Labor Relations INK • EFCA Update • UFCW Again Threatening Strikes • Teamsters On A Roll • SEIU Watch, Only In A Union, and more… EFCA Update 
Now that all of Big Labor’s dreams are no longer neatly packaged in one piece of legislation (the Employee Free Choice Act), it will be a bit harder to keep our eye on the wily Obama administration as the Democrats do their best to placate their deep-pocket labor friends. They will have opportunity to use both legislative and regulatory means to achieve at least some of their objectives. This recent Bloomberg Law Report reinforces that point, addressing the likelihood that such tactics as ramped-up injunctive relief for ULP’s, civil penalties, Gissel bargaining orders, and first contract remedies are all possibilities. Denying Craig Becker a seat on the NLRB does not solve the problem of an aggressive “Big Labor” agenda for the board. Current board chair Wilma Liebman’s recent comments made it clear that no matter who the eventual appointees are, the board will be tilted in favor of unions. ********** UFCW Again Threatening Strikes The UFCW is in the news again – this time preparing to take up to 40,000 supermarket employees out on strike in three states. The Union’s negotiations with Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, a New England grocery chain, have stalled but been extended by one week. The chain has already posted advertisements for temporary workers in the event the strike occurs. One of the key issues is the means by which the store would like to increase employee’s pay. Stop & Shop is arguing for bonuses, while the union is fighting for across-the-board pay increases. As would be expected, it appears the union is against an increase system that could be tied to incentives. ********** Teamsters On A Roll Continental Airlines is now union from top to bottom, thanks to an aggressive campaign by the Teamsters to bring the standout ramp workers into the fold. Although the union won by only 300 votes, 7600 workers have been added to the rosters. 
The union took the campaign to the highways and byways, knocking on doors in 24 cities to round up enough votes to make a difference. Teamster Gary Welsch remarked in September of last year, “We’ve been through this five times and I can say hands down that this is the best campaign, the strongest campaign we’ve had.” The Continental fleet service employees were the largest group of non-union employees in the airline industry. “This is a big victory,” Teamsters President James Hoffa said in an interview. “It proves there are people to organize out there.” Hoffa’s next big target is Fed Ex. The Teamsters have been leading a charge to change the regulatory structure under which Fed Ex (predominantly an airline company) operates to match that of UPS (predominantly a trucking company). To do so would then change the rules related to voting requirements for unionization in favor of unions. Fed Ex recently suffered their first capitulation to unionization. A group of administrative workers in Mississauga, Ontario, elected the Teamsters to represent them. “This is a historical event for FedEx workers and the entire labor movement,” claimed Robert Bouvier, president of Teamsters Canada. UPDATE 3.1.10: It seems that the Teamsters have stretched the truth in their press release referenced in this paragraph. According to Fed Ex spokesperson Perry Colosimo, “Contrary to the inaccurate claims of the Teamsters’ press release, this application does not mean that the union represents any FedEx Ground employee or has majority support at this time. The company will request a hearing to challenge this application, which resulted from a card signing organizing effort. Until this challenge is resolved, FedEx Ground is under no obligation to bargain with the Teamsters.” ********** FREE! Union Organizing Defense Review & Vulnerability Audit 
This has quickly become one of our most popular programs, in light of upcoming labor law changes. It is more important than ever to assess both the internal and external factors that contribute to your company’s vulnerability to union penetration, and formulate action plans to shore up any uncovered weaknesses. • What are the most likely labor law changes, and how will they impact my vulnerabilities? • What are the six strategies I can implement to strengthen my defense against union encroachment? • When do I talk to my employees about unions? What do I say about unions? CLICK HERE to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with Phil Wilson, LRI’s President and General Counsel. ********** SEIU Watch Word on the street is that another SEIU executive has been placed “on leave” while, once again, potential financial misbehavior
is investigated. Andy Stern and company must be pretty familiar with their “damage control handbook” by now. I wonder if they’ve considered marketing it to help raise funds for their depleted pension funds and cash reserves. One of the moves from their playbook is to sling mud at someone else to misdirect attention. Bank of America remains a favorite target, as their headquarters in Charlotte were picketed, and CEO Brian Moynihan has been accused of being morally bankrupt. It would be funny if it were not so sad, that the pot so flippantly attempts to call the kettle black. ********** 12 Union Myths Exposed In our second installment of The Cato Journal’s January 2010 “Are unions good for America?” issue, we cover the second myth. Here is The Homeland Stupidity web site’s synopsis of this myth, and a link the Cato article.
