The Union Lawyer

Why the NLRB Should Be Abolished

2008-03-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

Here's an email from an NLRB Agent to a colleague of mine:

In Case 21-CA-38181 it is alleged that the Employer violated Section 8(a)(1) and (3) of the Act by harassing, coercing, discrimination against, and threatening an off-duty employee because the employee supports the Union. Specifically, the Union alleges that the Employer summoned a security guard to harass a Union employee, and the guard, with a dog by his side, threatened the Union employee.

The Region has authorized dismissal, absent withdrawal on this allegation. The investigation failed to reveal that the guard made any threats (or statements for that matter) to the employee. There is no evidence that the dog made any motion or threatening gesture toward the employee. Finally, there is no evidence supporting a Section 8(a)(3) violation.

I Am Not Alone

2008-01-08T09:23:00.001-08:00

Members of the AFSCME Executive Board (7 of 33) have written an open letter to AFSCME President Gerald McEntee asking him to refrain from attacking Senator Obama and using union funds/staff to engage in public disparagement of the Senator. Noteworthy, to me, is the admission that AFSMCE endorsed Clinton primarily because they expected her to be the front runner, and wanted to back the right horse, so to speak.

This bolsters my view that Labor's beef with Obama is not that he's anti-union, but that he ain't getting bought by Labor. If we can get his support for free, then why are we begging him to take our money?

The flip side, i.e. Labor's argument, is that Obama is taking $2300 from every rich person he meets, but that teachers, firefighters, and home care workers don't have that kind of money. Unions can pool their members' money to support candidates that support issues for working people. It's an argument, but that's all it is. It isn't borne out by the practice. Politicians take money from unions, AND from rich people, and then do what they do. I think its worth trying a different way for once.

UPDATE: It looks like the members of Culinary workers local 226 agrees with me.

Everyone's A Pundit

2008-01-08T09:16:00.000-08:00

I had an irksome conversation with a law clerk in our office the other day where he expressed doubt that Obama even supports the Employee Free Choice Act (this legislation proposes to strengthen union organizing, and it’s a no-duh Vote Yes for Democrats). The law clerk has “inside knowledge” that Obama is not pro-union.

Obama does, in fact, support EFCA, and other pro-union, pro-working people solutions. At least, he says he does. And he did co-sponsor the damn bill in the Senate. So I did a tiny amount of research to figure out why Labor people think Obama is "the most conservative candidate on the Democratic side", at least on labor issues.

Most of the web/news coverage concerns Obama's almost-perfect record on labor issues or the fact that Obama has called out Clinton on NAFTA/CAFTA and Edwards on his refusal to condemn the right-to-work law in NC. Not exactly a right-wing smoking gun, if you ask me.

When I dug a little deeper, I found what may be the problem: Obama sent out a campaign letter where he seems to have called unions (and Emily's list) "special interests", and eschewed 527 organization's funds. DailyKos took issue (in a post that is reminiscent of the AFSCME video I posted back in March), as did Working Life and Politico.

Help me out here. How is being against "soft money funding" the exact same thing as being "anti-union"? And since when did buying politicians do shit for labor unions? Labor has been paying through the nose for years for the privilege of getting shafted over and over again. Millions of members' dues are chasing after politicians who have failed to strengthen labor laws, appoint pro-worker regulatory bodies, raise the minimum wage, stop jobs from moving overseas or borders or improve healthcare.

Labor thinks the candidates' interests are their interests. So fundraising is what Labor cares about, because that's what the candidate cares about. They lash out at another candidate who says, I want to end that kind of fundraising - as thought that were a labor issue. It's not a labor issue, it's a political issue. They hope the candidates they spend for will reciprocate, but there's no real historical basis for that hope.

Just as with the Labor's occasionally retrograde environmental views, Labor is on the wrong side on the issue of campaign finance reform. They think being able to throw their money around gets them somewhere in elections, but the reality is, they are always outspent, always outgunned, by employers and industry groups, who have more money and far less scruples about how widely they distribute it.

So I am not persuaded yet that Obama is anti-union or anti-worker. Of course, for professional reasons, I can't really share this view with anyone in my world who might be able to contradict me, but I am infuriated that "my people" are acting like mini-Joe Trippis instead of worker advocates. I think that there's a lot of sour grapes about lining up behind the wrong candidate too early, another common mistake Labor makes. Let me know if you know something different....

More On The Writers' Strike

2007-11-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

Except for the fact that folks are having to strike over such an obvious issue as revenue from new media sources, this strike is like a labor utopia for me. By the way, I want to mention that I do not represent WGA or SAG or AFTRA. I represent a couple of IATSE locals but none are impacted by the strike. Not sure whether representing one of those unions would create a conflict of interest but I wanted to give full disclosure.

Anyway, back to labor utopia. Driving home last night, I listened to 15 full minutes of labor coverage. Never in my life have I heard that much labor talk, none of it from a unionbuster, on NPR. The media feels such a kinship with WGA (I hope), they are giving them actual coverage. Its also in the NYT, Yahoo News, Google News, and The Recorder (CA legal news). And that's just the old media. You can find WGA on their own websites, on Facebook, YouTube and MySpace and probably some other places I have never heard of. It's awfully refreshing. Check United Hollywood for links to those places where you can learn more. And sign the WGA petition.

Oh, and if you still don't understand what this is about:

So THIS Is How It Works

2007-11-06T21:11:00.001-08:00

In case you are wondering what old school economic weapons look like when married to "new media"-savvy workers, this Writers Guild of America strike may end up being the model. They have their own website, updating picket sites info regularly United Hollywood, lists of sitcoms that have shut down because actors won't cross picket lines or work while being struck, members blogging, Teamsters walking away from their trucks while gate guards have to unload them. It's very inspiring and cool.

Now if only there were more union members portrayed on television. . .

Writers' Strike and Other Thoughts

2007-11-05T13:44:00.000-08:00

There's something about Hollywood that makes people pay attention in a way they won't when it concerns another industry. Here is a summary of the issues, and there are plenty of blogs chronicling the dispute (writers not working still gotta scratch that itch. See Undercover Black Man and United Hollywood, which has actual information for picketing writers. I expect Calitics will keep its eye on the strike, as will the mainstream media.

And here's a sexual harassment case I will not likely be sharing with any of my clients. In Coolidge v. Indianapolis, the Seventh Circuit found that the appellant was not sexually harassed by her former supervisor when she found necrophiliac pornography that he may have left behind. The Court found, among other things, that as a Crime Lab employee, exposure to such material did not have the same "shocking overtones" it might have in another setting. It recalls "the Seinfeld case", Lyle v. Warner Bros., where the Cal Supremes defined when it was okay to talk dirty at work. Now that I think about it, those alleged harassers are probably out on the picket line today.

UPDATE: 11/5, 3:20p - A writer was hit by a car on the picket line, per ABC News.

No $#!+

2007-10-08T21:13:00.001-07:00

In what must be the least surprising news I have heard this year, researchers have found that employees "slack off" in response to abusive bosses. Once called "blue flu" (by police, and then broadly, public employees) or a "sick out", I wonder what will come of all this.

“However, it is clear that employee-employer relations are at one of the lowest points in history,” researcher Wayne Hochwarter said. . . .Hochwarter suggested that basic civility, including a commitment to active communication, could resolve many workplace problems.

Maybe.

Sad But True

2007-09-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

The National Labor Relations Board Union is picketing Ronald Meisburg because of his refusal to bargain with them. The Federal Labor Relations Authority has issued a complaint against Meisburg for his refusal to bargain.

In case anyone thought the leadership at the NLRB still gave a shit about workers, there should be no illusions.....

