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| According to Bloomberg BNA, the number of resolved representation elections held between May and August 2015 increased compared to the same period in 2014, following the implementation of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or Board) newly adopted election procedures. The Board’s new rules have reduced the amount of time between the union filing a petition for representation and the NLRB-sanctioned election from a median of 38 days to a median of 24 days. Under the new rules, 31 more resolved elections occurred during the four-month period. Additionally, unions won an increased share of the resolved elections under the new rules—72 percent, up from 69 percent during the same period in 2014. |
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| Huffington Post editorial staffers asked management to voluntarily recognize Writers Guild of America-East as their collective bargaining representative based on the outcome of a card check. More than 200 employees (out of about 350 eligible employees) at The Huffington Post and HuffPost Live signed union authorization cards. Management has indicated its support of the editorial staff’s request, but is negotiating to exclude some staffers from the union. |
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| The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents 700,000 media, airlines, and healthcare workers, is working to organize more than 8,000 ski patrollers at resorts in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. CWA Local 7781 currently represents about 225 ski patrollers in Colorado and Utah. |
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| Non-tenure track professors at the University of Chicago voted 96 to 22 to elect Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 as their bargaining representative. The university’s 169 adjunct professors join those from numerous other universities who have chosen SEIU representation since the launch of the union’s “Faculty Forward” campaign to unionize university faculty. |
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| Workers at the non-gaming Trump International Hotel Las Vegas voted 238-209 in favor of representation by the Culinary Workers Union (CWU) Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, affiliates of UNITE HERE. The CWU and the Bartenders Union collectively represent 57,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno. |
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| The Seattle City Council voted to amend the Seattle Municipal Code to allow drivers for ride-hailing companies in the city, including Uber and Lyft, to have the option to unionize. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, voicing his concerns about the unknown costs associated with administering the law, nonetheless decided to allow the bill to become law without his signature. Seattle is the first city to allow ride-hailing driver unionization. |
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| In an election administered by the National Mediation Board, pilots for FlexJet LLC and Flight Options LLC, both subsidiaries of OneSky Flight Inc., voted 51 percent in favor to 49 percent against International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) representation. The fractional carrier companies’ 670 pilots will join Teamsters Local 1108 in Ohio. |
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| The NLRB certified the results of a representation election held among Volkswagen of America Inc. maintenance workers at the company’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. The workers voted 108-44 in favor of representation. Volkswagen is appealing the regional director’s decision to order the vote, as the company maintains that any bargaining unit should include both maintenance and production workers, not just maintenance workers. |
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| Adjunct faculty at New York University’s (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering elected Adjuncts Come Together-UAW Local 7902 as their representative. The 240 adjuncts join about 3,500 other NYU adjunct faculty who are already represented by the local. |
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| The United Food and Commercial Workers’ (UFCW) “Making Change at Walmart” campaign launched its “Are You With Us” initiative in Quincy, Massachusetts, with plans to protest outside of Wal-Mart stores in 150 cities across the United States. The campaign is attempting to pressure Wal-Mart to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour and to provide employees with 40-hour per week schedules. |
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| UAW Local 883 leaders circulated a list of 13 “scabs” who crossed picket lines to work during a strike at Kohler Co. plants. Local 883 sought to eliminate the two-tiered wage structure that company CEO David Kohler said is necessary to maintain local manufacturing in Wisconsin, which is already more expensive than any other Kohler location worldwide. Local 883 called off the strike after agreeing to a four-year contract with Kohler that included wage increases and a decreased gap between the tiers (see Major Contract Settlements & Negotiations below). |
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| More than 300 members of Teamsters Local 727 ended a four-week strike at two Chicago-area Coca-Cola Refreshments bottling plants after reaching a tentative agreement on a three-year contract with the company (see Major Contract Settlements & Negotiations below). |
