In this issue:
- It’s All Academic
- AFL-CIO Headquarters Staff Dwindles
- Longshoremen Union Out of Step with Membership
- Insight, Fight for $15, SEIU Watch and more…
The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. Labor Relations Insight by Phil Wilson The Clash, The Beatles and Lafe Solomon
Radio DJ Wolfman Jack
Suppose a radio station announces: “We play your favorite hits from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Notwithstanding the fact that we play hits from the ’60s, we do not play music by British bands.” You would not tune in expecting to hear the 1970s British band “The Clash” any more than the 1960s “Beatles.” The station, after all, has announced that “we do not play music by British bands.” The “notwithstanding” clause just establishes that this applies even to music from the ’60s, when British bands were prominently featured on the charts. No one, however, would think the station singled out the ’60s to convey implicitly that its categorical statement “we do not play music by British bands” actually did not apply to the ’70s and ’80s.
I’m holding out hope that this hypothetical radio station would at least make an exception for the Rolling Stones. Instead of going through the background of the case (great analysis here) I want to focus on the practical impact of the decision. As we sit today – and there will be considerably more litigation on this point – there are several categories of people who should consider options after the decision.
- People who raised FVRA objections to cases that arose when Lafe Solomon served as Acting General Counsel (roughly June 2010 to October 2013). These folks are most directly impacted by the SW General By raising the FVRA issue directly these cases will now have to account for the Supreme Court’s decision. Justice Roberts went out of his way to state that the ruling in this case was limited – it does not overturn every decision made by Solomon. In the DC Circuit opinion that was under review in this case the Court stated its opinion that Solomon’s decisions were voidable and not void. This means the impact will be decided in each case and the court can – but isn’t required – to void the Acting General Counsel’s decision.
- People impacted by decisions made by Solomon during the time he improperly served as Acting General Counsel. Most of these cases will already be resolved, but some could still be on appeal. These companies should consider whether bringing up the SW General decision gives them “another bite at the apple” or might create additional pressure on the General Counsel to settle a case on appeal. You could even raise the issue by, for example, refusing to bargain now with a union certified under a Lafe Solomon decision. With the current General Counsel it is highly unlikely this strategy will be effective. But the current General Counsel won’t be around much longer (more on that in a minute), so it is worth considering this option.
- You lost a case based on precedent that happened while Lafe Solomon improperly served as Acting General Counsel. This is the longest shot, but depending on your situation it may be one to consider. Here you argue that a precedent relied on in your case was improperly decided. Again, a long shot.
None of these have been tested and you should talk to your labor counsel if any of these apply to you. One other key consideration is timing. Current General Counsel Griffin’s term expires in November of this year. One strategy will be to slow play any case (especially a case currently on appeal) until a new General Counsel is put in place. After Noel Canning the Board ended up adopting much of the actions taken by the illegitimate Board. However, in this case once the new General Counsel is in place the chances are he or she – who should be polar opposite of Richard Griffin – will reverse many decisions that come before them. That could be a game-changer depending on your situation. We will keep you posted once the cases start getting resolved. In the meantime (unlike Justice Roberts’ hypothetical radio station) don’t touch that dial! Link & Comments ********** Union Bailout Update Many are hopeful over the course of the nation’s labor laws over the next four years. That hope was invigorated even further when Trump named Phillip Miscimarra as acting chair of the NLRB. On March 1, the Board released a report detailing the top 10 policies they are going to focus on restoring balance to. See the list and find the report here. Congress is making some headway as well. One of their most notable actions this month is revoking the Labor Department’s fiduciary exemption for government-managed retirement funds, named Erisa (Employee Retirement Income Security Act). Early this month, the House overturned OSHA’s attempt to rewrite the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Under OSH Act, all employers are required to keep records or workplace injuries and illnesses for five years. OSHA inspectors, however, are only allowed to cite violations for record keeping that occurred within the previous six months. OSHA attempted to rewrite the law (even though government agencies have no authority to write laws) so that citations could be made for violations that occurred up to five years previous. The House of Representatives also passed the Congressional Review Act invalidating the “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” executive order, also known as the “Blacklisting Rule.” Not only does this act enjoin the rule, it also officially “removes it from the Federal Acquisition Regulation and prevents its future enforcement.” The NLRB ruled again last month that employers are required to give unions the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all employees. This includes the information of employees who are not dues paying members of the union. The 5th Circuit upheld an NLRB ruling made last November that found Traco and Alcoa (both single employers, though Alcoa bought Traco in 2010) violated the NLRA when Traco barred Alcoa union members from distributing handbills at their facility. On Friday, February 24th, the Board published new amendments to their rules and regulations. On May 7th, those new rules and regulations went into effect. You’ll find the most significant changes laid out here. In good news, the NLRB found in a recent case that “not every meeting with employees constitutes an investigative interview under Weingarten.” Specifically, in this case, the difference was found between a police interrogation and an investigative interview. Read about the case here. The NLRB has named five new Division of Judges administrative law judges. Click here to see the list and find out more. Link & Comments ********** SEIU Watch Two top officials from SEIU Healthcare Michigan have been removed from their positions as an investigation into large amounts of money missing from the organization’s treasury plays out. The local has also been placed under an emergency trusteeship.
