This morning the Law Librarian Blog reports on a study that makes concrete the different research results achieved through the Westlaw and Lexis research systems. The author of the paper, Susan Nevelow Mart, a reference librarian at UC-Hastings, provides this abstract on SSRN:
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.
Today is National Punctuation Day. Yes, there really is such a day (it’s the sixth annual one, actually), and grammar geeks like me are celebrating. There’s even a national baking contest where contestants are supposed to bake something in the shape of a punctuation mark.
Lynne Truss, the author of the best-selling book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, says that “[P]unctuation is a courtesy designed to help readers understand a story without stumbling.” It’s a courtesy that applies not only to stories, of course, but to any written product – letters, articles, memos, briefs, and emails. Punctuation clarifies the writer’s meaning. Take these seven words: A woman without her man is nothing. There are two very different readings of this sentence, depending on how it is punctuated. It could be: A woman, without her man, is nothing. Or it could be: A woman: without her, man is nothing. What a difference punctuation makes!
What’s your favorite punctuation mark?