Pioneering work in human resources, labor relations and social media

Sunday funnies: check out the Fruit Ninja

Michael VanDervort — Sun, 12 May 2013 07:55:07 PDT

Sunday funnies

Check out the cutlery skills on this guy chopping a watermelon to bits in under 30 seconds. Amazingly, this simple video has been viewed nearly five million times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN4PF4ulNpk

A quick update on the Fast Food Strikes

Michael VanDervort — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:28:17 PDT

Fast Food Strikes Spreading

Fast Food (Photo credit: SteFou!)

This post is especially important for members of management in the restaurant industry.

I would be astounded if you work in any part of management in the restaurant industry and haven’t already heard about this, but just in case, I wanted to do a post that summarizes some of the dramatic, ground breaking labor relations developments that have taken place over the last month or so in your industry.

Fast food workers are going on strike. On April 4th in New York City, more than 400 fast food workers walked off the job, demanding wage increases, more hours, and the right to join a union without interference. According to published reports, workers from 60 to 70 restaurants, including large brands like McDonald’s, Burger King, Papa John’s, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut participated in the strike. The strike action was organized by a group called Fast Food Forward.

On April 24th, a similar strike action took place in Chicago, as fast-food and retail workers took over downtown Chicago, demanding wage increases as part of The “Fight for $15 campaign” . As in New York, this group was supported by a coalition of local community, labor and faith-based organizations — including the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, a group of downtown fast-food and retail workers that launched in November 2012. Affected companies included big-name companies like Macy’s, Subway, Victoria’s Secret, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Nike.

In May, similar protests and strike events have been held in Oakland, St. Louis , and Detroit. I’d click through the various links for the various cities to see more on who was impacted and how these events played out.

Labor Relations 101: What is protected concerted activity?

Michael VanDervort — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:59:47 PDT

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What is protected concerted activity?

Protected concerted activity is a very popular search topic on the blog. HR practitioners are looking this up more and more, so here is the precise definition of what consitiutes protected concerted activity, straight off the NLRB website.

Is the activity concerted?

Generally, this requires two or more employees acting together to improve wages or working conditions, but the action of a single employee may be considered concerted if he or she involves co-workers before acting, or acts on behalf of others.

Does it seek to benefit other employees?

Will the improvements sought – whether in pay, hours, safety, workload, or other terms of employment – benefit more than just the employee taking action? Or is the action more along the lines of a personal gripe, which is not protected?

Is it carried out in a way that causes it to lose protection?

Reckless or malicious behavior, such as sabotaging equipment, threatening violence, spreading lies about a product, or revealing trade secrets, may cause concerted activity to lose its protection

Federal appeals court strikes down proposed NLRB union notification requirement

Michael VanDervort — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:44:21 PDT

NLRB posting requirement for employers struck down, termed government compelled speech

Fairly important ruling over the proposed NLRB employer posting requirements, citing concerns over freedom of speech, and calling the NLRB proposal “government compelled speech”. The streak continues.

From the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court here struck down Tuesday a rule that would have required more than 6 million private employers to post notices telling workers of their right to join a union.

The decision is the latest setback for unions and the Obama administration at the hands of the conservative-leaning appeals court in Washington.

When President Obama took office, union leaders hoped that a reenergized National Labor Relations Board could stop or reverse the long decline in union membership. Only about 7% of private workers in the U.S. belong to unions.

Two years ago the board adopted a rule requiring employers to post a “notification of employee rights” in their workplaces. The one-page form was to include the basic rights protected by federal labor law, including the right to join a union and to go on strike.

But the National Assn. of Manufacturers (NAM) and several anti-union groups went to court to challenge the rule before it could take effect.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the rule on the grounds that the NLRB had overstepped its authority under law. Judge Raymond Randolph described the rule as government “compelled speech.”

New on Blogging4Jobs: Better Brand Management

Michael VanDervort — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:12:54 PDT

Brand Touchpoints

Fortune (magazine) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a really good article in Fortune reminding executives they should be doing a much better job of communicating with employees who don’t work at a desk.