Deceased SEIU Payroll “recipient” Paul Policicchio
The fight to organize graduate students at Harvard has come to a standstill. Although the results of the November election were in favor of unionization, an NLRB hearing is on the books to review objections filed by both parties and to determine whether the challenged ballots should be counted. It is possible that a re-vote will be cast. Duke University would have been in the same bucket as Harvard had organizers not decided to withdraw their petition to organize. Meanwhile, six Yale departments have voted to form unions. Yale took a different approach than Harvard and Duke and opted to organize in micro-units, rather than as one large union. Arguments for both approaches can be read here. At Loyola University, faculty members in the Theology Department must now be excluded from a proposed bargaining unit. This comes from a split NLRB decision naming it inappropriate to include Theology Department members in a unit since Loyola is a religious institution. On the charter school front, the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS) Local 4343 is looking to organize what would be “the largest unionized charter school network in the country.” So far, Chicago ACTS has helped organize teachers and staff from 32 Chicago area charter schools. This new attempt involves workers from Noble Network’s 17 charter high schools. If successful, approximately 800 educators and staff with Noble would have union representation. Link & Comments ********** SCORE BOARD Who are the winners (and losers) of the labor movement? Don’t guess, just check the LRI Scoreboard The NLRB is late posting current strike data. We’ll send a new email when the date is updated and we have a new scoreboard. ********** Union Pension Turmoil Well it finally happened. As of late last month, one of the strongest and most successful pension funds officially ran out of money. The Teamsters Local 707 fund began their efforts to avoid this insolvency in early 2016 when they lowered payouts for already retired members. Now, the 4,000 already retired Local 707 members are left with nothing. While this news is disastrous for members of Local 707, it also speaks to the problem of underfunded pensions as a whole. Namely, it begs the question: “if one of the strongest funds couldn’t survive, why should any other plans?” There are currently 68 pensions plans that have been listed as having “critical and declining status.” This means these 68 will soon have to apply to cut benefits. Meanwhile, there are 10 private-sector funds that have already applied to the U.S. Treasury Department for approval to slash benefits. As it stands, “nearly 1 million working and retired Americans are currently covered by pension plans in imminent danger of insolvency.” Link & Comments ********** Teamster Beat 
The NLRB has issued a complaint against Teamsters Local 455 for “violating workers’ fundamental rights.” It all started late last year when Francisco Manjarrez began speaking to his coworkers about a decertification vote. As a refresher, if 30 percent of a unionized workforce signs a petition stating they no longer want union representation, a decertification vote must be held. Manjarrez had been working to gather the signatures when Local 455 officials threatened Manjarrez and the other workers who signed the petition with “the loss of their benefits, discharge and a lawsuit.” The charges against the local came just weeks after the NLRB issued two other decisions against the union for failure to represent and for lying to workers about the connection between their dues and promotions. The hearing against Local 455 over the new charges is scheduled for May 1. It’s for reasons like this one that membership numbers of the once mighty Teamsters organization have dwindled from about 2.1 million at their peak to 1.4 million today. In fact, a large portion of that decrease can be pinpointed to the freight industry, a sector the organization is looking to push into again today; more specifically, global supply chain. Read more about it here. Link & Comments ********** AFL-CIO Headquarters Staff Dwindles In the wake of increasingly lower union member numbers, the mother ship itself is being forced into some changes. Late last month, AFL-CIO headquarters confirmed that it would dismiss “several dozens” of its roughly 400 person staff. Of the workers that remain, a small portion can expect to be furloughed for an undetermined amount of time. Link & Comments ********** Fight for $15 
Michigan State Senator Coleman Young II
Source: National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation
South Carolina and North Carolina hold the seats of states with the lowest unionization percentages at 1.6% and 3.0% of private sector workers unionized, respectively. Link & Comments ********** Longshoremen Union Out of Step with Membership 
ILA President Harold Daggett
Auto Workers After nine months, the Honeywell lockout has finally come to an end. 300 workers at Honeywell International Aerospace in South Bend, Indiana voted on Saturday, February 25 to ratify a five-year contract. The big story here was the concessions pushed through by UAW. Although the workers rejected a couple of early concession-laden agreements, at the end of the day they had no choice – the UAW could do nothing further for them. Link & Comments ********** Labor Around the World The CETA trade deal between Canada and the European Union made some headway last week when the European Parliament voted to approve it. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) would eliminate 98% of the tariffs between Canada and the EU. This has been a controversial agreement. You can read more about the arguments against it here. 
The effects of Brexit still loom on the auto industry. Ford is the latest carmaker looking for ways to mitigate the slowing growth in Europe, not to mention the anxiety over tariffs as their current business structure involves moving components freely between mainland Europe and the U.K. The company initiated labor talks with one of their plant earlier this month. We’re seeing a steady growth in Chinese manufacturers setting up factories in the U.S. Part of this has to do with economic conditions in China and also because many Chinese companies “have saturated their home market and are looking for elsewhere for growth.” If Trump imposes a hefty tax on imports, we’re likely to see the boom continue here in the U.S. To take a deeper look on China’s economic influence, check out this article on its trade relationship with Africa. Internal relations in Israel’s Labor Party grow increasingly contentious as the election approaches in June. Get more details here. Speaking of elections, Liberal and Labor parliamentarians in Australia continue to struggling reaching an agreement on banning foreign donations to political parties. Link & Comments ********** 
Sticky Fingers Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials:
- Stephen Royer – IAM: $130,870
- Edward Padilla – LIUNA: $168,780
- Takisha Brown Dorsey – FOP: $180,000
- Lon Sullivan – AFGE: $96,809
- Daniel Guthrie – USW: $8,189
- Teresa Adkins – HFIAW: $35,000
- Michael Mathis – BLET: $5,784
http://nlpc.org/index.php?q=union-corruption-update ********** Labor Relations INK is published semi-weekly 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: http://www.LRIonline.com Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, and Meghan Jones 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 older versions of Internet Explorer, read the text version, as the html may not load properly. We recommend upgrading to the latest version.
