From effectively shuttering the FMCS to ending collective bargaining for certain agencies to the rehiring and refiring of NLRB Gwynne Wilcox, Alex MacDonald helps explain what's going on. In the last week alone, the Trump administration has effectively shuttered the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, ended collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, two separate lawsuits filed against government unions, and union lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, a...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 7 min
Kim Kavin rejoins the podcast to discuss all the latest in the unions' and Democrats' efforts to destroy independent contracting for millions of Americans. Kim Kavin, a freelance writer and editor, co-founder of Fight for Freelancers USA , and publisher of FreelanceBusting.com , returns to the podcast to discuss the latest happenings in the War on the Gig Economy. In this episode Kim discusses what is transpiring at the federal and state levels with respect to the efforts to fight for Americans’...
Mar 13, 2025•56 min
WPI's Alex MacDonald returns to the podcast to discuss a "bipartisan" bill to allow the federal government to mandate first-contracts on private-sector employers. ______________________________ If the workers surrender control over working relations to legislative and administrative agents, they put their industrial liberty at the disposal of state agents . — Samuel Gompers, 1915 _____________________________ On Tuesday, Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), as well as Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Gary Peter...
Mar 04, 2025•54 min
James F. O’Brien is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley and has written about how the coming AI job apocalypse necessitates the need to look at alternative means of revenue, including taxing AI, to avoid mass societal disruption. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Professor O’Brien joins host Peter List to discuss how fast AI is moving into our society, the “upstream” and “downstream” effect and what they mean to all of us. Related: The impending AI-d...
Mar 01, 2025•2 hr 17 min
A lot is going on in Washington, DC these days. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Kristen Swearingen Vice President, Legislative & Political Affairs at the Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc. and spokesperson for the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace joins host Peter List to discuss some of the issues, including the re-introduction of the PRO Act, Sen. Josh Hawley’s “PRO Act-Lite” framework, as well as President Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Labor, Lori Chavez-...
Feb 25, 2025•28 min
If the workers surrender control over working relations to legislative and administrative agents, they put their industrial liberty at the disposal of state agents. — Samuel Gompers, 1915 _______________ Republican politicians' efforts to 'realign' with unions may, in fact, actually hurt American workers and free choice. Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation rejoins the podcast to discuss Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Trump’s nominee to become the Secretary of Labor, S...
Feb 18, 2025•48 min
Nearly two years after his first episode on Labor Relations Radio, economist Jon Morrow returns to discuss a wide array of topics: The topics range from the return of Donald Trump to the Presidency, the national debt, artificial intelligence, new nuclear power and desalinization plants, to the impacts of TikTok, Only Fans, and AI on our culture. ______________________ Labor Relation Radio, E74—Economist Jon Morrow on Declining Birth Rates, the Advent of AI, the State of the Economy and Culture _...
Feb 09, 2025•1 hr 51 min
President Trump's terminating NLRB General Counsel Abruzzo was expected; terminating NLRB Member Wilcox was not. WPI's Alex MacDonald explains the legal theories that may be behind the move. On Monday, President Trump terminated the employment of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, which was widely expected. However, what was not expected was that Trump also fired NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Alex MacDona...
Jan 30, 2025•58 min
National Retail Federation's Ed Egee provides an update on some of the latest happenings in Washington, DC since Pres. Trump re-entered the Oval Office. Mr. Edwin Egee, vice president, government relations and workforce development at the National Retail Federation. He is responsible for NRF’s policy agenda on labor, employment, immigration and health care. He manages NRF’s Employment Law and Benefits Committee. Though early in the new Trump Administration, Mr. Egee joins host Peter List to disc...
Jan 23, 2025•56 min
California Policy Center's Edward Ring and Retired Battalion Chief Frank Ricci discuss some of the issues that have contributed to the devastation of the California wildfires. Recorded separately for YGTBFKMNews.com ’s Daily News, Edward Ring, the director of water and energy policy for the California Policy Center, and Frank Ricci, a retired firefighter, battalion chief, and union president, joined host Peter List to discuss the issues involved with the fires wreaking havoc and destruction acro...