Optimistic Voices

2007-08-31T13:16:00.001-07:00

As Labor Day rolls around, it is time to start keeping our eyes peeled for the annual Labor Day columns. As Randy Shaw notes, this typically means lamentations about the state of the labor movement (and the endangered state of the 40-hour work week, defined benefit plans and other hard-won labor victories). Shaw's column is good, and is the second one I have seen pointing out that things ain't so bad out there. In fact, with the 2008 election on the horizon, things are looking up for Labor.

Happy Labor Day. I will try to post a few other columns that grab my eye, as long as they don't depress me too much.

The Wide World of Labor

2007-08-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

I read this article which sent me on a mini-bender, so much so that I sent a letter to Howard Bryant, the columnist. Here's what I said:

Mr. Bryant: A friend forwarded your column to me today, wondering what I thought. I am an attorney representing unions, but not the NFL Players Association. Here’s what I said:

He’s wrong:

“The responsibility of a union is to defend its membership -- every time, all the time, if for no other reasons than to send a dissenting vote to management that its membership always will be protected by a strong union and to alert the commissioner that his powers always will be checked by an advocate for the players. The union's message should be that a commissioner cannot simply do whatever he wants.”

The union represents all of its members, not just individuals. Without a union, a worker, including a football player, is an at-will employee. With a union, a worker is not guaranteed absolute job security. The restriction on the employer is that disciplinary action will be taken “for just cause” and not out of favoritism, personal animosity or discriminatorily. But “just cause” has some meaning, and in the context of the NFL, the employer may have decided that Vick’s actions are so abhorrent that they warrant termination for just cause. Criminal behavior certainly hits that mark. The decision then rests with the union whether to grieve that disciplinary action or not. The union’s duty is a duty of fair representation, which means that their decision cannot be arbitrary, discriminatory or in bad faith. This is a low standard that gives a union a great deal of discretion about which issues they wish to pursue on behalf of their members as a whole. Clearly the union can agree not fight a losing battle, in the interest of protecting a good and open relationship with an employer (which is in fact a goal of mature labor relations) and in the interest of protecting their other members. NFL players have a lot of impunity, rarely being called to task for their criminal conduct, but that could change, in the media, in culture on a hot dime. By staking a position that there is some behavior which is too terrible to protect, the union softens the blow for other players who are under scrutiny for “lesser” offenses (putting aside how many of these “lesser” offenses involve domestic violence), and lets the union defend them without a public outcry.

Don't Call It A Comeback

2007-08-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

When you eat, sleep and breathe unions, its a little hard to get perspective on where the labor movement is going, and how its getting there. The Las Vegas Sun has this article about unions, and how they have surprising strength. The authors attribute the labor movement's potential to having chosen the "right" issues, like healthcare, and the "right" friends, Democrats for whom the labor movement was an important port in the 2006 storm (errr, election).

The labor movement is also trying to get a handle on New Media (can the internet even be called that anymore). There is a Labor Movement Channel at Go Left TV (look in the Channel menu). Most of the pieces are produced like traditional news shows, and provide more exposition than an already labor-knowledgable viewer might need. But its a start. Just not sure how you get people to watch it. Here's the most recent episode:

It's Been Awhile

2007-07-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

But now there's something to say, I guess. Not surprisingly, its all bad news.

ICE (formerly INS) arrested a union rep at a raid on a packing plant in Iowa for harboring "illegal aliens". This is the first instance I have heard of (via AFL-CIO) but probably not the last.

UPDATE: The HR rep was arrested too.

An NLRB board agent told me yesterday that the General Counsel for the NLRB is refusing to bargain with the staff union. Shocking, and yet, not surprising at all.

Finally, to counter all this negative news, watch this:

The Left is Starting to Notice

2006-05-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

Firedoglake has a great post today about the Center for Union Lies and card check/neutrality v. NLRB elections. Check it out. In the comments, Jane Hamsher calls it one of the best posts FDL has ever had. Pretty high praise. And the other comments are pretty gratifying as well. Mainly, its great to see folks perking up about organizing issues and the labor movement.

4.11 Days

2006-05-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Change to Win Make Work Pay website has a cool calculator that shows how long it takes the average CEO of an American corporation to make your pay. The title is the length of time it takes to make mine. It takes 13.95 seconds for the average CEO to make minimum wage ($5.15).

In other news, the NLRB has invited amicus briefing on a neutrality/card check agreement case now pending. I will try to find out more and post links to amicus briefs if I can find them.

Cal Employment Law Blog

2006-04-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

I just added a link to Storm's California Employment Law blog. Please check it out. It's interesting, and Storm blogs with alarming regularity, unlike yours truly. Enjoy!

Corporate Retaliation Against Shareholder Activism

2006-03-30T09:05:00.000-08:00

The SF Chronicle has an interesting piece about efforts big companies are taking to limit and stop shareholder activism and reform efforts. For example, consulting firms offer investigative tools for figuring out who shareholders are. "Merrill Lynch is poised to become the first investment bank to dedicate a team to advise companies on the growing threat of activist investors."

French Protests on Labor Law

2006-03-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

The news about the protests in France against the new youth labor law is garnering a lot of attention, although little of it explains the central concerns of labor unions and young people about the law.

I can't explain it yet either (check back in later, I will try to figure it out) but I am incredibly impressed that unions, which represent only 8% of the French workforce, have managed to turn out over 1 million people in street protests. I assume that French workers who are not unionized still understand their interests as being represented by unions, rather than by corporations, churches, or politicians.

But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. In Los Angeles, over half a million people, many of whom are undocumented and thus legally vulnerable, marched last Saturday against proposed immigration reform. And all week, thousands of students in So. Cal. have staged walk-outs and protests in response to the proposals.

Change to Win Update

2006-03-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

Although things are generally quiet over at the Change to Win website (notice they just updated the, umm, format), there are a couple of things afoot in the CTW camp. First of all, they are having a big organizing conference in Las Vegas next week, which will hopefully spur more joint organizing campaigns of the sort underway in Washington State. The Teamsters and the United Farm Workers are collaborating on an organizing drive in Central Washington for food processing workers. See here.

The AFL-CIO beast, on the other hand, seems to be stirring a bit more these days. I already reported on the Industry Committees, and they are taking on SEIU efforts to organize nurses by creating a Nursing Industry Organizing Committee (see here and here). This is the first direct national organizing confrontation that I've seen since the split.

Great CA Discovery Tool

2006-03-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

I am adding a link to the CA Civil Discovery Law website to the tool bar just so that it gets the recognition it deserves. This website is probably useless to any reader who is not an attorney or not practicing in CA, but it was shut down recently and then started back up again because of user sadness and severe withdrawal symptoms. Enjoy, CA litigators!

Another One Bites the Dust

2006-03-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't even call it a Pension Watch. It's more like a Death Watch. The NY Times is reporting that General Motors is freezing its pension plan for salaried employees.

Phew.

2006-03-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

The National Labor Relations Board has now affirmed its position that AFL-CIO disaffiliation does not affect representation status. (Say what?) Employers have been refusing to bargain with CTW unions on the basis that the disaffiliation of these unions from the AFL raises a question of fact about whether the union was the one designated by the employees to be their representative. Total bullshit but it ties 'em at the Board for another two years. In New York Rehabilitation Care Management, LLC (29-CA-26678, January 31, 2006), the Board refused to reconsider an earlier finding that the employer had unlawfully refused to bargain with SEIU 1199, and affirmed Laurel Baye Healthcare of Lake Lanier LLC, 346 NLRB No 15. In that case, the Board found that the UFCW's disaffiliation, standing alone, did not raise a question about the genuine identity of the employees' chosen labor organization.