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| According to Bloomberg BNA, average first-year wages increased by 2.6 percent in 2015, compared to 2.1 percent in 2014. Median first-year wages increased 2.3 percent, compared with 2 percent in 2014, and the weighted average increased to 3.6 percent from 2.6 percent in 2014. The average increase in settlements rose to 3.2 percent when construction and state and local government contracts were excluded, compared with 2.5 percent in 2014. The median increase when the sectors were excluded rose to 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent in 2014, and the weighted average increased to 3.8 percent from 2.6 percent. Average first-year wage settlements increased by 3.1 percent when lump-sum payments were included, compared with 2.4 percent in 2014. The median increase when lump sums were included was 2.5 percent, compared with 2.2 percent in 2014, and the weighted average was 5.7 percent, compared with 2.9 percent in 2014. |
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| A majority of the 100 UFCW bargaining units at Colorado and Wyoming Alberstons, Safeway, and King Soopers grocery stores ratified 40-month contracts that incorporate improvements in wages, including resolving several two-tier wage systems, and health care and pension benefits. |
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| The Atomic Trades and Labor Council, part of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, ratified a five-year labor contract with Energy Department contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, covering about 1,100 workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The contract includes a yearly three percent pay raise, improvements to health care and pension benefits, and a $2,500 ratification bonus. |
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| The CWA ratified three contracts covering about 24,000 AT&T workers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The four-year contracts, covering AT&T Southeast, AT&T Billing Southeast, and AT&T Southeast Utility Operations, include a three percent pay raise during the first two years, a 2.25 percent raise during the third year, and a 2.5 percent raise during the fourth year, as well as a cap on weekly overtime and an increase in worker health insurance costs. |
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| International Association of Machinists (IAM) Districts 141 and 142 reached tentative agreements with Hawaiian Airlines Inc. on two five-year contracts covering 700 mechanics and 1,500 office, clerical, store, and service employees. The agreements provide for pay raises, increased job security, and the maintenance of health care costs and profit-sharing and incentive programs. The mechanics will receive an 11 percent pay raise retroactive to October 1, two percent pay raises for the next three years, and a three percent pay raise during the fifth year. Other workers will receive a five percent retroactive pay raise, two percent hikes during the next two years, and three percent pay raises during the fourth and fifth years. A ratification vote will occur on January 8, 2015. |
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| The CWU and the Bartenders Union ratified a four-year collective bargaining agreement with the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas resort-casino covering about 2,000 workers. Under the terms of the contract, workers will receive an additional $1-3 per hour, premium-free family health insurance, pension contributions, and guaranteed 40-hour workweeks for full-time workers. |
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| IAM Local S6 ratified a four-year contract with Bath Iron Works, a shipbuilding subsidiary of General Dynamics, covering 3,600 workers. The contract allows the company to assign workers additional responsibilities, changes overtime rules to calculate hours on a weekly—instead of a daily—basis, and requires workers to give three-days’ notice prior to taking a week of annual leave—instead of no notice, as under the previous policy. Additionally, the contract provides that employee health insurance premiums will remain constant and that, in 2018, copays will rise from $25 to $30 for office visits, and employees will be responsible for a health care deductible. Pay will not increase, but employees will receive a $2,500 bonus for each year that the contract is in effect, and the company will increase its pension contributions over the term of the contract from $2.35 per hour worked to $2.85 per hour worked. |
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| The Detroit Casino Council, an association consisting of UNITE HERE Local 24, Teamsters Local 372, UAW Local 7777, and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324, ratified similar five-year contracts with three Detroit casino-hotels. Under the contract, the 7,000 workers represented by the council will receive a $4,250 lump-sum bonus, no increase in health insurance premium costs, a two percent or 30-cents per hour raise, whichever is larger, in the fourth year, and a three percent or 45-cents raise in the fifth year. Additionally, part-time workers—who currently receive two sick or personal days after two years of employment—will receive three sick or personal days after five years of employment. |
