NHL Labor Woes

On a slightly different note ...

The NHL is having its own labor woes. After a lockout shortened the 1994-5 season to just half a season, they parties are back at it this year. The players refuse the league's demand of a salary cap. NHL players earn 76% of revenues in salary, higher than any other major sporting league in the US. The latest talks today went nowhere, the AP reports.

(There are three NHL teams in California. The San Jose Sharks, Western Conference Finalists in 2003-4, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Western Conference Champions in 2002-3, and the Los Angeles Kings.)

California Performance Review Highlights

The CPR states that:

The variety of programs responsible for unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety frustrates businesses attempting to comply with the law and workers that deserve benefits. In addition, the duplication of administrative functions results in additional and unnecessary costs to the state.

It proposes the following fix:

...the Department should have an office that integrates all of the various appellate programs—Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Safety and Health [and Fair Employment & Housing (see chart)]—to ensure that decisions are fair and consistent and provide flexibility in assignments to prevent backlogs. The Department should centralize administrative support functions to ensure that all the operating divisions concentrate on achieving program success.

It this happens, we could see some major changes in procedures, because these different agencies work quite differently. The mostly ministerial changes proposed to the Labor Code are here.

NLRB Criticizes Nurses' Bedside Manner

The Los Angeles Times reports that the NLRB has thrown out a vote to unionize by nurses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center because of intimidation tactics.