My latest post on Blogging4Jobs is up. Check it out here. It’s about how to better protect your brand by emphasizing customer service touchpoints.

Caterpillar’s tough labor negotiation reaches Milwaukee – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Michael VanDervort — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:56:13 PDT

See on Scoop.it – Labor and Employee Relations

Caterpillar’s tough labor negotiation reaches Milwaukee
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
I hope those guys in the union come to their senses, because a job at $20 an hour is a lot better than no job,” he said.

See on www.jsonline.com

Labor protests in the news

Michael VanDervort — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:13:04 PDT

Labor Protests making a comeback

Yesterday was May Day, recognized by many as the sort of unofficial advent of Spring celebrations.

It’s also International Workers’ Day, described on Wikipedia as a “celebration of the international labour movement. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other countries. May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups commemorating the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.”

There was lots of labor relations action going on across the country in the days leading up to May Day, including protests at Walmart stores, rolling strikes against a bevy of Chicago retail and fast food chains, violent protests in Seattle that led to property damage and arrests, and many other actions.

Check out the video below for a visual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yUVWZgqa-8

A beautiful new LinkedIn profile

Michael VanDervort — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:01:13 PDT

LinkedIn profile rejection

Bill Boorman and Jill Elswick at Recruitfest 2009

Apparently it’s Dutch week here on HRH.

Lots of Dutch news these days – a new King and Queen of the Netherlands were crowned, and the latest version of the social recruiting phenomenon known as TRU Amsterdam just concluded.

Despite the success of TRU, and the seemingly global adoption of social recruiting, there is at least one Dutch recruiter who can’t be bothered.

Check out the LinkedIn profile of Marc Drees, who runs RecruitmentLab and RecruitmentMatters. It’s a hoot!

Mijn fraaie, nieuwe LinkedIn samenvatting

Welcome to my LinkedIn profile!

Be aware that this profile hasn’t been updated since early 2010. I simply had/have better things to do.

For those interested in what I do and keen to learn Dutch: visit recruitmentmatters.nl. Results may vary when using an online translation service.

For those trying to improve their job or career site: visit recruitmentlab.nl after learning Dutch. An online translation service is pointless in this case. But learn Dutch. Seriously. It will help you improve your site beyond recognition. Or contact me. But not through LinkedIn. Why not? See below.

For those trying to connect with me: I have zero connections on LinkedIn and want to keep it that way. So don’t send me an invitation as I will happily ignore it.

Also, don’t contact me through LinkedIn. I will most likely never respond. There are much better ways to contact me. If you haven’t found them yet, you didn’t make a real effort.

Have a great day!

As Marc said: “Nou maar hopen dat bezoekers ook de moeite nemen om te lezen…”, or “Let’s hope visitors take the trouble to read … “

Sunday Funnies: Two Dutch men simulate labor pains (NSFW)

Michael VanDervort — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:54:47 PDT

A different kind of labor

Dutch television hosts Dennis Storm and Valerio Zeno are the stars of the television show Guinea Pigs (Proefkonijnen) in which they put themselves through extreme experiences. A few months ago, they released the following video clip, they can be seen screaming and yelling in agony as they undergo simulated child birth contractions.

It’s kind of funny, but also educational, especially if you are a dude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A44oEcmDn1c

The Outside View: Is HR slowing down business growth

Michael VanDervort — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:14:40 PDT

Taking the outside view

If only I had been in London,I could have gone to see the premier of this documentary “The Outside View” today. Hopefully I’ll get to see the full version via the Interwebs soon anyway. It looks pretty interesting, and raises an interesting question: “Is HR slowing down business growth?”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjdjwyw2v4g

THE DOCUMENTARY

Do you want: The brightest engineer from Facebook, the best marketer from P&G or Warren Buffett as your CFO?

Your budget will often crush those dreams.

But if baseball can use rocket scientists and data analytics to outperform richer teams so can business. (and so can HR!)

From the Ivy League to the major baseball league, from London skyscrapers to Silicon Valley startups, the documentary is full of eminent academics, quirky statisticians and celebrity CEOs that will teach you to how to choose between Steve Jobs and ‘I want a job.’

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