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| The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United ratified agreements covering 1,440 registered nurses at three Sutter Health hospitals in California. The contracts provide for wage increases of about four percent per year for four years at two of the nonprofit chain’s hospitals—Sutter Roseville and Sutter Auburn Faith. At the third hospital—Sutter Tracy, at which a contract was negotiated for the first time—the contract establishes a wage grid that includes across the board increases and links wage increases to seniority. Wages will increase up to 21 percent over four years at Sutter Tracy. The union has staged 13 strikes over the past five years at Sutter Health hospitals. |
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| UAW Local 883 members ratified a four-year contract with Kohler Co., covering 2,200 of the company’s workers in Wisconsin. The two-tier wage structure among the employees—under which newer employees are paid only 65 percent of what longer-serving employees make—was a sticking point in the negotiations, leading to a month-long strike by the employees. The collective bargaining agreement narrows the gap between the tiers by raising newer employees’ base wages according to their job classifications, then boosting wages by 50 cents per hour for each year of the contract. Longer-serving employees will see their wages boosted by 50 cents per hour in each year of the contract. Employee contributions to health care premiums will increase under the contract, but deductibles will remain the same as under the previous contract. |
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| Fractional ownership carrier NetJets Inc. agreed to a five-year contract with its pilots’ independent union, NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots. Under the agreement, the 2,700 pilots represented by the union will receive signing bonuses and a 28 percent pay raise during the duration of the contract. Additionally, the contract covers improved scheduling options, seniority rights, and scope of work protections. NetJets Inc. is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
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| The United Steelworkers reached a tentative three-year agreement with U.S. Steel Corp., covering 18,000 workers who are represented by 26 locals at more than a dozen of the company’s facilities. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification in January 2016. The union will continue negotiations with ArcelorMittal in January 2016. The union’s previous contracts with the companies expired on September 1, 2015. |
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| UAW Local 699 ratified a collective bargaining agreement with Nexteer Automotive, an auto components manufacturer, covering 3,400 workers. The union rejected a previous deal and went on a one-day strike over the proposed terms. The ratified contract includes a $2,000 signing bonus, the elimination of employee health care premiums, and increased worker compensation. Production workers can earn as much as $15.35-$18.69 per hour under the terms of the ratified contract, while specialized employees will earn up to $19.56 by the end of the contract. Semi-skilled workers wages will rise to $21.37 per hour and be augmented by lump sum payouts. Skilled employees, whose base wages remain at $30 per hour, will also receive lump sum payments. Additionally, under the ratified contract, temporary workers will be permanently hired and offered health insurance after working for 90 days. |
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SEIU Local 32BJ, which represents 75,000 janitors on the U.S. East Coast, ratified or reached tentative agreements on a number of four-year collective bargaining agreements covering its members, including the following:
Local 32BJ ratified a four-year agreement with the Building Owners and Managers Association, a coalition of 170 building owners in suburban Philadelphia, covering more than 1,400 office cleaners. The contract includes a wage increase from $12.35 per hour to $14.30 per hour over the life of the contract, places no health care premium share for workers, and preserves all of the employees’ benefits under the previous contract. Local 32BJ represents 22,000 office cleaners in Pennsylvania.
The local also ratified a four-year contract with the New Jersey Contractors Association covering 7,000 office cleaners at more than 500 New Jersey office buildings. The contract provides for wage increases for the lowest-paid workers from $10.55 per hour in July 2016 to $12.20 per hour by the end of the contract.
The highest paid workers will get raises from $15.90 per hour in July 2016 to $17.30 per hour by the end of the contract. Under the terms of the agreement, employers will continue to pay all health care benefits. Union members earlier voted to authorize a strike if an agreement was not reached.
Likewise, Local 32BJ ratified a four-year agreement with the Hudson Valley/Fairfield County Contractors Association, covering 3,500 janitors at about 250 buildings in New York’s Hudson Valley and Fairfield County, Connecticut. The agreement provides for a wage increase from $14.10 per hour to $16.05 over the duration of the contract. Under the contract, an average janitor will earn between $29,328 and $33,384, not including benefits. Employers will continue to pay health, training, and legal benefits under the terms of the contract. Union members earlier voted to authorize a strike if an agreement was not reached by December 31, 2015.