Jan 15, 2025•56 min
Connecting the dots from Carter's deregulation crusade nearly 45 years ago to the election of Donald Trump. In a wide-ranging interview with Tucker Carlson, Teamsters’ President Sean O’Brien explained how the Democrats broke the Teamsters’ pension funds and expected to be thanked for fixing them 40 years later. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, host Peter List revisits the Carter legacy, and Democrats’ crusade to deregulate certain industries did more to decimate unions than Ronald Reaga...
Dec 31, 2024•22 min
A discussion between two non-attorneys about the latest happenings at the National Labor Relations Board There have been a lot of developments at the National Labor Relations Board since the November 5th election, and with President Trump returning to the White House in November, many expect the labor law pendulum to swing back to the right after January. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Labor Relations Institute ’s Michael VanDervort joins host Peter List to get caught up on some of th...
Dec 13, 2024•39 min
A wide-ranging discussion on income inequality, the growth of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. Erik Sherman is a freelance writer who reports on business, economics, finance, investing, markets, tech, law, commercial real estate, and income and wealth inequality. His credits include Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine, NBC News, CBS Moneywatch, Technology Review, The Fiscal Times, and Inc. He is also the author or co-author of 10 nonfiction books. In t...
Nov 26, 2024•56 min
Picking a PRO-Act supporting, amnesty and Big Government-loving, one-term Congresswoman as the next labor secretary has many people scratching their heads. On Friday evening, much to the surprise of the business community and millions of independent contractors, President-elect Donald Trump nominated a one-term Congresswoman, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore), to become Trump’s Secretary of Labor. Despite her seeming lack of qualifications, Chavez-DeRemer’s pick is surprising to many people due t...
Nov 26, 2024•34 min
Teamsters' President Sean O'Brien—and the AFT's Randi Weingarten—want a pro-union former Congresswoman to head Donald Trump's Department of Labor. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien is recommending Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, to lead the Department of Labor under the incoming Trump administration. She is an odd choice for Trump to consider, given her backing of the economy-destroying PRO Act, and she has already garnered much criticism from many people and groups, including ind...
Nov 21, 2024•35 min
The NLRB, in overturning a 78-year-old precedent, pushes the pendulum even further to the left. Though not unexpected, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its long-awaited decision , which bans employers from conducting so-called “captive-audience” (aka mandatory) meetings with their employees during union organizing campaigns. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, labor attorney Mike Carrouth , from the law firm Fisher Phillips , shares the basics in what employers are allowed ...
Nov 17, 2024•41 min
Employers and their agents beware: You will now be held accountable if you do not correctly explain the NLRA's Section 9(a) when speaking with employees. Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision in Siren Retail Corp d/b/a Starbucks , overruling Tri-Cast, Inc., 274 NLRB 377 (1985) and clarifying the test that the Board will use to evaluate whether employer predictions about the impact of unionization on the relationship between individual employees and their employer...
Nov 13, 2024•46 min
Picking a PRO-Act supporting, amnesty and Big Government-loving, one-term Congresswoman as the next labor secretary has many people scratching their heads. On Friday evening, much to the surprise of the business community and millions of independent contractors, President-elect Donald Trump nominated a one-term Congresswoman, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore), to become Trump’s Secretary of Labor. Despite her seeming lack of qualifications, Chavez-DeRemer’s pick is surprising to many people due t...
Nov 11, 2024•34 min
With the election of Donald Trump to become the 47th President of the United States, both employers and unions should expect yet another pendulum swing in labor law. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Jon Hyman , a shareholder with Wickens Herzer Panza shares some insights as to what we might see coming in 2025. Related Links: Jon Hyman’s Ohio Employer Law Blog Jon Hyman on LinkedIn.com The Norah and Dad Show Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 18: Guest—The 'Master of Workplace Sc...
