Share this episode of Labor Relations Radio with your colleagues. 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 Peters (D-Mich.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act —a bill that is endorsed by the Teamsters , which wou...
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...
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-DeRemer....
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 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, Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) efforts to “bend the knee” to unions, as well as a host of other labor-related issues. Related: * Labor Rel...
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 LaborUnionNews.com's L...
Feb 09, 2025•2 hr 51 min
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 MacDonald, Co-Chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute , joins host Peter List to discuss the legal theory that may be behind the move. Follow Alex MacDonald on LinkedIn here . Follow Alex MacD...
Jan 30, 2025•58 min
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 discuss the latest happenings in Washington—from President Trump’s recent moves at the National Labor Relations Board, where specific cases stand, as well as...
Jan 23, 2025•56 min
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 across southern California. Related: * Ricci: Like Administrative Arson, California’s Bad Ideas Spread Like Wildfires LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio is subscriber-suppo...
Jan 15, 2025•56 min
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 how Democrats’ crusade to deregulate certain industries did more to decimate unions than Ronald Reagan ever did. Related: * Worth a Watch: The Teamsters' Sean O'Brien Interview With Tucker Carlson * The De...
Dec 31, 2024•22 min
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 the changes over the last several weeks and how the NLRB may change in the coming months and years under Tr...
Dec 13, 2024•39 min
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 this episode, Erik joins host Peter List in the continuation of a conversation that began on X (formerly Twitter) ...
Nov 26, 2024•56 min
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 to her… * Backing of the PRO Act * Support for nationalizing public-sector labor law * Reported backing of amnesty for undocumented migrants As the nominatio...
Nov 25, 2024•34 min
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 independent contractor advocates. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Michael Saltsman , a partner with Berman & Co. joins host Peter List to di...
Nov 21, 2024•35 min
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 and not allowed to do under this new ruling. Note: Nothing in this episode of Labor Relations Ra...
Nov 17, 2024•41 min
Employers and their agents beware… 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 are unlawful threats. Under the new ruling, if an employer (or its agents) does not carefully parse out their statemen...
Nov 12, 2024•46 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 Work...
Nov 08, 2024•38 min
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. Other Labor Relations Episodes with Cary Burke:...
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
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. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit laborunionnews.substack.com/subscribe...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min
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. Related: * Labor Relations Radio, E92—Former Teamster leader-turned-consultant Joe Brock on...
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 indust...
Sep 10, 2024•31 min
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 Worker (I4AW) , 95 percent of private sector union workers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) are represe...
Sep 04, 2024•35 min
Share this episode of Labor Relations Radio with your colleagues. Alex MacDonald , from the 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 Exclusi...
Aug 28, 2024•1 hr 3 min
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 of AI, as well as where AI may be headed. As an added bonus: The outro for this episode wa...
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
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 NLRB election. Related: * Labor Relations Radio, E102—Unionized Trader Joe's Employees Explain the Efforts to Decertify Trader Joe's United ...
Aug 01, 2024•2 hr 53 min
Returning guest Nick Kalm , CEO of Reputation Partners , rejoins the podcast to discuss the month’s political events and try to figure out which team has the advantage going into November. Prior Labor Relations Radio Episodes with Nick Kalm: * Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 9—Reputation Partners' CEO Nick Kalm On Attacks On Company Brands * Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 44—Guest Nick Kalm On Why The Mid-Term's 'Red Wave' Was Barely A Ripple * Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 45—Guests Nick Kalm and Haley Har...
Jul 25, 2024•49 min
As unions have become more reliant on government largesse over the last few decades, putting their future fortunes into the hands of the government, the question of whether the Constitution’s First Amendment and its Freedom of Association apply to the concept of Exclusive Representation is called into question. In this episode, labor attorney Alex MacDonald , from Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute shares some of the details of his paper: Political Unions, Free Speech, and the Death of Volunta...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Since October 7th, there has been a tremendous and overt rise of anti-semitism on college campuses across the U.S. In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, Glenn Taubman from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation joins host Peter List to share what the Foundation is doing to assist and protect grad students, as well as others, against the onslaught of antisemitism in their unions. Related: * To contact the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, go here . * U.S. House Com...
Jul 16, 2024•53 min
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses political issues currently going on in the U.S. and the State of California If political topics trigger you, please do not listen to this episode. With political issues occupying the national conversation since President Joe Biden’s debate debacle, Will Swaim , president of the California Policy Center and co-host of National Review’s Radio Free California podcast, joins host Peter List to discuss current affairs and the potential replacement of Joe Biden ...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 6 min