Local 32BJ reached a tentative four-year agreement with the Realty Advisory Board, Inc. covering 23,000 janitors and building workers at about 1,200 commercial properties in New York City. The agreement provides for a 14.8 percent wage increase over the duration of the contract while maintaining health care and retirement benefits at current levels. Under the agreement, a typical office cleaner’s wages will increase from $49,760 to $55, 324 over the life of the contract.
Similarly, the local reached two tentative four-year agreements with the Hartford County Cleaning Contractors Association covering about 2,100 office cleaners at about 160 buildings in Connecticut. The proposed terms maintain workers’ health care benefits and include a $1.60 raise over the duration of the contracts for workers in Hartford and a $1.70 raise for workers in New Haven. |
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| Following four years of negotiations, Transportation Workers Union Local 555 reached a tentative agreement on the terms of a five-year labor contract with Southwest Airlines Co., covering about 12,000 ground workers. The proposal includes a salary-based ratification bonus and a pay raise of about 20 percent over the life of the contract. Additionally, the proposal allows Southwest to change employee job duties and to use third-party workers. |
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| Nearly 320 members of Teamsters Local 727 reached a tentative three-year labor agreement with Coca-Cola Refreshments, a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Co., ending a four-week strike. Under the proposed agreement, workers will receive a three percent raise in the first year, retroactive to May 1, 2015, and 2.5 percent raises in 2016 and 2017. Coca-Cola also agreed to match employee 401(k) contributions by 50 percent, up to 10 percent of each worker’s income. The proposal provides that employees may enroll in a health plan that previously only covered managers, reducing their health care premiums from $22.50 to $15.69 per week for employee-only coverage. Health care premiums will increase from $45 to $55.62 per week for employee-plus-one coverage and will decrease from $80.50 to $38.77 for employee-plus-family coverage. Additionally, the proposal eliminates management discretion in assigning mandatory overtime. Instead, overtime will be assigned on a volunteer basis unless an insufficient number of employees volunteer, in which case it will be assigned to employees according to “reverse seniority.” |
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| The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied the NLRB’s petition for a Section 10(j) injunction to force a Chicago-area metals processor to comply with an Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) recommended unfair labor practice findings pending appeal of that decision. The court determined that the ALJ’s recommended decision was plagued with flaws and is not likely to survive appeal. Further, the Board’s 15-month delay in seeking the injunction undermined its argument that Arlington employees would be irreparably harmed in the absence of an injunction related to charges that the company illegally withdrew recognition from the USW in July 2014. Winston & Strawn LLP represented the employer, Arlington Metals Corporation. Ohr v. Arlington Metals Corp. |
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| The NLRB held that Citigroup Inc. and subsidiary Citigroup Banking Corp. violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by maintaining a class action waiver in its mandatory arbitration agreements. The Board ordered Citigroup to remove the waiver and to ensure that employees were aware of their continuing right to maintain class or collective actions related to wages, hours, and working conditions. In contrast, the Board reversed the ALJ’s decision that Citigroup had violated the NLRA by enforcing the class action waiver during an arbitration, as the Board determined that Citigroup would only have violated the NLRA if it had enforced the waiver in court. Smith v. Citigroup Inc. |
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| In response to a clarification petition, the NLRB ruled that tugboat captains are not supervisors who fall outside of the protection of federal labor law, despite acknowledging that their commands must be obeyed by their crews and that crew members may be disciplined for failing to follow their instructions. The Board determined that Buchanan Marine LP failed to show “how or for what captains are held accountable,” holding that nothing in the NLRA mandates that the highest-ranking individual in a work group must be considered a supervisor. Buchanan Marine, L.P. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that an employer’s e-mail stating that a dispute was “neither grievable nor arbitrable” did not constitute an express rejection of a union’s demand for arbitration when it was sent a month prior to the union making a demand. Overturning the Central District of California’s grant of summary judgment to Los Robles Regional Medical Center, the Ninth Circuit held that SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West’s lawsuit was not untimely under the LaborManagement Relations Act (LMRA). The Ninth Circuit held that the SEIU could pursue a lawsuit to compel arbitration within six months of the hospital’s unequivocal rejection of arbitration, which could not have occurred prior to the union’s demand for arbitration. SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West v. Los Robles Reg’l Med. Ctr. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld as constitutional Minnesota’s Individual Providers of Direct Support Services Representation Act, which allows providers of in-home care for Medicaid recipients to seek union representation under the Minnesota Labor Relations Act. About ten states have similar laws. Greene, et al. v. Mark Dayton, et al. |
