HR blogosphere

Back by popular demand, some favorite discoveries from my recent forays into the labor/employment/HR blogosphere, the “place” to go for stimulating information and opinion from a growing number of brilliant and creative professionals (not using those adjectives personally, of course, but only about the others, says your humble editor).

Sure, you could read all these blogs yourselves (maybe you do), but maybe you’re too busy, and you trust me to pick out some good stuff. If so, click over and read on.

We’ll start with a newcomer to the field, who’s been added to the blogroll at right.

Chuck Schrader, an attorney with Jordan Schrader PC., has just started up the Construction Labor Law blog. He has written some short background articles containing fairly basic and useful information; hopefully he will also cover recent legal delopments in this field as they occur. Topics covered so far: Market Recovery Programs; Jurisdictional Assignments Guidelines; The Right to Strike; and Jurisdictional Dispute Basics.

This blog is very attractively designed, and nicely integrated with the firm’s website, thanks to lexBlog.

I love Phillip Wilson’s comment about construction law in his introduction to this blog (thanks for tipping me off to it, Phillip): “In my opinion there is no better way to train a young labor lawyer than to have them represent some small open shop contractor who insists on bidding union projects - guaranteed problems on a nearly daily basis.”

Although from my experience, I’d say a lot of those problems often settle down into a routine: separate gates established, union violates gate, employer calls attorney, attorney writes/calls union, attorney writes/calls union attorney, union attorney tells union to get their act together, union gets back to respecting gates. But this can waste a day or two of valuable construction time, especially if all trades refuse to cross (unlawful) picket line.

And jurisdictional disputes? I most definitely have some good war stories, having been involved in a multi-year saga a few years ago.

Next, another new labor-related blog, also added to the blogroll.

Nathan Newman, who describes himself as “a community and union activist, policy advocate and writer [who is] [c]urrently combining work as a lawyer and writer,” pens the elegantly titled Labor Blog, which seems to focus primarily on union-related news, developments, and opinions, from a distinctly pro-labor perspective.

As a guy who thrives on devils-advocate discussions, and who feels that now more than ever we need dialogue with persons with different political/policy views, I am more than happy to turn my management-oriented readers on to this blog and recommend periodically reading it to help keep you from becoming an extremist.

Speaking of opposing political views, Beth Carvin in Nobscot’s WebLog has this:

“The Aftermath of Political Debates in the Office”

Beth says:

I advocate encouraging employees not to get into political and religious debates with coworkers on the job. From a business perspective there is absolutely nothing positive to be gained. From a societal standpoint, there’s not much to be gained either. As we all know, few minds are changed from such debate. And while there are few if any positives, there are plenty of negatives. Many of which are potent and long lasting.

I don’t necessarily disagree with the bottom line advice about the workplace. Beth is pragmatic and realistic.

But the cavalier assumption that political debate is wasted “from a societal standpoint” and changes few minds saddens me enormously. I’ve been steeped in American democratic principles, including the free speech my parents did not enjoy in the Communist Hungary they fled as young adults.

Folks, political debate is ESSENTIAL to our society. The problem is that people don’t just have this attitude about the workplace; they seem to have it about all “polite conversation” — stay away from politics and religion. Guess what, minds are changed; anyone who watched the polls after the Kerry-Bush debates could see that.

So, let’s learn (or re-learn) how to politely listen to opposing viewpoints, politely disagree, and be open to changing your mind.

End of sermon. Goodnight, it’s late, and I have just begun with the “blogosphere” content I intended to post, so stay tuned for more . . .

Sphere: Related Content