In the last week alone, the Trump administration has effectively shuttered the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, ended collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, two separate lawsuits filed against government unions, and union lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, as well as the re-hiring and re-firing of NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox.

To say that it’s a lot to take in would be an understatement.

In this episode of Labor Relations Radio, returning guest Alex MacDonald from Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute joins host Peter List to help break all of it down.

Follow Alex MacDonald on LinkedIn here.

Follow Alex MacDonald’s writings at the Federalist Society here.

Other episodes with Alex MacDonald:

* Labor Relations Radio, E161—WPI's Alex MacDonald On The Legal Theory Behind The Firing Of NLRB Member Wilcox

* 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.

* Labor Relations Radio E144—Alex MacDonald Explains How Unions' Right to"Exclusive Representation" May Be Unconstitutional

* Labor Relations Radio E138 — Attorney Alex MacDonald On The Constitutionality Of 'Exclusive Representation'

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Share this episode of Labor Relations Radio with your colleagues.

Kim Kavin, a freelance writer and editor, co-founder of Fight for Freelancers USA, and publisher of FreelanceBusting.com, returns to the podcast to discuss the latest happenings in the War on the Gig Economy.

In this episode Kim discusses what is transpiring at the federal and state levels with respect to the efforts to fight for Americans’ right to choose how to earn a living, as well as the efforts to destroy that right.

Read more about the fight against freelance busting at FreelanceBusting.com

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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 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).

* Commission a Government Accountability Office report on average workplace time-to-contract one year after enactment.

Read the full highlighted bill here.

“The Faster Labor Contracts Act is a massive expansion of the federal government’s authority over the private sector,” noted 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, joins host Peter List to discuss the ramifications of this bill if it becomes law.

Follow Alex MacDonald on LinkedIn here.

Follow Alex MacDonald’s writings at the Federalist Society here.

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

* 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.

* Labor Relations Radio E144—Alex MacDonald Explains How Unions' Right to"Exclusive Representation" May Be Unconstitutional

* Labor Relations Radio E138 — Attorney Alex MacDonald On The Constitutionality Of 'Exclusive Representation'

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

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-driven jobless economy: Who will pay taxes?

* The End of Required Work: Universal Basic Income and AI-Driven Prosperity

* Musk predicts future without jobs due to AI and proposes high universal income

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

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.

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

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 Relations Radio, Ep. 28—Guest Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Foundation

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

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 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

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 MacDonald’s writings at the Federalist Society here.

Prior Labor Relations Radio episodes with Alex MacDonald:

* 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.

* Labor Relations Radio E144—Alex MacDonald Explains How Unions' Right to"Exclusive Representation" May Be Unconstitutional

* Labor Relations Radio E138 — Attorney Alex MacDonald On The Constitutionality Of 'Exclusive Representation'

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

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 immigration, and Senator Josh Hawley’s pro-union (anti-worker) “framework” for labor law changes.

Related:

* Labor Relations Radio, Ep. 30—Guest: The National Retail Federation's Ed Egee on Underground Efforts To Install Electronic Voting and Card Check

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

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-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