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| An NLRB ALJ ruled that Michigan Bell Telephone Co. did not have to disclose to CWA Local 4034 the name of an employee who tipped off the company that employees planned to stop work to protest overtime policies. The ALJ rejected the company’s argument that the employee’s identity was confidential, as the employee did not request confidentiality and the company presented no evidence that the employee would object to disclosure of their identity. Nonetheless, the ALJ accepted the company’s argument that the employee’s identity was irrelevant to the union’s representation of the company’s employees. Mich. Bell Tel. Co. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit largely upheld the NLRB’s decision that Entergy Mississippi Inc., a subsidiary of Entergy Corp., violated the NLRA by refusing to collectively bargain with the power utility company’s transmission and distribution dispatchers, who the company contends are supervisors. Nonetheless, the Fifth Circuit remanded the decision with the instruction that the Board reconsider the degree to which the dispatchers “assign” field workers by exercising “independent judgment,” considering the definitions announced in the Board’s 2006 opinion. In re Oakwood Healthcare Inc. Entergy Mississippi Inc. v. NLRB. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an NLRB finding that Mike-sell’s Potato Chip Company violated federal labor law when it unilaterally changed its employees’ pay and benefits following the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement. Despite the fact that Mike-sell’s participated in 12 bargaining sessions, the court held that the company did not show that it reached a good-faith bargaining impasse with Teamsters Local 957. A finding of impasse would have allowed the company to unilaterally impose the terms of its last offer to the union. Because impasse, nor an agreement on new terms, was reached, the court stated that the terms of the expired agreement had to remain in effect. Mike-sell’s Potato Chip Co. v. NLRB. |
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| The NLRB held that a private hospital violated the NLRA by assigning its nurses to train students at a state university without bargaining with the nurses’ union. A management rights clause in the nurses’ contract, which stated that the hospital could assign nurses to an education unit at the State University of New York, did not constitute a waiver of bargaining rights by the union according to the NLRB. Nurses selected to participate in the unit would be paid by the university and be considered employees of both the university and the hospital. The Board found that the hospital violated the NLRA further by failing to provide the union with access to information about the education unit. Olean Gen. Hosp. |
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| The NLRB upheld an ALJ’s finding that Employers Resource, a payroll and personnel services organization, violated the NLRA by attempting to enforce an arbitration agreement in an effort to block a class action filed by a client’s former employee. While Employers Resource did not employ the individual against whom they sought to enforce the arbitration agreement, the company required that their client—the employer—obtain employee signatures to the agreement, which did not expressly ban class or collective arbitration of claims. The Board determined that the agreement constituted an unfair labor practice, as it restricted employees’ ability to pursue class or collective litigation of employment claims. Employers Resource. |
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| An NLRB ALJ held that three pro-cannabis corporations are a single employer or are joint employers under the NLRA, holding all three responsible for one corporation’s refusal to hire an individual who engaged in pro-union activities. The NLRB’s General Counsel introduced evidence that the separate corporations were joint employers or a single employer, including a previous settlement signed by all three companies as “Single Employer and/or Joint Employers,” as well as affidavits signed by the president of all three companies and the Chief Operating Officer of one of the companies. The ALJ determined that since the president controlled the labor relations of all three employers, the companies were considered a joint employer under the NLRA. Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the NLRB could reconsider a matter where the Board’s prior order had been vacated due to an improper quorum under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Noel Canning. The Seventh Circuit reasoned that the NLRB could rehear the case as the quorum decision was not a ruling on the merits. In both hearings, the Board held that Big Ridge, Inc. violated the NLRA by firing an employee for engaging in union activities. Big Ridge, Inc. v. NLRB. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the NLRB’s ruling that a company was required to pay more than $95,000 in back pay to an employee who was illegally fired and then offered his job back. The court held that the Board acted within its discretion in finding that, while the employee lied to prospective employers to hide the gap in his employment record, his misrepresentations did not affect the company’s unfair labor practices liability. NLRB v. Pessoa Constr. Co. |
