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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…
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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
(This article incorrectly stated that IAM members at the Caterpillar plant in Joliet were part of an IAM multi-employer pension plan, and has been corrected.)
800 unionized workers at the Caterpillar plant in Joliet, IL went out on strike last week, the second major strike declared by the Machinists union in just over a week. On April 23, 3600 Lockheed workers went out on strike in Fort Worth, Maryland and at Edwards AFB in California.
Caterpillar’s last offer would have kept wages flat and doubled the existing health insurance contribution over six years.
“The company’s last offer would have kept wages flat for six years while health insurance contributions would have doubled,” said Steve Jones, business rep for IAM District 8.
“Also, the company wants
Continue reading Machinists Striking
 Union pickets could spoil the grand opening of Revel, Atlantic City’s newest casino, on Memorial Day weekend. The Teamsters, the UAW and UNITE HERE are ready to carve up the spoils claiming Revel workers need a union before any of them has spent even one real day on their job.
UNITE HERE has been chest-bumping the new casino since it was in the planning stages over tax breaks the casino has received and a plan to “term limit” all customer service employees to five years. And all three unions are pressuring Revel for recognition without the messiness of an election or workplace democracy.
“Revel has received a proposal from the three unions to hand Revel professionals over to these unions without an election,”
Continue reading Unions Gang Up on Revel In Atlantic City
Fox Business has come to LRI’s Phil Wilson again for comment on the latest news regarding the Hostess bankruptcy proceedings. Hostess has asked the bankruptcy court to allow them to void their union contract. The union has stated that if this happens, they will strike – while Hostess says if they strike, they will liquidate the assets of the company.
In case the link is no longer valid, you can watch the short news segment below.
  
An Atlanta area Jobs For Justice staffer responded to this Craig’s List ad by emailing through the Big Labor grapevine encouraging “our people” to apply for positions as strike breakers.
The Craig’s List employment ad is not for strike breakers but for strike security personnel, so apparently Jobs For Justice should hire staff members with a higher I.Q.
But the real brain teaser is why Jobs For Justice is encourage their supporters to apply for these jobs as either strike breakers or strike security personnel. Is their motive to find employment for their out-of-work “occupiers,” or are they hoping to sabotage a company’s strike response capability by planting Big Labor insiders private contractors labor forces? And how would that look at time of execution (a bit scary to think about)?
As an example of possible action, the staffer pointed to a recent AT&T lay-off announcement.
 The Red Cross of Northern Ohio was forced to cancel its single biggest blood drive of the year this week when (coincidentally) Teamsters Local 507 took 250 blood collection workers out on strike on Tuesday. The Red Cross has been in negotiations with the union since August and talks with a federal mediator broke down last week.
The union has rejected the identical offer accepted by 14 other collection worker locals around the country. That offer includes the same healthcare benefits package the Red Cross offers all its non-union employees.
A spokesperson for the Red Cross said negotiations stalled only on the healthcare issue although the union is now making claims of short staffing that they say threatens the safety of the blood supply. (If
Continue reading Teamsters Strike Halts Ohio Blood Drives
A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research claims in-hospital mortality jumps 19.4% during a nurses’ strike. According to the study, “Hospitals functioning during nurses’ strikes do so at a lower quality of patient care.” The study also shows no better outcome when hospitals hire replacement workers. While the authors of the study are pushing a different agenda, it is worth noting that hospitals were excluded from collective bargaining laws for three decades out of fear that nurses’ strikes would negatively impact patient care.
 should a bankruptcy judge allow the company to abandon current collective bargaining agreements. The company has said it needs out from under prohibitively expensive union pension plans and onerous union work rules in order to emerge from bankruptcy.
The union has refused to budge since September on allowing Hostess to pull out of several Teamsters’ multi-employer pension plans that transfer the cost of retirements from companies driven out of business onto the backs of those “Teamsterized” companies that are still managing to survive. Hostess has repeatedly said it is willing to assume the cost of all of its own employees’ retirements as promised but they need out of the legacy plans to survive. Hostess is now well over a billion dollars in debt to upside-down IBT and Bakery union pension funds.
“This
Continue reading Teamsters Authorize Twinkie Strike
 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
In this issue:
• Union Bailout Update • Occupy Does Union Bidding in Port Protests • UAW Not Targeting Nissan, Much • Teamster $150K Club • Scoreboard, SEIU Watch, Sticky Fingers and more…
Union Bailout Update
Breaking News:
President Obama announced late Wednesday evening that he plans to nominate two lawyers to the National Labor Relations Board. The Board will no longer be able to issue decisions or create major new rules without a three member quorum and Craig Becker’s recess appointment ends on Dec. 31.
The president will nominated Sharon Block, deputy secretary for congressional affairs at the Department of Labor, and Richard Griffin, who is the general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers. Both would be considered
Continue reading INK December 15, 2011
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