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It's funny--and illustrative--that Democrats in the U.S. have always ached for the liberalism of our northern neighbor, which is one reason why I've been warning on these pages that health care reform, Demo-style, is nothing but a Trojan Horse for socialized medicine a la Canada.
However, on one crucial issue, our U.S. liberals are not watching northern affairs closely enough. Canada once had card-check union authorization on the books in all ten of its provinces. After disastrous results, the law has been rescinded in six provinces, including Saskatchewan, birthplace of and home to Canada's communist party, and the most liberal province of all.
Jason Clemens explains this more fully in his article on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
Meanwhile, the EFCA, as estimated by the Heritage Foundation, could end up unionizing more than 4 million small businesses since the exemption for small businesses has not been increased since 1959 and stands at gross receipts of $50,000 a year. There are very few small businesses today that could survive on that meager amount of revenue.
The AFL-CIO's Stewart Acuff denies unions will be targeting small businesses, but what's to stop any group of employees from unionizing once they see how easy it is?
Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.
U.S. Department of Labor Officially Restores Prior Overtime Exemption Rules
On May 14th, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced it has officially rescinded the 2024 overtime exemption rules. Specifically, the WHD published a technical amendment to restore previous 2019 regulations that dictated overtime exemptions for...
NLRB General Counsel Takes Action to Tackle Current Case Backlog
On May 6th, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Stowe Carey announced the bulk transfer of thousands of labor practice cases. Specifically, this action fulfills an initiative signed by the NLRB General Counsel earlier this year. Overall, the initiative...
Privacy Agency Invites Comments from Businesses on the CCPA’s Usage of Personal Data
Recently, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) issued a call for comments on the current state of personal data collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Specifically, the invitation to deliver remarks was issued on April 20th, 2026. The information provided by the...
DOL Proposes New Joint Employer Rule To Unify Standards Under Federal Labor Laws
In April 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule to establish a single, clear standard for determining when joint-employer status applies under three major federal laws: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Migrant and Seasonal...
DOL Updates Enforcement Approach for Employee Benefit Plans: What Employers Should Know
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced a significant change in its enforcement of employee benefit plan rules. The DOL will now focus more closely on serious violations that harm workers and retirees, meaning compliant employers may face less scrutiny under the updated approach.