Professor John Logan shared his perspective on union rallies opposing President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions in AXIOS, and offered additional insights on union activity and performance in the Valley News.
Professor John Logan shared his perspective on union rallies opposing President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions in AXIOS and offered additional insights on union activity and performance in the Valley News.
Since the White House has brought immigration enforcement into the American workplace, unions have become key players in resisting these efforts. Much of this pushback comes from the fact that immigrant workers, both documented and undocumented, make up a crucial part of union membership, particularly in organizations such as SEIU, which has organized major protests. Immigrants also represent a growing share of the overall working class, making workplace enforcement a direct threat to unions’ base.
Professor and Department Chair of Labor and Employment Studies, John Logan, explains: “You can’t deport huge numbers of people without widespread workplace enforcement. It’s highly likely this will be the focus of the administration’s efforts, which will draw union leaders into this conflict.” Logan thinks that the increasing number of workplace raids will likely force more unions to publicly take a position either in support of or in opposition to the White House’s immigration policy.
Additionally, Logan commented on the recent failed unionization attempt by nurses at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).
Dartmouth Health maintains a strict policy prohibiting employees from speaking publicly about their workplace without approval from the organization’s communications and marketing office. At the same time, Dartmouth Health is actively convincing nurses that collectively bargaining for wages, benefits and improvement of working conditions was not in their best interest.
Joan Vogel, professor of law emerita at Vermont Law and Graduate School who specializes in employment law, emphasized why nurses pursued unionization in the first place: “The whole point of having a union is so you have some control over your work environment.” This helps explain why DHMC is resisting unionization efforts. According to John Logan, “They do not want to give up unilateral control of the workplace”.
Read all the full news stories by visiting the links below: