LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio

About LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio

Labor union-related news stories from around the United States laborunionnews.substack.com (https://laborunionnews.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

LaborUnionNews.com

Category

news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Feb 2022

Latest episode

1 Apr 2025

Latest episodes

59 of 166 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   1 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Labor Relations Radio, E168—So much is happening in DC regarding unions almost daily. WPI's Alex MacDonald helps break it down.

   Peter List interviews Alex MacDonald of the Workplace Policy Institute to explain recent union-related developments in Washington DC

2. 

   13 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Labor Relations Radio, E167 — An Update On The 'War On The Gig Economy' With FreelanceBusting.com's Kim Kavin

   Kim Kavin, freelance writer and co-founder of Fight for Freelancers USA, updates host LaborUnionNews.com on the latest developments in the 'War on the Gig Economy' and the fight for freelancers' rights, in this interview.

3. 

   4 Mar 2025TRANSCRIPT

   Labor Relations Radio, E166—A New Bill Puts the Feds into the Position of Dictating Contract Terms On The Private Sector. Here's Why That's Bad...

   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 (https://www.merkley.senate.gov/new-hawley-merkley-legislation-to-speed-up-labor-contracts-earns-teamsters-endorsement-bipartisan-support/) the Faster Labor Contracts Act (https://app.getresponse.com/click.html?x=a62b&co=BLraId&lc=hDLFNl&mc=IQ&s=GQHxIO&u=oQXO&z=EwO7Bfp&)—a bill that is endorsed by the Teamsters (https://teamster.org/2025/03/teamsters-support-faster-labor-contracts-act/), which would put federally-mandated arbitrators in the position of dictating first-time labor contracts onto employers, employees, and unions. The Faster Labor Contracts Act would: * Amend the National Labor Relations Act to require that after workers have voted to form a union, employers must begin negotiating with the new union within 10 days. * Provide that if no agreement is reached within 90 days, the dispute will be referred to mediation. * Stipulate that if mediation fails within 30 days, or additional periods agreed upon by the parties, the dispute will be referred to binding arbitration to secure an initial contract (view more details of this provision in highlights here (https://www.scribd.com/document/835359295/Faster-Labor-Contracts-Act)). * Commission a Government Accountability Office report on average workplace time-to-contract one year after enactment. Read the full highlighted bill here (https://www.scribd.com/document/835359295/Faster-Labor-Contracts-Act). “The Faster Labor Contracts Act is a massive expansion of the federal government’s authority over the private sector,” noted (https://myprivateballot.com/2025/03/04/cdw-opposes-legislation-imposing-government-interference-into-private-sector-contracts/) Kristen Swearingen, spoksperson for the Coalition for Democratic Workplace. “It would allow government bureaucrats to dictate the employment terms of workers via mandatory, binding arbitration, meaning they can set the workers’ wages, benefits, workplace safety standards, pensions, and so on with no oversight by the workers, employers, unions, or even the judicial branch.” In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Alex MacDonald, Co-Chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (https://www.littler.com/innovation/workplace-policy-institute), joins host Peter List to discuss the ramifications of this bill if it becomes law. Follow Alex MacDonald on LinkedIn here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-macdonald-b11400148/). Follow Alex MacDonald’s writings at the Federalist Society here (https://fedsoc.org/contributors/alexander-macdonald-1). Prior Labor Relations Radio episodes with Alex MacDonald: * Labor Relations Radio, E161—WPI's Alex MacDonald On The Legal Theory Behind The Firing Of NLRB Member Wilcox (https://laborunionnews.substack.com/p/labor-relations-radio-e161wpis-alex) * Labor Relations Radio, E149: An Accidental Outcome? Alex MacDonald returns to discuss how the NLRA's success has resulted in fewer unions & what might happen under a new administration in DC. (https://laborunionnews.substack.com/p/labor-relations-radio-e149-an-accidental?utm_source=publication-search) * Labor Relations Radio E144—Alex MacDonald Explains How Unions' Right to"Exclusive Representation" May Be Unconstitutional (https://laborunionnews.substack.com/p/labor-relations-radio-e144alex-macdonald?utm_source=publication-search) * Labor Relations Radio E138 — Attorney Alex MacDonald On The Constitutionality Of 'Exclusive Representation' (https://laborunionnews.substack.com/p/labor-relations-radio-e138attorney?utm_source=publication-search) LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio is subscriber-supported. To receive new posts and support our work, become a subscriber. 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 (https://laborunionnews.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Inside a recent episode

Labor Relations Radio, E168—So much is happening in DC regarding unions almost daily. WPI's Alex MacDonald helps break it down.

Published 1 Apr 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] So he, you know, sets out a few examples of how this has happened. He points to one, so, you know, during the first Trump administration, there was a statute passed specifically applying to employees of the Veterans Administration, which made it easier to essentially fire an employee for performance reasons. Congress was upset based on some scandals that were coming out of the VA, wanted the agency management to have more control to move what performers on. And so they changed the process that the agency had to go through. Well, the union challenged that statute and blocked it. And essentially what ultimately happened was the federal labor relations authority said, you can't use this authority until you've completed midterm bargaining with the union. […]

Who has been a guest on LaborUnionNews.com's Labor Relations Radio

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Alex MacDonald
• Kim Kavin
• Kristen Swearingen

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.3 / 5

8 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 62 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

96

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

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Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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