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Labor Relations / Unions

Janitors sue over union rights

11/01/2007

Janitors working in Miami’s Bayside Mall joined with workers from five states to fight the coercive anti-union tactics of General Growth Properties (GGP) and two of its cleaning contractors. The National Labor Relations Board has sought a rare 10(j) injunction—a federal court order reserved for cases of egregious violations of workers’ civil rights—against the companies …

Beware managers who participate in drive to unionize workers

11/01/2007

When union-organizing efforts target a business, managers usually sit on the sidelines. But managers may have sympathies with either side, and their actions could cause problems for either the employer or the union. Your best bet is to rely on professional negotiators and labor counsel …

GM takes VEBA for a test drive

11/01/2007
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UPS teams up with Teamsters to shore up pension fund

11/01/2007

Hard times make for strange bedfellows. United Parcel Service, based in Sandy Springs, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters teamed up to cut ties with the beleaguered Central States Fund pension plan before the federal government intervenes in January and likely makes things worse for them …

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 …