Voice@Work Update May 23,
2006
Baucus Is 43rd Senator to Co-Sponsor Employee
Free Choice Act
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) became the 43rd
senator to sign on as a co-sponsor of the
Employee Free Choice Act, eight short of a
majority. There are 216 co-sponsors in the
House, just two short of a majority. The most
recent supporter in the House is Delegate Eni
Faleomavaega (D) of American Samoa, who does not
have a vote in floor actions.
The legislation (S. 842 and H.R. 1696) would
require employers to recognize a union after a
majority of workers signs cards authorizing
representation. It also would provide for
mediation and arbitration of first-contract
disputes and set stronger penalties for
violations of labor law when workers are trying
to form a union.
You can see the full list of co-sponsors here:
http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/cosponsors.cfm
If you have not done so already, please click on
the link below to ask your senators and
representatives to support the Employee Free
Choice Act.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Support_EFCA
Progressive Maryland has joined the list
of organizations supporting the Employee Free
Choice Act.
Founded five years ago, Progressive Maryland is
now the largest grassroots advocacy organization
in the state. The group fights to pass
legislation to improve the lives of working
families and elect candidates who share their
values. Progressive Maryland has 25,000
dues-paying individual members, and the group
has partnerships with more than 50 of Maryland's
largest community, faith-based, labor and civil
rights organizations.
Progressive Maryland works on issues such as
raising wages, election reform, health care,
affordable education, tax fairness, voter
registration and public transportation.
For more information, go to
www.progressivemaryland.org
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Federal Court Favors Steelworkers, Says
Neutrality Agreements Legal
The National
Right to Work Committee's legal arm has been
coming up with novel theories in its efforts to
block employers from voluntarily recognizing
unions chosen by their employees outside the
skewed NLRB election process.
In the latest case, the anti-union group claimed
a neutrality agreement between an employer and
the United Steelworkers was a "thing of value"
that the company is not allowed to "give" the
union under Section 302 of the Labor-Management
Relations Act of 1947, commonly called
Taft-Hartley.
However, U.S. District Court Judge David D. Dowd
wasn't buying. On April 20 in the federal court
in Ohio, he ruled that the labor law encourages
cooperation between employers and unions, and
that such neutrality agreements are perfectly
legal.
Formed between Heartland Industrial Partners and
the United Steelworkers in 2000, the neutrality
agreement, “Framework for a Constructive
Collective Bargaining Relationship,” calls on
the company to "cooperate with the union during
organizing drives in exchange for negotiated
terms over what union representation would look
like if a drive was successful,” according to
the Bureau of National Affairs.
The neutrality agreement included a provision
for majority sign-up, direction for the terms of
a first contract and an agreement to engage in
arbitration over disputed contract terms. It
also stipulated that if Heartland gained
controlling interest in other companies, the
neutrality agreement would apply to them.
When Heartland gained a controlling interest in
Collins & Aikman Corp. in 2001, it triggered the
neutrality clause at six manufacturing plants in
the Midwest.
When the workers began an organizing drive at
Collin & Aikman in 2003, an anti-union committee
formed with the aid of the National Right to
Work Legal Defense Foundation and filed the
lawsuit challenging the neutrality agreement.
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Nashville Company Thwarted in Bid
to Tear Up IBEW Contract
After a two-and-a-half-year wait, workers at a
Nashville electrical company finally got a
federal appeals court to order their employer to
the bargaining table after the company had
perpetrated an obvious and too common
union-busting move. In early May, the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a December 2004
NLRB decision finding the company violated the
National Labor Relations Act when it failed to
honor a collective bargaining agreement with
IBEW Local 429.
Crossroads Electrical Inc., an electrical wiring
company, had a contract with IBEW that ran from
Sept. 1, 2001, through Aug. 31, 2005. However,
in July 2003, Crossroads began taking steps to
set up an alter ego, Greer and Associates
Electrical Inc. By the end of 2003, Crossroads
had shut down, while Greer and Associates was
doing business with the same “management,
business purpose, operation, equipment,
customers, supervision and ownership” as
Crossroads had before it closed, according to
the NLRB’s decision. The only difference
between the two entities was that Greer and
Associates did not recognize the agreement
Crossroads had with Local 429, the board found.
When a union official called Greer and
Associates, the official was told by one of the
officers that the two companies “were pretty
much the same,” but that it was easier to
compete as a nonunion company. The NLRB found,
and the Sixth Circuit agreed, that Greer and
Associates was the alter ego of Crossroads and
was created to avoid honoring the collective
bargaining agreement with IBEW. Both entities
violated the NLRA by refusing to honor the
contract, the court held.
It is good news that the appeals court finally
came around to enforcing the law, even though
the decision came nearly 30 months after the
NLRB found clear violations of the workers'
freedom to form a union and bargain
collectively.
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CWA Wins Contracts With Comcast in Pittsburgh
After 5-Year Battle
Over the past few years, thousands of Voice@Work
Network members have sent letters to Comcast
demanding that they recognize their workers'
union and bargain a fair contract.
We are happy to report that, with your help,
five years of solidarity, persistence and
community support have led to three
ground-breaking contracts for embattled Comcast
workers in the Pittsburgh area.
To read more, click the link below.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/05/17/comcast-workers%e2%80%99-tenacity-pays-off-with-historic-victory/
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Press Clips of the Week
"Harley enjoys winning cycle,"
Chicago Tribune
Harley-Davidson management cooperates with
workers represented by the United Steelworkers
and International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers to build a successful company.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0605140123may14,1,2623428.story?coll=chi-business-hed
"Labor Board Staff Unhappy with
Working Conditions," NPR
NLRB staff lawyers picket the NLRB, claiming the
board is not being worker-friendly with its own
employees.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5395402
"Statistics Are Good News for N.J. Unions,"
The Record (Hackensack)
New Jersey union membership rose by 46,000 in
2005 to reach a union density of 20.5 percent.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTM1NDMz
Activism
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