Nov 08, 2024•38 min
Plus, Elon Musk's victory at the Fifth Circuit With the November 5th elections right around the corner, employers and unions alike are girding themselves for what could be a very consequential outcome. In this, the 150th episode of Labor Relations Radio, labor attorney and returning guest Cary Burke joins host Peter List to discuss Elon Musk’s recent victory at the Fifth Circuit over an old tweet, as well as potential labor relations outcomes if Kamala Harris or Donald Trump win the presidency. ...
Nov 01, 2024•50 min
“ It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self- organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their...
Oct 15, 2024•49 min
Millions of Americans' careers are on the line in this election. Yet, no one is talking about the War on Independent Contractors Returning guest Kim Kavin, a freelance writer, editor and co-founder of Fight for Freelancers has a new Substack: FreelanceBusting.com . In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Kim Kavin joins host Peter List to discuss where the battle against the freelance busters stands during this election cycle. Be sure to subscribe to Kim’s Substack here . _____________________...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min
O'Brien has failed to lead his members, says Brock, a former Teamster-turned-consultant. Is Sean O’Brien, the President of the International Brotherhood Teamsters, a “scab” for not endorsing Kamala Harris? Joe Brock is president of Reliant Labor Consultants and a former local president of a large Teamsters local. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Joe returns to the podcast to explain why he believes Sean O’Brien has betrayed union principles by allowing the Teamsters’ non-endorsement. Re...
Sep 26, 2024•44 min
Last Friday, the Biden-Harris administration—“the most pro-union administration in American history”—issued an Executive Order that overwhelmingly gives unions and unionized employers advantages in obtaining federal work. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Ben Brubeck, vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs for the Associated Builders & Contractors explains how this “gift to unions is discouraging for the overwhelming majority of the U.S. construction in...
Sep 10, 2024•31 min
A new study looks at the number of unionized employees, as opposed to employees who actually voted to unionize. Did you know that more than 95 percent of unionized private-sector employees have never voted to be unionized? As Americans, every two, four, or six years, we head to polls to cast our ballots for who we want to represent us. For unionized workers in the private sector, the vast majority never voted to unionize. According to a new study [ in PDF ] by the Institute for the American Work...
Sep 04, 2024•35 min
A case with huge ramifications is making its way through the legal system. Alex MacDonald , from Workplace Policy Institute , returns to Labor Relations Radio to discuss the filing of an amicus brief (for a writ of certiorari ) with the U.S. Supreme Court for the Court to clarify a prior decision from 1984 that, if successful, could weaken a new form of "exclusive representation" for unions. Related: An Amicus Brief Was Just Filed With The Supreme Court Asking The Court To Hear The Issue Of Excl...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min
The Goldwater Institute's Vice President for Litigation explains the principles behind how Arizona just ended union "release time." Whether or not taxpayers realize it, government unions use taxpayer funds to fund union business. This practice, known as “release time” or “official time,” drives up the cost of government and occurs at the local, state, and federal levels. In Arizona, however, the state’s Supreme Court recently struck down unions’ use of taxpayer money to fund union business. In t...
Aug 27, 2024•22 min
AI is not all the way through the industry yet, but it's coming faster than many realize. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent across various industries, one industry that is not often included in the AI discussion in the construction industry. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Patrick Scarpati, Director of Construction Technology and Innovation for the Associated Builders and Contractors , joins host Peter List to discuss ABC’s new AI Resource Guide , the current uses ...
Aug 08, 2024•55 min
Only months after the State of California required fast-food operators to raise the minimum wage from $16 to $20 per hour, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) wants the minimum wage raised again. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Tom Manzo , President of the California Business & Industrial Alliance joins host Peter List to discuss how unions are negatively impacting the state and driving businesses out. California fast-food workers want another minimum wage increase Cal...
Aug 03, 2024•50 min
Trader Joe's employees had barely three weeks to turn around an ambush election that had been plotted for months. Here's how they did it. Within three weeks earlier this Spring, employees of a Trader Joe’s store in Chicago turned around an ambush election by Trader Joe’s United. They did so without help from their employer, and to the shock and dismay of the union’s leaders. Long-time Trader Joe’s employees, Nikki and Jose, explain what happened before and during the short window before their NL...
Aug 01, 2024•1 hr 53 min