Myth Number Two: Unions bargain on behalf of their members to get employees the wages and benefits they deserve.
Fact: Unions “bargain” with the guns of government in hand, to get employees more wages and benefits than they deserve, with a little for themselves on the side. By crawling in bed with government to pass laws which benefited the unions at the expense of employers — and, in the long run, employees — union leaders have drained American businesses dry. The long, slow decline of private sector unions reflects the economic destruction they left in their wake as they searched for fresh blood to leech. And today they’ve found the biggest source yet, the government.
Download the PDF here. Check out the Cato Journal and access all 12 PDFs here. ********** Pratt & Whitney Runs Into Judicial Trouble 
As we reported earlier, Pratt & Whitney moved to outsource some of their two Connecticut-based factory operations to more business-friendly environments in Japan, Singapore, and Georgia. A judge recently put the kibosh on those plans, at least until the current Machinist contract expires in December 2010. A clause in the current contract led the judge to rule that the 1000 jobs could not be moved until the contract expired. This action is likely to inspire unions to seek similar clauses in all new contracts. In essence, the clause stated that the company “actively and in good faith” make “every reasonable effort,” to keep the jobs in Connecticut. Most such guarantees don’t go to quite the extent that this contract did to prohibit the company from moving work, but unions are sure to latch onto such clauses and fight hard for them in the future. James Parent, a top Machinists union official, said he would seek a similar guarantee in the upcoming May contract negotiations for 1,100 union workers at Hamilton Sundstrand. “That will definitely be one of the proposals,” said Parent. “It’s something that all labor unions will want included in their contracts.” If you’d like some ideas for clauses to include in your next contract negotiations, take a look at our book Model Contract Clauses. ********** Only in a Union First, the SEIU trashed the Boy Scouts for a young Eagle Scout’s efforts to clean up a city’s trails. Not to be outdone, the UFCW decided to protest a community blood drive. The Toledo Walleye joined forces with local blood service workers, offering free tickets to an upcoming hockey game. Participants received more than they bargained for as they had to negotiate the UFCW protesters, whose contract with the blood workers was rejected last November. ********** 
SCORE BOARD Who are the winners (and losers) of the labor movement? Don’t guess, just check the LRI Scoreboard
View this month’s scoreboard (archives also located here).
Download a PDF of this month’s scoreboard.
********** DOL Looking to Crack Down The Department of Labor is allocating $25 million of its generous budget to launch a joint initiative with the Treasury
Department aimed at cracking down on companies who misclassify workers as independent contractors. The campaign will put 100 new investigators to the task. The government is irritated at the loss of tax revenue, and the unions by the loss of potential union dues. Big Labor claims that up to 30 percent of workers are misclassified, and will also no doubt use the threat of increased scrutiny in corporate campaigns designed to pressure companies into neutrality agreements. Adding to the sting, Democrats in both the House and the Senate are introducing bills designed to strengthen rules regarding independent contractors and increasing the penalties for companies that fail to get it right. It would be a prudent time for businesses to scrutinize their pay practices, and do all they can to comply with the regulations. ********** LRI’s Brand New Online Supervisory Training Program 
If there is one thing we have learned after more than 20 years and over 10,000 elections battling unions, it is this:
Your front line supervisors are the number one key to a solid union defense, and a positive workplace.