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| The NLRB upheld an ALJ’s finding that a solar energy company engaged in an unfair labor practice by requiring its employees to waive their right to participate in class, collective, or joint actions under the terms of an arbitration agreement. While the arbitration agreement permitted employees to file charges or complaints with federal agencies, which could then pursue claims on behalf of the workers, the NLRB held that filing charges with a federal agency was “not an adequate substitute for filing a lawsuit asserting a joint, class, or collective claim.” The Board noted that federal agencies cannot pursue certain claims on behalf of workers, that agencies have discretion to decide whether to pursue claims on behalf of workers, and that agencies are not “judicial forums” that can adequately adjudicate workers’ claims. SolarCity Corp. |
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| The NLRB ruled that Whole Foods Market Inc. violated the NLRA by maintaining a policy that banned workers from recording conversations, meetings, phone calls, or protected union activity without receiving prior approval. Determining that the policy was overbroad and that it could chill the workers’ exercise of their legally protected rights, the Board overruled the ALJ’s earlier decision that employees did not have a right under the NLRA to record conversations. Whole Foods argued that the policy was intended to encourage employees to openly discuss workplace issues without fearing retribution. Whole Foods Mkt., Inc. |
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| The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved Walter Energy Inc.’s request to reject retiree benefit obligations and collective bargaining agreements with the United Mine Workers of America and the USW, allowing the bankrupt coal mining company to sell its assets to lenders, impose final labor proposals, terminate retiree benefits, and pay key employees retention benefits worth $2 million. Walter Energy, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2015, will auction its assets in January 2016. Lenders have offered to exchange $1.25 billion of the company’s debt and to pay $5.4 million, contingent on court approval of the company’s rejection of the agreements. While affected pension funds argued that the company’s rejection would lead to a $1 billion liability, the court reasoned that maintaining coal operations, keeping the mines open, and creating future job opportunities necessitated the company’s rejection of the agreements. In re Walter Energy, Inc. |
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| The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that B&B Mechanical Services Inc. was liable for $130,000 in unpaid contributions to a multiemployer benefit fund to which the company voluntarily contributed for 10 years. The court reasoned that while agreements to pay into pension funds must be in writing, they do not have to be collective bargaining agreements signed by a contributing employer. Although B&B never signed a collective bargaining agreement obligating it to pay into the fund, an employer organization representing the company did so on its behalf. Additionally, the court noted that the trust agreement, a surety bond, and a memorandum of understanding all obligated the company to make fund contributions. Bd. of Trs. of the Plumbers, Pipe Fitters & Mech. Equip. Serv., Local Union 392 Pension Fund v. B&B Mech. Servs., Inc. |
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| The 148,000-member North America’s Building Trades Unions endorsed Hillary Clinton for president of the United States following the announcement of her $275 billion infrastructure modernization plan and her plan to create a national infrastructure bank. The American Federation of Government Employees, representing 670,000 D.C. and federal government employees, also endorsed Clinton for president. Meanwhile, IAM confirmed that retiring President R. Thomas Buffenbarger will join Clinton’s presidential campaign as a volunteer labor liaison. Mr. Buffenbarger is required to leave office by age 65 under the union’s constitution. |
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| The 700,000-member CWA endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders to be the next U.S. president, following the Senator’s support for CWA members in their contract negotiations with Verizon Communications. Larry Cohen, former CWA president, is one of Sen. Sanders’ top campaign advisers. |