AFL-CIO announces "Industry Coordinating Committees"

2006-03-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

The Green Bay Press Gazette reports that the AFL-CIO will be forming four Industry Coordinating Committees to handling industry-wide bargaining in the entertainment/media, nursing, telecommunications and public sectors.

If I am not mistaken, the CTW unions rallied for more industrial organizing/bargaining models. The AFL is creating these committees in areas where CTW does not have currently have recognition, so it seems to prevent a collision of interests that many feared the split would create.

News of the Wierd - Labor Edition

2006-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

The LA Times has an article on a Buddhist monk who has started a union because of a dispute he's having with a superior in his temple. While the dispute simmers, the monk is required to spend all day every day writing out Buddhist sutras.

On a more serious note, the New York Times had this article yesterday about two-tiered contracts on wages and its effects on workers (and on slowing the export of manufacturing jobs). I guess my one-sentence summary may not sell it, but the article is a good summary of some major labor problems.

On the Pension Watch

2006-02-20T15:41:00.000-08:00

Although I don't regularly update with the news on various organizing matters, AFL/CTW issues, etc., I do watch them pretty closely. A reader recently pointed out that another area of grave concern, and possibly even greater significance than the other "labor" topics, is the area of pension reform and the end of the defined benefit retirement plan. After watching this particular news area, I have to agree: it's pretty fruitful. Just to pluck a story or two from the recent headlines:

The Anchorage Daily News is reporting on the effects of the 1983 Windfall Elimination Provision of the Social Security Act. Yeah, I know, yawn. The fact is, state employees in 16 states, including Alaska and California, could have social security benefits (earned prior to state employment) reduced by the value of their state pension. This probably seemed fair at one time (or not, it passed in the Reagan era) but as state pension reform looms, it could be disastrous (or at least difficult) for a group of workers once considered above the fray of retirement hassles....

IBM recently reported that it is ending its defined benefit retirement plan for employees, notwithstanding solid profits and a supposed commitment to its workforce. Money magazine reports this month that 16% of large employers are going to freeze their pension plans in 2006. That's 16% of the large employers who even still HAVE defined benefit pension plans....

More on this soon...

Not sure what this says. . .

2006-02-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

After the close of "the bell" of the stock market, Labor Ready announced a quarterly profits increase of 56 percent. I think that what this says is, there are jobs out there, but we ain't giving them to anyone who could actually support a family with the pay. The linked article notes that Labor Ready "supplies workers for retailers, hotels and small manufacturers". These are exactly the people that need to be organized and they are almost completely out of the reach of both the unions and the legal system that could protect them.

Stuff in the News

2006-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry about my absence.

Here’s an interesting article about a Wal-Mart exec who defrauded and embezzled from Wal-Mart by saying he was using funds to buy off union officials to find out their organizing tactics. Of course not a penny went to any union person (thank god). But no one was surprised that a Wal-Mart exec would be using thousands of dollars for that purpose….

In better news, Ralphs Grocery Co. was indicted in mid-December on charges that they illegally rehired locked out workers during their labor dispute with the UFCW.

The LA Times concluded their huge four-part series on the United Farm Workers. Here's a link to the last article, focusing on Eliseo Medina. Along the right hand-side of the article are links to the previous three articles, which are pretty scathing. Here's the first, second, and third articles.

Today's Disappointment

2005-12-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

Around our office, we sometimes talk about getting at least one victory a day. I haven't had one yet, but this sure ain't it. Workers at the Daehan Solutions plant in Lowndes County, AL, voted not to be represented by a union yesterday. I had written about this earlier, surprised that the NLRB was moving so quickly on the unfair labor practice charge.

Here's an excerpt from the article that I found strange:

"The company has good pay and benefits, and good and safe working conditions, which is probably why the union attempted to sway the voters with inappropriate and offensive appeals to racial prejudice," Debruge said.
What Debruge referred to was a handbill distributed at the plant Tuesday that he called "racially inflammatory." Both sides accused the other of unfair tactics as the
election drew nearer.
The handbill stated, "Thirty-seven years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life fighting for union workers in Memphis, Tenn. Let's keep his dream alive Nov. 30, 2005. Vote 'yes' union."
Teamsters organizers said Wednesday that the handbill didn't come from them.

I guess it is not strange; race is the sine qua non in AL but it can hardly ever be discussed in public or polite company. I would hazard a guess that this flyer was only one side of a "racially inflammatory campaign".

Here's a New One

2005-11-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

The AP is reporting a story about a family moving from Washington state to Idaho to avoid child labor laws that prevented them from employing their sons, aged 11 and 13, in their house-moving business. That's house-moving as in "drive backhoes, bulldozers and tractors and move low-hanging cable and telephone lines while riding atop a home." Yeah, okay.

This is the first time I have heard the Bible invoked to avoid labor laws. "Doty and his wife, Angela, a Central Washington University graduate, have a parenting philosophy defined by their Biblical beliefs - 'home birth, home school, home business' - that they say requires them to put their children to work at an early age."

"I think it's pretty clearly outlined in the Bible," said Zach. "It says to be with your children all the time, 24/7."

I am pretty certain this is not in the Bible, although I would welcome the reference to check for myself. It would not surprise me at all, though, if this is the first of a flood of anti-competitive, anti-labor law Bible thumps. Really, it was only a matter of time before this particularly conservative loop was closed.

2005-11-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

I just got home from the Change to Win organizing conference in Vegas. I wouldn't say that it was "fun" but it was very interesting. All seven CTW unions sent their heavy hitters (e.g. Andy Stern, Chuck Mack), along with hundreds of organizers from each union, just meeting for three straight days about industry and sector organizing, joint campaigns and strategies. It was fun to see Teamsters, Carps and Laborers rubbing elbows with SEIU, UFW, UFCW and UNITE HERE folks. I only went to lawyers' sessions but at least one of those was more fruitful than almost any other meeting I have attended of its kind. If CTW does not turn out to be a bust, then this conference could go down as its Port Huron meeting (okay, there's probably a better analogue, but I am too tired right now), sans the, you know, statement.

One bit of bad news: Peter Kirsanow has been nominated for the NLRB. It will get worse before it gets better.

Organizing in the South

2005-11-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

I recently had the good fortune to spend a year living in Montgomery, Alabama. Our family had a great time, met great friends, ate great food. Alabama has a couple of very strong unions - the Alabama Education Association, for instance - but generally, I didn't see much organizing. Around the time I moved there, Hyundai started building a plant south of Montgomery, and this was a very big deal. The reason the South is so tempting to these new auto plants is the reduced risk that they will be unionized. I am glad to report that trouble, at least for the automakers*, is already afoot.

The Teamsters** are organizing workers at an auto plant outside of Montgomery. The NLRB has just issued a complaint against the employer Daehan Solutions for threatening to close the plant if the workers chose the union in the upcoming election. The election will be held on November 30, and, if the union wins, it would be one of the first union auto plants in the area.

* Of course, the workers are probably going to face some troubles of their own. The Teamsters filed this unfair labor practice charge on November 2, and the Board already issued a complaint. That suggests that the Board got good evidence quickly (and that they don't have much else to do). It also suggests that management expects that they can act with impunity against pro-union workers since most "trained" managers know better than to come out and tell folks that the plant will close if they choose the union.

** I wonder whether the fact that the Teamsters are doing this organizing reflects a jurisdictional challenge to UAW, now that IBT are CTW, not AFL-CIO. I don't know whether the United Autoworkers are also organizing down there or not. Anyone?