Nothing takes the place of properly trained front line managers and supervisors, but in today’s hectic business environment, we’ve never asked our front line leaders to do more with less. How in the world can you take the time to pull them from their jobs, and provide training that really makes a difference! Our new Online Active Interval Training (OAIT) is the answer. OAIT includes: 
• Easy access from any computer • Research-based and validated content • Best adult learning principles available • Only 15-20 minutes per week • Real time tracking of attitudes, skills and knowledge • Instantaneous reporting and learner feedback • Personalized action plans for immediate implementation • Accountability to upper level manager for progress and plan execution OAIT is incredibly value-priced, PLUS you can try it absolutely FREE!. For complete details, visit this page on our web site, or call us at 800-888-9115. ********** Myths about Labor Myths On Sunday, Washington Post reporter Alec MacGillis posted an article titled “Five Myths About the Labor Union Movement.” His five myths included: 1. Organized labor is in inexorable decline. 2. Unions are bad for economic growth. 3. Labor laws are not the issue — economics are. 4. The Employee Free Choice Act would radically reshape the job market. 5. Unions have the Democrats in their pocket. MacGillis then attempts to “debunk” these myths. However, writing for OpenMarkets.org, Ivan Osorio rips MacGillis’ efforts at debunking. Osorio effectively dissects MacGillis’ “proof” and sustains the truth inherent in the “myths.” Among the points made by Osorio, Point 1: “A sure sign of an industry being economically moribund is its having to rely on government to survive, which is exactly what organized labor is doing by relying on public sector membership to keep its numbers up. This is not a “shift,” but a retreat away from the market.” Point 2: “It’s worth noting the weakness of the pro-unionization argument he cites, which relies on arguing causation from coincidence, in both time and location. Economic growth occurring at the same time as increases in union membership does not prove causation one way or the other.” and “MacGillis notes, rightly, the enormous stress that public sector unions have put on state budgets. This is a major problem that could seriously harm the greater economy by fostering an environment of high taxes, poor public services, and future policy uncertainty.” Point 3: “The New Deal-era NLRA not functioning as it was intended is irrelevant to the significance of economic changes regarding the state of organized labor today.” Point 5: “Events over the past year suggest that Obama and some of his fellow Democrats have pursued union-friendly policies that have proven unpopular among the general public…According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2008 election cycle, 12 of the top 20 (and six of the top 10) campaign donors were unions, which gave nearly exclusively to Democrats.” I won’t address point 4 here – if you’ve been reading INK for very long, you know the facts about this “myth.” ********** CNA Loses a Round 
Tenet Healthcare and the California Nurses Association squelched free speech rights when Tenet succumbed to CNA pressure and signed what it called an Election Procedures Agreement (EPA). In so doing, Tenet agreed to allow CNA organizers preferential access to Tenet facilities, and gagged nurses from speaking out against the union. Thankfully, attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation represented nurses from Philadelphia and Houston Tenet facilities, and an appeal filed by the attorneys challenging the EPA was partly sustained by the NLRB’s General Counsel. “CNA bosses shouldn’t be empowered to negotiate on behalf of workers they don’t even represent,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Tenet Corporation and CNA operatives have stacked the deck in favor of union organizers, stifling independent-minded employees in an attempt to push Houston and Philadelphia nurses under union boss control, like it or not.” ********** Sticky Fingers! Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials: Sherrell Mitchell – CWA: $110,000 Michael Manemeiti – IAFF: $38,000 James Miles – IBEW: $93,000 Jeffrey Kenney- GCIU: $14,388 David Matthis – APWU: $5,472 Lavina Smith – AFM Local 1: $2,500 Bobby Earl Williams – ATU: $1,269 Mark Owens – IAM: $$200 ********** Labor Relations INK is published semi-monthly and is edited by LRI Consulting Services, Inc. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think might enjoy it. New subscribers can sign up by visiting: https://lrionline.com/free-stuff/newsletter-signup/ If you use content from this newsletter please attribute it to LRI Consulting Services and include our website address: www.LRIonline.com Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, Shaun Fanning You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive our labor relations newsletters and updates. You can manage your email preferences by clicking the link at the bottom of any of our email communications. NOTE: if you are using Internet Explorer v. 6, read the text version, as the html will not load properly in IE6. We recommend upgrading to IE7.