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| The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted its proposed “persuader” rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review. The proposed rule is intended to narrow the scope of Section 203(c) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which currently exempts legal consultant advice to employers from the general rule that any arrangement intended to persuade employees regarding their right to organize or bargain collectively must be reported. The proposed rule would limit protected communications to only written and oral recommendations. Despite criticism from the American Bar Association and other groups that the proposal would deteriorate attorney-client privilege, the DOL intends to finalize the rule by March 2016. |
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| The Democratic National Committee revoked ABC affiliate WMUR’s sponsorship of its presidential debate due to a labor dispute between the New Hampshire television station and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1228. IBEW represents 22 employees in the station’s production department. All three democratic presidential candidates called on the station and its parent company, Hearst, to begin negotiations with the union. |
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| Lincolnshire, a village of 7,300 people near Chicago, became the first right-to-work municipality in Illinois when its board passed a “worker empowerment” ordinance. The Illinois AFL-CIO has vowed to challenge the legality of the ordinance, which only applies to private sector workers. In anticipation of the challenge, the board made passage of the ordinance contingent on the village receiving pro bono legal representation by the Liberty Justice Center, a Chicago-based libertarian advocacy group. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has campaigned for the creation of local right-to-work zones across the state. |
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| Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress failed in their attempt to attach a rider to the omnibus spending bill that would have delayed the implementation of the NLRB’s 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. The Board decision broadens the test for determining whether a business may be held liable as a “joint employer.” President Obama opposed the rider. |
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| The NLRB announced the closure of its Division of Judges’ Atlanta office, effective January 4, 2016, leaving open only the New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. offices. The office’s current head, Associate Chief Judge William N. Cates, retired at the end of 2015, while the office’s other judges were reassigned to Washington. |
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| Fourteen House Democrats sent a letter to the German government, asking the latter to investigate the alleged unfair labor practices of Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile, its U.S. subsidiary. An earlier letter sent by a group of congresswomen to Chancellor Angela Merkel urged her to pressure the companies to rescind policies that prevent U.S. employees from addressing sexual harassment. The CWA, which has attempted to organize T-Mobile workers since 2008, supported the correspondence. The German government holds shares in Deutsche Telekom. |
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| John Hamilton, former business manager of IUOE Local 324, was indicted on nine counts, including extortion, money laundering, conspiracy, and embezzlement, for actions taken while serving as the Detroit-area local’s highest official. According to the indictment, Mr. Hamilton extorted business agents and employees of the local to create a fund that he used for his personal benefit, including by removing $71,000 from the fund for himself after losing his reelection bid. The local’s former president and former chief of staff, each of whom received $35,000 from the fund, both pleaded guilty to helping conceal the scheme. Mr. Hamilton faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of four counts of extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud, and money laundering and up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of five lesser charges. |
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| Richard Lanigan was appointed president of the 105,000-member Office and Professional Employees International Union. Lanigan replaces Michael Goodwin, who will remain involved in the union as business manager of Local 153 in New York, the union’s biggest local. In addition to serving as president, Lanigan will retain his previously held secretary-treasurer post. |
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January 21, 2016 |
| Winston & Strawn will host an eLunch titled “Briefing Regarding New California Employment Laws in 2016” |
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| December 29, 2015 |
| New York City Continues Pro-Employee Actions |
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| December 21, 2015 |
| New Jersey and Philadelphia Ban the Box Legislative Update |
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| December 16, 2015 |
| Court Finds for Employer in FLSA Trial Over Off-Duty Use of Mobile Devices |
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| If you have questions about items that appeared in this bulletin, or would like to learn more about any of these topics, please contact William Miossi at (202) 282-5708 or (312) 558-6109, or one of the other Labor & Employment Department attorneys listed here: |
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