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In this issue:
Union Bailout Update Bill Would Permit Merit Pay in Union Shops Machinists Striking Once a Member Always a Member Labor Relations Insight, Sticky Fingers and more…
NOTICE: You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post. Click here for instructions on how to do so.
http://lrionline.com/easy-way-to-make-our-posts-and-ink-issues-into-pdfs
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Labor Relations Insight by Phillip Wilson
What have we learned in the first week of the “ambush election” rules?
There are two questions I’ve been asked a lot over the last couple of months, and especially in the last week:
Will petitions increase after the new “ambush election” rules go into effect? How far will election times decrease under the new “ambush election” rules?
Here’s what we’ve seen
Continue reading INK May 10, 2012
 The Machinists union (IAM) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) made a surprise announcement last week that the two unions were looking into affiliation. And while the marriage might seem a head scratcher, the rationale for the move is simple – NUHW has healthcare turf cred and the Machinists have money.
The IAM has been in the headlines this year for their attack on Boeing through their friends at the NLRB. NUHW is the infamous upstart union of Sal Roselli that broke away from SEIU in 2009 and then went to war with the purple Godzilla to maintain that autonomy. NUHW continues to raid SEIU shops in California and Michigan and is establishing itself as the skilled organizing force to be reckoned with in healthcare, but
Continue reading Strange Hospital Bedfellows
 By a vote of 112-59 striking Machinists union members agreed to go back to work on January 18, ending a two-month strike against Manitowoc Crane. Members accepted a four-year contract that does away with mandatory dues and requires the IAM earn the support (and dues) of Manitowoc workers on an annual basis. The contract also includes a 2% annual pay increase in each of the four years and a $250 signing bonus.
Of course the union campaigned hard to convince its Manitowoc members that giving workers freedom of choice and the power to withhold dues is a bad thing that inevitably leads to the erosion of pay and benefits.
Several news outlets reported that supporters of the new contract were reluctant to go on
Continue reading Workers Vote to End Manitowoc Strike
Manitowoc Crane, a crane and lift manufacturer in Manitowoc, WI has announced it will be hiring replacement workers for 200 striking members of the Machinists union, prompting many of the striking workers to come back in this week. The walkout began on November 15 after a 180-2 strike vote. Both sides were reporting good progress in negotiations when the company proposed removing the “union shop” clause from the new contract.
“While there was agreement on many issues, the company proposed new language toward the end of the negotiations that was absolutely unacceptable,” IAM District 10 business representative Benito Elizondo said. “The company proposed eliminating long-standing contract language requiring any employee who benefits from negotiated wages and benefits to become a member of the union that negotiated those benefits.” The union’s website is calling the move the “private-sector equivalent” of a “Scott Walker style attack” on, of course, the “99%”. The
Continue reading Wisconsin Labor War Moves to Private Sector
Reuters is reporting that Boeing has reached an early deal with the Machinist’s union which, if ratified, would end the NLRB suit against Boeing and ensure production of the new 737 would stay in Washington state. Union members will vote on the agreement next week.
The NLRB has not yet received official notification of the agreement and was not part of negotiations between the company and the union.
  
In this issue:
Union Bailout Update Disability Fund “Rail Roaded” Pelosi Admits Anti-Boeing Bias SEIU Decert At California Hospital Teamsters Watch, Only In A Union, Sticky Fingers and more…
NOTICE: You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post. Click here for instructions on how to do so.
http://lrionline.com/easy-way-to-make-our-posts-and-ink-issues-into-pdfs
Union Bailout Update
The groundswell of blowback against union hubris continues to rise, as both state and national legislators and executives work to reign in Big Labor. As the game of political tug-of-war continues, much of the energy will lapse into rhetoric, but there may be enough momentum now to see some benefit for American businesses come out of the bottom of the funnel.
Cantor
Last week, the House Committee on Education
Continue reading INK November 3, 2011
 The Machinists have launched a new iPad/iPhone/Android application, ostensibly designed to bring the IAM Journal to its readership, but more likely to be used as a tool for coordinating organizing campaigns, boycotts, strikes, and corporate campaigns. The app is currently available for the iPad, and their website shows that the phone versions are “coming soon.”
The Communication Workers are still battling it out with Verizon, recently launching a new “iWon’t Upgrade” campaign attempting to foment public support for the CWA’s fight with the communications company. The corporate campaign is “asking Americans to delay upgrading to the new iPhone on Verizon Wireless until the company agrees to a fair contract with its workers.” The site is designed to coordinate leafleting campaigns at local Verizon outlets.
 Union organizers are nothing if not creative and opportunistic. IAM proves this point as union organizers continue to visit the homes of Boeing plant workers in Charleston, attempting to smooth talk them into joining the union they already turned out. The pitch was a new one: “If you join the IAM, we’ll get the NLRB to drop the lawsuit against Boeing, allowing the plant to open, and you to keep your jobs.” Apparently, organizers are still in Charleston making this very pitch.
Of course they really don’t care about those workers jobs, only the potential revenue of union dues. If the workers refuse the union, then union wants to see the NLRB shut down the plant and force those workers from their jobs.
The Machinists union walloped IKEA Wednesday in an NLRB election held at the Swedish retailer’s only U.S. manufacturing plant in Danville, Virginia. The vote was 221 to 69 and came after years of contentious union organizing at the plant. Since the plant was opened in 2008 the union has repeated demanded card recognition and brought negative international attention to IKEA. IKEA has responded only that the plant meets the same standards as its other 26 Swedwood manufacturing facilities. All are in Europe and already unionized.
Wednesday night, GoDanRiver.com interviewed Swedwood workers at a union victory party. Forklift operator Greg Chandler said, “I got tired of all the favoritism. People see it. They just don’t speak up.” Another worker said she saw no problems at
Continue reading Workers Share Reasons for Swedwood Union Landslide
 The National Mediation Board has just launched an “Expedited Mediation Project,” a move thought consistent with Big Labor’s ongoing push for accelerated bargaining. The program may allow unions to exert new pressure to speed up the bargaining process, either through direct use of the project or through the threat an employer could seem unreasonable to the NMB for not agreeing to it. Details to come.
The NMB also announced that, as predicted, it will broadened its investigation of Delta to include interference allegations by the IAM from last winter’s failed attempt to organize ramp and gate agents. As we reported in the last issue of INK, the NMB is investigating the Delta flight attendant election based in large part on the AFA-CWA contention that election turnout was unreasonably high. For their part, the Machinists
Continue reading Union Bailout Update
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