PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Michael Paglialonga, Representative from Littler Mendelson P.C. on Intro 991-B
1:57:39
·
146 sec
Michael Paglialonga, representing Littler Mendelson and the Workplace Policy Institute, testified against Intro 991-B, highlighting legal flaws in the bill. He argued that the bill is preempted by federal law, particularly the National Labor Relations Act, and encourages unionization in ways that may be problematic.
- The bill provides an unclear exemption for collective bargaining agreements (CBAs)
- It requires direct employment of a specific group of employees without clear justification
- Paglialonga suggests the bill strongly favors the Hotel Trade Council's interests
- He referenced additional legal issues detailed in their submitted written testimony
Michael Paglialonga
1:57:39
That's so much easier when it's on.
1:57:40
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank so much for allowing the opportunity to testify.
1:57:44
My name is Mike Poliolanga.
1:57:46
I'm joined here today by my colleague, Michael Weber, and to speak to you on behalf of Littler Mendelson and the Workplace Policy Institute.
1:57:55
For very quick background, Littler Mendelson is the world's largest labor and employment firm exclusively represent employers and management.
1:58:03
We have 1800 attorneys globally and are, you know, truly second to know with none with expertise.
1:58:11
The Workplace Policy Institute, or WPI, works on behalf of employers to bring light to a number of the issues that are otherwise just left in the dark.
1:58:20
And I'm here today to spend a very quick 2 minutes highlighting some of the the legal flaws with this bill.
1:58:26
And unfortunately, I can't get into it as much as I would always love to talk about.
1:58:30
So please reach out with any questions.
1:58:33
But the goal of this testimony is to highlight that this bill, as it is drafted, cannot go into effect as it is preempted by federal law for multiple different bases, including the National Labor Relations Act, which establishes as a core the one set of rules that collective bargaining must go through and sets a balance of power between employers and employees within the United States.
1:59:01
This built tacitly encourages unionization in two ways.
1:59:05
It does so by providing effectively an exemption.
1:59:09
We're not clear as to what the language of the exemption for the CBA actually means within the current draft.
1:59:14
It's frankly rather unclear, but it provides an exemption that CBA's covered employers may just show the provisions of their bargaining agreement.
1:59:24
2nd, the bill requires direct employment of employees with a cherry picked group of employees that bear no rational or reasonable basis to any of the the wrongs we've we've heard of of today.
1:59:38
These bills are strongly this bill is strongly supported by the Hotel Trade Council for a very good reason.
1:59:44
It promotes their interests.
1:59:47
I'd love to keep talking you more about the, frankly, 3 other ways and 3 other areas where this bill crosses the line, But please take a look at our submitted testimony.
1:59:56
We welcome any questions you have and just hope to avoid a long period of uncertainty and unnecessary litigation from this.
