A bipartisan lawmaker effort urges the DOL to lean into a good cause:
These days, bipartisan U.S. lawmaker efforts are difficult to come by, but the subject of human trafficking is receiving that treatment. As reported by Bloomberg Law, both congressional chambers are calling on the U.S. Department of Labor to train staff to identify signs of trafficking and to alert law enforcement to those cases.
H.R. 4307 was approved by the House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday. Last year, the Senate introduced S.2241 as companion legislation. Fingers crossed for speedy passage, and for further reading on human trafficking in a labor relations context, LRI Consulting Services, Inc. President Danine Clay recently posted on LinkedIn about how companies can help shut down a scourge that exploits around 25 million people globally.
Teamsters organizers want their own union, cue the drama?
It’s not unheard of for union organizers to seek their own third-party representation. SEIU and CWA's headquarters staffers are unionized with OPEIU, and the UAW’s temporary organizing staff created the UAW Staff Council Union. Also this week, Teamsters staffers filed an election petition for a unit of 64 lead organizers and staff international organizers.
What’s so unusual here? This appears to be a case of unions not practicing what they preach: Teamsters did not voluntarily recognize the staff union, and employment lawyer Jesse Dill would like to know why. He’s also curious about whether the Teamsters will permit a speedy election, and like Dill, we will have our popcorn ready for further developments.
Speaking of voluntary recognition, let’s talk about museums:
When the NLRB reopened in mid-November, museum workers led the initial wave of union petitions. Those units included 900+ workers at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art seeking to join the UAW, and several petitions surfaced from workers looking to join AFSCME. Museum workers are passionate about their chosen field, and unions do not hesitate to try and capitalize upon any perceived disconnect that workers might feel from their cultural institution’s stated mission.
It can also be argued that unions specifically target nonprofits, including museums, because they expect an easier path to success through voluntary recognition, thereby bypassing an election.
As if on cue this week, a progressive outlet published an article titled, “Museum Workers, Recognize Your Union Now.” In doing so, the publication argued that resistance to unions is futile while falsely claiming, “100% of union elections at private, nonprofit art museums in the US have been successful since the contemporary unionization wave began in 2019.”
Their argument fails to mention that AFSCME lost union elections at two private, nonprofit art museums, The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester and Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in LA, in 2025 and 2022.
Union advocates bending the truth? It happens every day.
Shawn Fain’s text messages get the spotlight from the UAW watchdog:
In May 2021, federal monitor Neil Barofsky was appointed to oversee the UAW’s efforts to shed its legacy of corruption. He’s had his hands full while issuing thirteen full status reports thus far. Last June, the twelfth status report painted an unflattering portrait of President Fain’s foul-mouthed outbursts, toxic leadership style, and retaliatory firings.
Barofsky recently circled back to that twelfth report with a 49-page addendum that details Fain’s text messages, including 123 deletions, which were part of a retaliatory scheme to oust Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, who refused “to authorize improper expenditures of funds at the request of and/or for the benefit of those in the President’s Office."
Well, the addendum has resulted in a top-staff shakeup, through which Stellantis Department VP Rich Boyer’s position was restored, and Mock was welcomed back. Additionally, Comms Director Jonah Furman was disciplined, and an assistant to Fain, Chris Brooks, resigned.
What about Fain himself? After the twelfth report, he received an unexpected reprieve from several locals’ attempts to oust him. Of course, that reprieve happened due to a procedural error by those locals who brought charges, but Fain still emerged relatively unscathed. Whether or not he manages to be reelected in this year’s officer elections remains to be seen.
Healthcare, ChatGPT, and a Star Wars analogy:
This week, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health to a small group of users to further develop what’s apparently been happening by popular demand. “230 million people globally ask health and wellness related questions on ChatGPT every week,” according to OpenAI’s announcement.
ChatGPT will not make formal diagnoses, but users will reportedly be able to “securely” link their wellness apps and medical records to the platform in an “encrypted” space that will be semi-sandboxed from other chats. Privacy concerns abound, but OpenAI declared that they “built foundational protections” into this platform that ensure users can delete their info, and models are trained “not to retain personal information from user chats.”
Meanwhile, Beckers Hospital Review interviewed Laren Tan, the Chair of Medicine at Loma Linda University Health, who called AI a “A New Hope” (like Star Wars) since doctors are now freed from time-consuming paperwork due to the technology. However, it’s likely that not every physician will feel positively about ChatGPT Health, which could launch a new “Dr. Google” phenomenon and make it difficult for doctors to convince patients not to place too much trust in an AI chatbot.
As many industries are finding out, balance is important in the AI age.