The High Cost of Low Price

2005-11-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

I am interrupting my accidental hiatus to recommend the new Wal-Mart movie. I haven't actually seen it, so I am "recommending" it only insofar as I recommend that everyone get fully informed about Wal-Mart's nefarious practices.

And sorry about the hiatus. Work has sort of overtaken my ability to keep this blog current. I will do my best to start posting regularly again soon.

Another Periodic Update

2005-10-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

Foster Farms workers walked out (downed tools? downed feathers?) yesterday over unfair labor practices by the poultry producer.

At this point, most readers have probably seen this article on Wal-Mart's benefits memo, which proposes to cut employee benefits even further. While admitting that 46% of Wal-Mart associates' offspring are uninsured, they suggest ways of hiring younger, more physically able employees in order to save on health insurance costs. Presumably they are not hoping that Wal-Mart employees' kids will ever work at Wal-Mart.

The Archive of Internal Medicine is reporting that workers who have justice at work have a reduced risk of coronary disease. So while having a union might give an employer a heart attack, its safe for workers!

It's not so good for your health to be a labor leader in the Philippines, though. Ricardo Ramos, a labor leader in the Philippines, was murdered yesterday, just one day after left-wing activist in that country was also murdered.

I Suppose We Can Call it Good News

2005-10-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

Elaine Chao has announced the following:

Statement of U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao On Lifting of the Davis-Bacon Act Suspension WASHINGTON-U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement on the lifting of the Davis-Bacon Act suspension.

In response to the unprecedented devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the President temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act as part of an administration-wide effort to remove as many barriers as possible to aid the recovery efforts in the impacted areas. Upon review of current conditions in the declared areas the administration will re-instate Davis-Bacon Act provisions, effective November 8.

Well, yahoo. The idea that D-B needed to be suspended in the first place is so f--king preposterous that it should not be hailed as a victory, although I guess it will be, because I cannot think of another occasion when this administration has (1) done something right or (2) admitted it was wrong. And that little Katrina apology that Dubya made does not count. Apologizing only to the extent you may be responsible is like saying, "I'm sorry that you got mad at me."

An Evolving Update

2005-10-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

I have been away from my blog for over a week because the actual demands of being a labor lawyer have drained my interest - momentarily - the rest of the labor movement. But there's an interesting article on the cover of the New York Times Week in review on the decline of black membership in labor unions. Various causes for the decline are cited, including loss in auto manufacturing jobs, and the increase in Latino workers in the service industry. Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win have declined to target African-Americans specifically in their new organizing plans.

SEIU, along with 400 organizations, has unveiled Wal-Mart Watch, to "scrutinize" and "reform" Wal-Mart.

There is a very long but interesting debate on union democracy over at The Working Life. Usually debates on that topic are navel-gazing affairs conducted by folks who are not in leadership or not even in a union, but this debate seems to be broader, including folks actually involved in their union leadership, and others willing to take the reformists and leaders to task for the failure of the debate to deal with democracy in the context of new organizing.

Over the course of the day, I will be updating this post with other news. Please check back later.

Bad News for Anti-Union Employers

2005-10-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's a little difficult to post news about one's own personal achievements but I thought it was only fair warning to let the Anti-Union Employers of America (a.k.a. Wal-Mart) know: the partners at my firm voted unanimously to make me a partner this evening, and, I suppose, through my enthusiasm, I have accepted. So, wooo-hooo!!!

I apologize for my recent absence from The Union Lawyer. I have been very busy with work and family the past week but will make every effort over the next few days to bring el bloggo up to speed on the latest in union fashions.

A Different Kind of Labor Law

2005-10-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ms. Magazine is reporting on a new CA law that bans the shackling of female inmates while they are in labor, delivery and recovery. It's pretty sick to imagine that we even needed this law. . .

The NLRB's Hobson's Choice

2005-10-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

You never really know what the Board is going to do when the competing interests before them are both darlings of the left (at least in the mind of conservatives). So it's interesting to see that the Board upheld a union's right to organize workers at an Indian casino in Connecticut.

I hope their brothers and sisters in Vegas can give them a hand at winning a terrific first contract, as they just did at Wynn Las Vegas and Aladdin. UNITE-HERE are reported to have gained 6,000 members in the past few months in Vegas, with projections for more contracts and members coming in 2006 and 2007.

The Strike Diary Joins the 21st Century

2005-10-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West has set up a strike blog for its members and the general public to chronicle its labor dispute and strike against Sutter Health, Inc. and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. The blog includes posts from UHW president Sal Rosselli, who notes that its not his first strike, but it is his first blog.

Sutter Health is under investigation by the Department of Justice for possible illegal contracting practices. Meanwhile, UHW and other unions just signed a 5-year contract with Kaiser Permanente that includes 13% increases for 82,000 workers. Rosselli calls the contract the best contract in the country.

New Union Rep-Member Privilege

2005-10-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Illinois passed a law in June amending their code of civil procedure to create an evidentiary privilege for communications between union representatives and bargaining unit members. With some exceptions, this privilege will be similar to the attorney-client or doctor-patient communication privilege. This is the first (and hopefully not the last) state to adopt such a privilege. For more information see here.

I have argued (as have many others) that unions already have this privilege, and a related "work product" type privilege under the NLRA for bargaining strategy, organizing tactics, membership lists, etc. See, Berbiglia, Inc. 233 NLRB 1476, 89 LRRM (BNA) 1369 (1977); Champ Corp., 291 NLRB 803, 817, 131 LRRM 1555, 1561 (1988), enforced, 933 F.2d 688 (9th Cir. 1990).

In Berbiglia, the Board stated: "Requiring the Union to open its files to Respondent would be inconsistent with and subversive of the very essence of collective bargaining and the quasi-fiduciary relationship between the union and its members. If collective bargaining is to work, the parties must be able to formulate their positions and devise strategies without fear of exposure."

The Board also held in Wright Electric, Inc. that employers may not seek the identities of union activists and supporters without violating 8(a)(1) of the Act. 327 NLRB 1194, 163 LRRM 1077 (1999). NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co. protects identities of union supporters and "salts". 437 U.S. 214 (1995). NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson permits "associational privacy" protecting members of organizations from being identified as members of that organization. 357 U.S. 449, 462 (1958).

In Harvey’s Wagon Wheel v. NLRB, the Court held that even statements of union representatives, and not just employees, deserved protection from disclosure: Statements of union representatives and agents of the employee, for example, should normally be protected from disclosure as a matter of law. Otherwise, the danger of their withholding relevant information for fear of exposing crucial material regarding pending union negotiations would be manifest. 550 F.2d 1139, 1143 (9th Cir. 1977).

Garner provides an evidentiary privilege for materials used in union elections. 102 F.R.D. 108, 109 (M.D.Tenn 1984).

The attorney-client privilege that union lawyers have with their union clients extends to the members as long as there is some legal information or context in some part of the discussion. By legal context I mean: legal training, arbitration prep, hearing prep, bargaining and negotiations caucuses and prep, etc etc. So everything we do. Let me know if you need those cites.

You can tell I ganked all this out of a brief I wrote a few months ago. I hope it helps others, and I hope other states take the step that IL just took. I am sure that Gov. Schwarzenegger would veto that kind of legislation right now in CA, but we will encourage our clients to propose this at the next chance they have.

Congratulations

2005-09-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to airport screeners at San Francisco International, who voted today to be represented by SEIU Local 790. The screeners are employed by Covenant. This is a huge win because these 1000 airport screeners are the first private screeners in the country to be represented by a union.

