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Labor Relations / Unions

Three’s a crowd: Can an employee bring someone else along to his performance appraisal?

01/07/2011
Q. An employee has asked to have his wife present during his performance evaluation. Does he have the right to bring a representative?

Arnold’s last act: New contract scales back state pensions

12/21/2010
Members of Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 95,000 California state employees, have voted to accept a new labor contract that features significant pension reforms sought by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

NLRB slaps $1.3 million penalty on Wilshire Plaza

12/21/2010
The Wilshire Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles will pay more than $1.3 million following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that it engaged in unfair labor practices during contract negotiations with a hotel workers union.

Lights, camera, contract! Actors unions weigh new agreement

12/21/2010
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have announced that they recently reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the largest Hollywood producers’ group.

2 Bensalem facilities closed after labor talks break down

12/13/2010

Express Scripts will close a second Bensalem facility on Feb. 1 following a union rejection of the company’s final contract offer to employees at the mail order pharmacy. Added to a Dec. 16 closing of another prescription-processing plant in Bensalem, the second shutdown means Express Scripts has shed 992 jobs in Pennsylvania.

Union says Honeywell’s lockout costs more than concessions

12/09/2010
United Steel Workers union members picketing Honeywell’s Metropolis uranium-enrichment facility claim the company is spending more to lock out workers than it would cost to wrap up contract negotiations.

Unions suffer another setback in a string of losses at Delta

12/09/2010
Union-organizing efforts have consistently failed since Delta Air Lines merged with Eagan-based Northwest Airlines. That trend continued last fall when 53% of baggage handlers voted to reject representation by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Firing worker for Facebook rant: Is it illegal?

11/22/2010

In what could be a groundbreaking case, the National Labor Relations Board filed an unfair labor practice complaint last month against a Connecticut company that fired a worker who complained about her supervisor on Facebook. This is the first case in which the NLRB has argued that workers’ criticisms on social networking sites are protected activity.

Contract talks stuck? Put health care on the table

11/19/2010
News to note if you work in a unionized workplace: Health benefits are still a legitimate bargaining chip. Members of the University Professional & Technical Employees Union recently agreed to shoulder more of the health insurance burden in exchange for better performance-based pay.

California Supreme Court upholds state furloughs

11/19/2010
For a while, there was some doubt that outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could legally force unionized state employees to accept furloughs ordered to ease California’s budget crisis. Now the California Supreme Court has ruled that the furloughs were legal.