucus Healthcare Bill Falls Short on Public Option, Employer Mandates, and the Effective Date for the Legislation

Capitoldome In what will certainly be the news of the day, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus (D-MT), released his version of the national health care reform bill.

Although there are many interesting provisions in the Baucus Bill, including a requirement that individuals have health insurance coverage, the establishment of a health care exchange, proposed reforms for the private insurance system including not allowing exclusions for preexisting coverage, and expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor, I want to focus on three parts that trouble me that directly deal with current employee benefits law. 

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Wisconsin Featured in NYT as Indicator of Economic Recovery

manufactureGraphicFrom Saturday’s New York Times, Peter Goodman’s “In Wisconsin, Hopeful Signs for Factories.”

A taste:

At the Rockwell Automation factory [in Mequon], something encouraging happened recently that might be a portent of national economic recovery: managers reinstated a shift, hiring a dozen workers.

After months of layoffs, diminished production and anxiety about the depths of the Great Recession, the company — a bellwether because most of its customers are manufacturers themselves — saw enough new orders to justify adding people.

Given the panicked retreat that has characterized life on the American factory floor for many months, any expansion registers as a hopeful sign for the economy. Last week, the Federal Reserve found signs of “modest improvement” in manufacturing. That reinforced the direction of a widely watched manufacturing index tracked by the Institute for Supply Management, which surged into positive territory last month for the first time in a year and a half.

But for sure: we aren’t quite there yet.  The article goes on to warn that, “these indications, while welcome, promise no vigorous expansion: For now, factory overseers remain uncertain that a lasting resurgence is at hand, making them reluctant to hire workers aggressively and invest in new equipment.”  That type of expansion might be some time off.

But here’s hoping that we are at least heading up from the bottom of the Great Recession.

PS

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