In No Particular Order

2005-09-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

I did an arbitration today against a management lawyer who was bragging about how his client had filed DOL charges against HERE Local 5 in Hawaii for "taking bribes" (getting free parking at the employer's resort while on union business). I sort of ignored him because it made no freaking sense, but then I saw this article. I will be sharing this with all my clients because I think this will be a new cheap and easy unionbusting tactic.

The Change to Win conference has generated moderate buzz, but because the conference reiterated the main themes of CTW (organize or die, Dems can't rely on them) and did not roll out any major news, there's not much to say. Terry O'Sullivan is saying it's when-not-if for the Laborers' departure from the AFL-CIO.

If they want a great first target, I suggest Gov. Schwarzenegger, who vetoed AB48, which would have raised minimum wage today. Thanks, Gov. Enjoy your 33% ratings while you're still in office, a$$hole.

A number of NHL players have filed Board charges against the NHL Players Association for the way the executive director election was conducted. See here. It seems to obvious to say, but I wonder if this ship-jumping is somehow related to the recent contract concessions. Hmmm.

The Women's Movement is the Labor Movement

2005-09-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the Change to Win Coalition conference, where aggressive new organizing campaigns are the focus of the coalition's growth strategy. Anna Burger was chosen as the head of the new labor federation. Significantly, this is the first time a woman will chair a labor federation.

After my last post, I felt like a loser for not reading the NLRB Weekly Summary containing all the Recent Unpleasantness the Board will serve up for us. I won't re-cap the cases; you can read the bad news for yourself. What struck me about these decisions is Wilma Liebman's willingness to speak out forcefully against the Board's wrongheadedness. To whit:

"The majority's failure to set aside the election here, based on the conduct of supervisor Carlos Adkisson, rasied questions about whether the Board now applies a double standard: one for prounion supervisory conduct and one for antiunion supervisory conduct....Our law with respect to antiunion supervisory conduct must be no less strict than our law with respect to prounion supervisory conduct."

Werthan Packaging, Inc. 345 NLRB No. 30.

"The majority's ruling on both issues are based in part on recent decisions that retreated from well-established principles of Board law that weakened employees'
protection under the Act."

Stanadyne Automotive Corp. 345 NLRB No. 6.

"The majority defends the Employer's statement on grounds that actually establish that they were objectionable. Its failure to address a long line of precedent is startling. Today's decision continues an unfortunate trend of breaking with precedent to give employers greater leeway in making coercive prediction about the effects of unionization. According, I dissent..."

TNT Logistics North America, Inc. 346 NLRB No. 21.

Props to Wilma Liebman for making the record* on the obscene pro-employer excesses of her colleagues, day in and day out. It's women like her that make me feel sheepish about bitching about the low-end anti-union attorneys I deal with every day.

*Also, props to the Weekly Summary editor who gives Liebman every inch of space she deserves, citing Liebman's dissent in every summary. Dear Weekly Summary editor: Thanks and I hope I did not just get you fired.

Bad News, Weird News, Not News

2005-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

I said last week that I would be summarizing the new NLRB decisions, and a week has passed and I cannot even bring myself to read the weekly summary. The decisions are so uniformly awful, so uniformly contrary to Sections 1 and 7 of the Act, it makes me feel like I live under an oppressive oligarchic regime.

Except the U.S.'s most friendly oligarchic buddy Saudi Arabia just passed labor laws that permit women to work (in more jobs), provides 10 weeks of maternity leave, and require child care when 50 or more women are hired. 4 percent of employees must be handicapped, and all workers get a minimum 21 days off. Retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. The law sets minimum working standards and prohibits slavery. Now, I am not touting this as revolutionary - in fact, it's a nationalistic move for Saudization of the workplace, and there are a host of other problems. BUT it's an improvement over their existing labor laws, i.e. progress, which we don't see much of in this country.

Bad news - check. Wierd news - check. Not news? I hope this counts: Business Week reports that Change to Win is a threat to the status quo, and says that labor's future may be brighter than it has been in years, if the Coalition's organizing plans are effective.

The Coalition's convention starts tomorrow. I would be interested in hearing dispatches from the meetings.

Federalizing the Right to Work More/Earn Less

2005-09-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

An earlier post noted that Bush has suspended the Davis-Bacon Act for post-Katrina reconstruction. In other disheartening news, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing on September 8 to determine whether to make "right to work" national. The speaker list included Mark Mix, of the National Right to Work Committee. Fred Feinstein, former General Counsel of the NLRB, testified that "compulsory unionism" is already prohibited by Taft-Hartley, but he probably felt like a evolutionary biologist at a Kansas school board meeting. No union officials spoke, but representatives from Boeing, Penloyd and Colt Manufacturing testified.

Although that legislation (H.R. 500 - the National Right to Work Act) is predicted to fail, legislation requiring secret ballot elections before recognition (outlawing card check agreements and recognition) looks like it has more legs. The Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 874) has been hanging out in the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations since March, but its supporters will probably try to push it through before the end of the Bush administration. I would not expect to see it before the 2006 Congressional election, but guess they would try to push it through soon after, depending on whether the Republicans hold the majority.

I will do a recap on the new Board decisions later in the day. Check back later. You already know they suck. The question is, just how hard do they suck?

Sandra Feldman Passes Away

2005-09-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Sandra Feldman of the American Federation of Teachers died last night of cancer. Her obit notes that she was a mentee of Bayard Rustin and Albert Shanker. I recall that the AFT frequently bought space on the New York Times op-ed page for an ad-column written by Feldman. I remember reading it when I was younger and being impressed that she, of all the columnists, got her picture on the op-ed page. And then I found out it was an ad. But so what? since I usually (or always) agreed with her.

Today's Doomsday Alert

2005-09-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

I know that some of my earlier posts sounding the alarm about the NLRB likening unions to terrorists may have sounded a little too dire. Okay, well how about plain old criminalization of unions? Does that bother anyone? Read this article about a Teamster president who was caught on FBI wiretap, taped by the employer he was negotiating with.

I know, you think: Teamster, wire tap, same old story - hookers, concrete, Hudson Bay, blah blah, Hoffa, blah blah. But in this case, the Teamster was not alleged to be engaged in any kind of racketeering (at least not so far as the article says). "Federal authorities say Partin threatened to report the company for illegally discharging ethylene dicloride into the Mississippi River if it didn't pay the wages of eight union members for hours of work they missed during the negotiations."

I am not giving a legal opinion about whether what he did is right or wrong. But it is very troubling that the FBI taped 8 contract negotiations meetings to catch him saying it.

It's Official: Unite-HERE has left the building.

2005-09-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

As discussed earlier this week, UNITE-HERE left the AFL-CIO yesterday, according to the AP.

Old Economy Labor News

2005-09-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Many news outlets (see here and below) are reporting on the serious farm labor shortage happening in California (and probably elsewhere) during this harvest season. The CA Farm Bureau Federation sent out this SOS today, saying that they are unlikely to get anywhere near the 450,000 farmworkers needed to pick this seasons crops, at least 70% of whom are undocumented. Farmers lay the blame on "stricter border enforcement and a crackdown on falsely documented workers--without also taking steps to ensure that farmers have adequate and orderly access to a legal, temporary workforce".

In the Washington Post article, Bruce Goldstein, executive director of the Farmworker Justice Fund, notes "the industry wants 'an oversupply of vulnerable workers so that they can keep wages low and avoid unionization.'"

UNITE-HERE Leaving AFL-CIO?

2005-09-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

House of Labor is reporting that Unite-HERE will announce their departure from the AFofL-CofIO tomorrow. I found this article in The Houston Chronicle reporting that the union will make its decision sometime this week. The repercussions mentioned include the dues hit ($3 mil) the AFLCIO will take (small compared to the $30 mil in per caps that left with SEIU, Teamsters and UFCW), as well as the implications related to Unite-HERE's ownership of Amalgamated Bank. Let me know if you know anything.

