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Labor Relations / Unions

Teamsters-UPS deal means Indy employees may unionize

11/01/2007

UPS and the Teamsters have agreed to a pact that will increase wages and benefits by $9 an hour over five years. The agreement covers 238,000 employees and is the largest union contract in the country. More than half the increase will go toward pensions and benefits …

Unemployment following a strike

11/01/2007

Q. We are a small, nonunion parts supplier for a large, unionized manufacturing plant. Due to an ongoing strike by our primary customer’s union, demand for our product has decreased significantly, and we are having difficulty meeting payroll. Consequently, we are preparing to lay off several of our staff. Our CFO remembered reading that in Indiana, someone who loses his job due to a strike is not eligible for unemployment compensation. But, because the only reason we are laying our people off is due to the strike at our customer’s facility, can we contest unemployment for our laid-off staff? …

What does ‘Right to work’ mean in North Carolina?

11/01/2007

Q. I always hear North Carolina is a “right to work” state. Does that mean there are limitations on how or why I may be fired? Does that have anything to do with “employment at will”? …

Misclassification yields million-Dollar settlement for janitors

11/01/2007

A federal judge recently gave final approval to a settlement of a wage-and-hour lawsuit involving 500 primarily Latino janitors in San Antonio, Dallas and Chicago. Judge Amy St. Eve of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved a $1,138,000 settlement compensating workers who were employed through Contract Cleaning Maintenance Inc. …

Union membership in Indiana projected to fall below 10%

10/01/2007

Union membership nationwide has been on a steady slide for the past 40 years and Indiana is no exception. A new Indiana Department of Labor report shows that only 12.5% of workers in Indiana are members of a labor union, down from more than 40% in the mid-1960s. The report predicts that the percentage will fall to 9.5% by 2010 …

Despite contract, union members can sue directly

10/01/2007

If you think you can prevent employees from suing you directly by negotiating a union contract specifying that all employment disputes go to arbitration, think again. Even if the collective-bargaining agreement specifies that every employment-law dispute will be arbitrated, your employees still can go to state or federal court with their claims …

Disciplining employees under the modern employment laws

10/01/2007

Ask employers what their toughest challenge is, and they probably will mention discipline. It seems no one likes to play parent in the workplace. On the other hand, there’s no way to avoid it …

Steelworkers drop discipline against Goodyear strikebreakers

10/01/2007

The United Steelworkers have dropped disciplinary action against four former members who defied the union’s three-month strike at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Akron this summer …

Employment Relations Commission stops union maneuver

10/01/2007

The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) blocked a union ploy to add Public Safety Academy teachers to an existing bargaining unit representing workers employed by a different school system …

UPS extends benefits to NJ civil-Union partners

10/01/2007

Atlanta-based UPS announced it will extend health care benefits to the civil-union partners of hourly employees in New Jersey, saying it has “received clear guidance that at least in New Jersey, the state truly views civil-union partners as married,” a company spokesman said …