In an unrelated note, I did not intend to imply in my earlier post that I think John Roberts will be "liberal" on labor issues. I intended the scare quotes to suggest the irony of the idea that voting to uphold NLRB precedent is liberal. It is only liberal where conservative means ending the Department of Education, FEMA, the EPA and all that other do-gooder bullshit (again with sarcasm). Conservative as in "no federal government at all," like Grover Norquist. John Roberts does not seem that far out there to me. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he's hidden it awfully well, deferring to the authority of federal agencies for 2 years on the DC Court of Appeals to lull us into a false sense of calm so that he could become Chief Justice and wipe out the entire federal government. I can't really get there, intellectually, though. That does not mean I think he's a liberal, folks. The idea that this was Roberts plan all along is about as likely as my hope that he would affirm pro-worker Board decisions, if such a thing should ever come along again.

Oh, and the New York Times will have this piece tomorrow on another novel suit against Wal-Mart, filed on behalf of apparel workers in China, Bangladesh, et al. alleging that Wal-Mart has violated CA state wage laws and contractual obligations by failing to impose its corporate code of conduct on overseas contractors. That basically reiterates the first paragraph or two. I'll add this to my list of Wal-Mart cases I am vaguely aware of and keep you up to date as events warrant.

Roberts' "Liberal Streak"

2005-09-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post has this article on Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts' voting record. A study of his decisions from his two years in the D.C. Court of Appeals finds that he is typically more conservative than the average federal appellate judge, except on economic regulation and labor issues. I gleen from the article that he is willing to defer to the decisions of federal agencies, particularly the NLRB.

With the rightward shift of the Board, I fear that this means more Supreme Court support for conservative, narrow readings of the Act. On the other hand, if Board cases don't get up to the Supreme Court while there's still a Bush Board, but they do go up once the Board shifts again, we could have some strong favorable law. In other words, unions and their lawyers need to be convinced that they should not appeal any crappy Board decisions up to the SCOTUS, and hope that, once the revolution comes (or the "breath of fresh air" that will seem like a revolution by the time we get rid of this administration), employers do appeal pro-worker decisions.

I'll Just Say It: Bush Drives Me Batshit

2005-09-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

I hope you didn't hear it here first: Bush is waiving prevailing wage and minimum wage requirements for contractors who are going to rebuild New Orleans. Working Life has covered this ground. The New York Times thinks this hurts Bush's attempts to rebuild his image (which is no doubt the only thing Bush cares about rebuilding) but who knows? Maybe people have been taking it for so long, they don't even remember what "prevailing wage" is. When the minimum wage is so low, does it even matter that it exists?

Please please please let's not squander an opportunity to create decent-paying jobs. Is it already too late? I hope I am not being alarmist in my fears that this will just be carried off like the other flotsam of the flood, cleared away from the pipe pumping the toxic river of capital....

Oh God, now I'm writing poetry. Stop the madness.

Not Exactly Letterman's Top Ten

2005-09-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

The website ExpansionManagement.com (bore me straight to death) has an article titled Ten Reasons Why Companies Relocate a Manufacturing Facility today.

Number 8 is really the most fun:

# 8 — To eliminate specific labor-related situations. Sometimes a company or facility is having a bad experience with unions — recent strikes, costly benefit packages, or whatever — and the only solution is to move as far away as they can.
If this is the reason a company is moving, they should make sure their due diligence goes beyond whether or not a state is “right to work.” Two specific areas to focus on are the history of work stoppages in the new area, and the trend in National Labor Relations Board representation elections (how many, and what percent are won by the union). This will enable you to better predict your future plant’s union status, say, five years from now.

Interestingly, 7 (to access a better or larger labor pool) and 8 (above) are the only two that directly justify outsourcing, which makes me wonder whether Expansion Management.com really "speaks" to its desired audience.

Once Is Never Enough

2005-09-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

The Ninth Circuit had already issued a painful opinion (for unions) in Chamber of Commerce v. Lockyer in April 2005, and so when the Petition for Rehearing was granted, some among us hoped that Saul the Organizing Angel had visited the panel in their sleep and granted them new wisdom on the question of whether employers could be barred from using state money to fight unions.

Of course, our hopes were foolish. The new decision is out here, and the Ninth Circuit has found that a California law barring employers from spending state funds to fight unions is preempted by the NLRA because of its chilling effect on employers' free speech rights. Employers' free speech rights. Argh.

This Week's Erosion of Section 7 Rights

2005-09-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

The NLRB recently issued a decision in Fiesta Hotel Corp. d/b/a Palms Hotel and Casino (28‑CA‑17853; 344 NLRB No. 159) (see the bottom of the weekly summary). The Board found that the employer had violated one employee's Section 7 rights by interrogating him, threatening him with discharge, etc etc. You know the routine.

But the Board also found that a "ambiguous" Standards of Conduct rule maintained by the employer was not unlawful. Member Liebman noted:

Today’s decision threatens to allow employers to take advantage of the chilling effects of ambiguous rules. To the extent that protected activity is discouraged this way, the employer need never issue an explicit prohibition against it or engage in retaliation after the fact. The result, of course, is every bit contrary to the Act’s goals. Accordingly, I dissent.

This is the essence of employers' anti-union tactics. While there are plenty of employers willing to be outright threatening, more can rely on the application of "ambiguous" rules that result in intimidation and discipline for union activity. Wilma Liebman must feel like she is just shouting down a well. By the way, for the next few weeks/months, Liebman and Battista will be a two-person Board quorum, since Schaumber's term has expired. Let's hope Liebman does not take a vacation until the next Democratic president is elected.

Further Thoughts on National Security and Unionization

2005-08-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

The Kansas City-Star has an article today about the private airport security screeners at Kansas City International Airport whose election is being contested by FirstLine Transportation Security (and the Right to Work for Less Foundation) at the NLRB.

I wrote about the national security concerns about this election here and here. In the KS City Star article, several very smart people make some cogent points about how ludicrous the opposition to organizing screeners really is.

“Saying public and private screeners don’t have a right to strike is very different from saying you don’t have a right to collectively bargain or a right to form a union,” said Vincent A. Harrington Jr., an attorney for the Service Employees International Union who filed a brief in the FirstLine case.

Several union attorneys pointed out that security guards who worked at bomber plants during World War II were allowed to unionize. “National security is an argument for Congress, not something for the NLRB to consider,” said Jim Coppess, associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO. “The law (the Aviation and Transportation Security Act) has nothing to do with private-sector screeners. The federal government got through World War II without making these prohibitions, so all this is sort of a little bit strange.”

Joseph Slater of the University of Toledo said the federal government established the right to collectively bargain because it was viewed as a way to make work more efficient and safe. He doesn’t see how collective bargaining makes the system less safe.“The workers who responded on 9/11 — the police, the firefighters, the emergency medical technicians — those are some of the most highly unionized occupations in the country,” Slater said. “The implication that collective bargaining is inconsistent with public safety is flatly contradicted by past experiences.”

A New Harbinger of Fall

2005-08-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Every February 2, folks gather around Puxatawny Phil to see whether a glimpse of his shadow will send the groundhog back to hibernate for 6 more weeks of winter or not. I've stumbled across a similar harbinger of fall. From now on, if the first "Remember the Real Reason for Labor Day" column appears before Labor Day, summer will end early, and we should imminently expect fall. If the R3LD column appears on Labor Day itself, the summer will last another 6 weeks.

Get your parkas out of storage, kiddies: Here it is. Live from Sheboygan.

A Whole New Way to Get Screwed

2005-08-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

This letter to an advice columnist points out a whole new way anti-union employers can screw their workers when they withdraw recognition. The writer's employer is subtracting pension benefits attributable to the union pension from the employer pension benefits, instituted after the employer illegally withdrew recognition. The columnist quotes a "pension rights" attorney (what the hell is that?) as saying its permissible but advises the writer to check the plan document. Does anyone know if the pension-rights attorney is wrong? I doubt it, but I'd love to hear otherwise.

"Big Media" Disses "Big Labor"

2005-08-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Here's your daily round-up of Labor news, and with Labor Day around the bend, the news ain't pretty. In particular, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Christian Science Monitor are all picking at the scabs. Geez, what a cruddy pun that is.

In addition to the NYT article, the news that the Department of Homeland Security is asking Judge Conyers to reconsider her ruling suspending new DHS personnel rules is getting a lot of coverage. See here and here. Actually that's not "a lot" of coverage, since those are both government management websites.

Can We Ignore Kentucky River Now?

2005-08-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

LaborProf Blog is reporting that the Board has found a foreman not to be a supervisor (Pacific Beach Corp., 344 NLRB No. 140, 177 LRRM 1289 (July 29, 2005)), which is, of course, the correct outcome. But how did the Board get it right? My theory is, since the Union wanted it to come out the other way (i.e. it was the Union's contention that the guy was a supervisor), the Board could not possibly agree.

Rat of the Day Award

2005-08-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

IUOE Local 2 is getting attention for their rat balloon in St. Louis.

This article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that, "Makers of customized balloons say unions are pretty much the only market for their rodent designs."

And speaking of rats, Chairman Battista of the NLRB takes the unusual step of defending the Board's Guardmark decision in a letter to the Washington Post today.

By the way, the General Counsel issued this memo (scroll down to Secondary Boycotts) in 2003 calling Inflated Rats "Signal Picketing" and relied on an episode of the Sopranos ("Calling All Cars (HBO TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES, SEASON FOUR 2002)") for the "legal support" thereof. Your tax dollars at work, folks.

"Union Busting, 21st Century Style"

2005-08-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has this depressing article about scab mechanics at Northwest Airlines. The most depressing and terrible part about all this is, most of the scabs were union mechanics at United and Delta before the "9/11 purge". Second most depressing part: the $107 million "contingency plan" Northwest had put in place 3 months before the strike.

Nathan Newman has this thoughtful piece on the strike, including reflections on the NYT coverage.

Challenge to Right to Work for Free in Virginia

2005-08-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Right to Work for Free Foundation has set its sights on Leslie Byrne ("First of all, She's Effective . . . "), a candidate in Virginia for Lt. Governor, who they claim hopes to end right-to-work-for-free in Virginia. And by "set its sights", I mean they are writing snarky editorials in backwater newspapers throughout the state. I wonder if RTW lets people stay members in their organization if they don't pay dues?

Good luck Leslie!

News Update for August 24

2005-08-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

Union Network International has announced that South Korea will be the first nation where Wal-Mart will be an organizing target, according to the Houston Chronicle. Try as I might, I cannot think of a way to connect this news to the recent news that South Korea has changed its policy on population control, in order to reverse the steep decline in birth rates. I'll work on it. Check back later.

Gate Gourmet, which started a complete debacle for British Airways by firing between 600 and 800 employees, is in negotiations with BA and its employees' union to forestall bankruptcy, plague, pestilence, famine, etc. According to Forbes, BA won't extend Gate Gourmet's contract (i.e. throw them a life line) unless GG makes a deal with their workers.

And the NewStandard has this not-so-fresh news on the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Charters, indicating that "As of yet, there have been no reported takers." For the unfamiliar, Solidarity Charters would be offered to locals of disaffiliated unions, allowing them to belong to state and central labor councils by paying their per capita + 10% "assessment". They cannot hold leadership positions in the CLCs, and the Change to Win Unions oppose them. Just f your i.

Deployed Workers Have No Right to Vote in Union Elections

2005-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

The National Association of Manufacturers has this oddly astute observation about the fact that the NLRB does not let active military vote in Board elections via absentee ballot:

But what amazes us is that in this world of technology, and in this world of terrorism, where our soldiers are sent around the globe to protect us and advance the causes of democracy, the NLRB's official position is, "We don't do absentee ballots." It's not like these folks are off golfing, for cryin' out loud.

It's also an interesting counter-position to the Right to Work Foundation's, I mean, the NLRB's position that airport security should not be able to form unions. That battle is being fought in Kansas already.

Some Updates to Start Your Week

2005-08-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

UNITE HERE in San Francisco is urging brides not to have their weddings at hotels where they have a labor dispute, according to MSNBC. Which is, frankly, hilarious. The Omni claims 3 cancellations already. The Omni manager says, "and the number of people we have had to talk off the ledge, if you will, is probably about six times that." Which is almost as good as a cancellation. A disgruntled bride cannot be easier to deal with a labor union. The SF Chronicle has this editorial on the dispute.

The Detroit Free Press has this Q&A on the Northwest mechanics' strike.

Disney is hiring outside monitor Verite to investigate sweatshop conditions at its factories in China, according to Forbes.

Why Isn't Big Business On Board with Single-Payer Healthcare?

2005-08-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

This is a question that I ponder when I read about employer complaints about the rising cost of healthcare. This article on work being done by Labor and the Auto industry to change national healthcare policy (noting that $1500 of ever car and truck GM makes goes to healthcare costs) is interesting, in that it proposes national measures.

But when management complains about their competitors' nationally subsidized healthcare costs (Toyota only spends $186 per vehicle on healthcare), why don't they make the (short) leap and support national healthcare in this country? Is it because they have an ideological problem with government subsidies (except for energy)? Is it because they are somehow secretly beholden to the healthcare industry (even I cannot concoct that conspiracy, but I welcome a reader to try)? I really don't get it.

The Terrorists Will Have Won

2005-08-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

The National Right to Work Foundation may seem creative for having floated this argument in a recent amicus brief opposing unionization of airport screeners:

there is a risk that the union hierarchy will be infiltrated by a terrorist agent or that the union will be controlled by someone working with terrorists. The terrorist could then use his influence with the union to make it easier for a terrorist colleague to board a plane or to get a bomb through baggage screening. Or the terrorist could more indirectly weaken national security, by organizing a strike or work slow-down.

But actually, that chestnut is already a stale favorite of the NLRB, who overturned Epilepsy Foundation (giving Weingarten-type rights to non-union workers) with this breathless idiocy:

The years after the issuance of Weingarten have seen a rise in the need for investigatory interviews, both in response to new statutes governing the workplace and as a response to new security concerns raised by terrorist attacks on our country. . . . [B]ecause of the events of September 11, 2001 and their aftermath, we must now take into account the presence of both real and threatened terrorist attacks. Because of these events, the policy considerations expressed in DuPont have taken on a new vitality. Thus, for the reasons set forth below, we . . . hold that the Weingarten right does not extend to the nonunion workplace.

IBM Corp., 341 NLRB No. 148 (2004).

A Banner Day for the Anti-Walmart Forces

2005-08-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

And by "Banner Day", I mean that there are two high profile articles about W-M out there today. CNN and Reuters report labor's plans to challenge Wal-Mart's international expansion plans. And the AFL-CIO has intervened to smack down Wal-Mart's attempts to open a bank in Utah. They want this bank for the sole purpose of processing their own financial transactions. But there is easily one article a day about how Labor is taking on Wal-Mart. Thus the preemptive "happy associates" campaign they've been running.

Northwest Strike Looms

2005-08-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has this piece on the possible mechanics strike against Northwest Airlines.
Take note of Wall Street's optimistic attitude about the labor dispute: "Jamie Baker, at J. P. Morgan, said there was a 60 percent chance of labor disruption: 'Frankly, we're hoping for a strike.'"

Good News and Bad (Stale) News

2005-08-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

Workers at Spirit Aerojet in Wichita voted to keep their union in a decertification election. Apparently, this is the second time in two years that workers have rejected efforts to get cozier with management. See here.

News on the NLRB's Guardmark decision is picking up steam. See here. In this case, the Board found that it was not unlawful for an employer to maintain an anti-fraternization policy that prohibited workers from socializing outside of work. The Union contended that this policy intimidated, harassed and prevented workers from discussing union-related matters outside of the workplace. The Board disagreed. This is a decision so awful for workers that it makes even those of us who are jaded to the Board's anti-union/anti-worker recent decisions sit up and rub our eyes in shock. Nathan Newman writes that he tried to pretend it was a hoax until the steam started to gather.

Could Federal Personnel Policies Be More Unclear?

2005-08-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Judge Collyer's ruling, various federal agencies are declaring changes to, or disavowing the effect of the ruling on, their personnel policies. Before I fell asleep reading this article, I learned that the Office of Management and Budget has decided to move forward with their Working for America Act (??) changes, which include giving management the right to redefine "emergency" at any time they need to abrogate collective bargaining rights. Meanwhile, The National Right to Work Foundation is mounting the charge against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for seriously considering allowing airport security to have organizing and bargaining rights. They even, Mon Dieu!, call the TSA "Bureaucrats." Will the TSA just take it, or will they hit back by actually bargaining with the workers?

Union demands $1.9 million per month for neutrality agreement violation

2005-08-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Good luck to the Culinary Union in their efforts to get big money out of Boyd Gaming for their violations of their neutrality agreement. See here. The Union claims they would have gotten nearly $2 million a month in benefits if they had been able to organize Boyd.

Houston Janitors Get Agreement

2005-08-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Five janitorial companies in Houston, TX have agreed to a neutrality agreement with SEIU for 6,000 janitors. This means, in essence, that the janitors can organize and vote for a union without anti-union actions by the employers. See news about it here, and SEIU's statement here.

Disney facing charges of sweatshop bookbinding

2005-08-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

This press release from the National Labor Committee accuses Disney of using sweatshops to make children's books. This is hot on the heels of Disney surviving a shareholder suit, wherein we were lucky enough to learn that Michael Ovitz's parting gift from Disney was $140 million severance package. Don't get sick on your keyboard; it's pretty hard to clean up.

Evening News Round-Up

2005-08-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Unions met with Michael Chertoff on Monday to discuss changes to the Dept. of Homeland Security personnel rules which were recently slapped down by Judge Collyer (see here), according to the Washington Post. No word on how that went.

The AP is reporting that Bush will not intervene in a possible strike at Northwest Airlines that could begin as early as Saturday at midnight. On a more disturbing note, the AP quickly follows that with news that Northwest shares rose 15 cents on the Nasdaq. Oh that labor unrest were always good for business. It probably is, right?

Not for Gate Gourmet, the TX company who messed with the wrong British Airways workers. Their little pink slip festival comes amid $558 million in debt.

The Boston Globe reports that 260 nursing home workers who've been locked out for 2 weeks from a nursing home in CT are set to ratify a new contract.

From the home of the Port Huron Statement comes this tale of woe about hurting union machinists in MI.

Machinists and Boeing, however, are set to hammer out a new deal for workers in Wichita, Portland and Seattle. Also in WA state, SEIU is stepping up organizing efforts of daycare workers. Andy Stern was in Seattle yesterday to support protesting Swedish Medical Center workers. I mention only because I think it's wierd that Stern's day to day movements are now making the daily news, as though he were a presidential candidate.

CA farmers are reporting a shortage of farm labor, which they blame on the burgeoning construction industry in the Central Valley. Labor activists blame it on the low wages ($6.75 per hour). Toss in the sweltering heat, sub-human working conditions, and pesticide poisoning, and I cannot imagine why the farmers are surprised.

Enemy Chatter - Littler Edition

2005-08-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here's what Littler Mendelson has to say about the AFL-CIO/Change to Win split. Not too different from Jackson Lewis's take, but with more "helpful hints" for employers.

We Stand Corrected

2005-08-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Union Lawyer is happy to report that Nathan Newman has been carrying the Labor Blog torch. We'll put a permanent link to his blog up as soon as we can.

Homeland Security Employees in from the Cold

2005-08-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer has ruled that Department of Homeland Security rules on collective bargaining and employee appeals could not be implemented because they did not ensure the rights of unionized workers in the department. The Washington Post reports,

"The regulations fail in their obligation to ensure collective bargaining rights to DHS employees," the judge said. She said federal unions would be bargaining "on quicksand, as the department would retain the right to change the underlying bases for the bargaining relationship and absolve itself of contract obligations while the unions would be bound."

You can also find news on this in the New York Times, the Seattle Times, and plenty of other places.

Enemy Chatter

2005-08-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here's what Jackson Lewis is telling its clients about the AFL-CIO/Change to Win Coalition Split. I gather Jackson Lewis has been at the forefront of management chatter on this topic, probably in hopes of grabbing some nervous clients up in their protective arms.

Which brings me to a quick point about how we plan to handle the Current Unpleasantness here at The Union Lawyer. We don't have any intention of taking sides in this dispute, since we represent unions, and want union folk of all stripes to feel welcome here. But it seems like it would be nearly impossible to avoid discussing the split at this time. That several unions have left the AFL-CIO is probably the biggest news for labor, inside and outside of labor, that has happened in quite some time. We don't want to spill a lot of net-ink over the news, but we want our readers to be informed. If you feel that any of our coverage seems biased one way or another, let us know and we will engage in some harsh self-criticism. In the meantime, send us tales of labor victory so cacophonous and wonderful we won't have time to write about anything else.

That Didn't Last Long.

2005-08-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

British Airways workers are back on the job after a brief strike supporting catering employees of Gate Gourmet, a Texas company. I am still looking for an explanation about what resolved the strike. What's interesting about the posted article is that its quotes are all from disgruntled passengers and management, until the very end, when there is brief mention of the Gate Gourmet employees being pleasantly surprised by all the support they received. The sole supportive passenger remained unnamed in the article.

Here's the first round of news

2005-08-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

The Boston Globe reports that labor and other groups have called for a boycott of Wal-Mart school supplies. It's also been reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, LA Times, Houston Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Salt Lake City Tribune, and uhhh, 51 other news outlets...

The Wall Street Journal has this article about Republican governors in Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky eliminating collective bargaining rights for public employees.

MarketWatch has this news on the Northwest Airlines mechanics' negotiations and possible strike. In other labor news in the airline industry, The Seattle Times reports that British Airways flights are grounded because British Airways' employees have stopped work in sympathy with employees fired from the carrier's caterer, owned by a TX company. . . .

The Inaugural Post

2005-08-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

We are Union lawyers who thought we could create a useful tool for folks who actually work with Unions and in Unions. We have not seen a blog that regularly brings together news and legal information updates about Unions in a useful and informative format. We hope to do just that.

We welcome submissions (unionlawyer@gmail.com) and comments.

We will not post legal advice or answer legal questions directly on our blog, and none of our posts should be construed as legal advice. If you think one of our posts raises a legal issue for you or your union, we suggest you contact your attorney or us personally.