By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union Organizing,UnionsAs previously covered by this blog, the U.S. Justice Department has thus far indicted two former UAW officials and two former Chrysler officials in an embezzlement scandal involving the joint UAW-Chrysler training center. Now two classes of Chrysler workers have filed civil lawsuits against both the UAW and Chrysler’s parent, FCA US LLC based on… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingAfter two days of voting in a secret-ballot NLRB election, production and maintenance workers at the Moraine, Ohio Fuyao glass plant rejected the UAW. The final vote tally was 886 “No” votes to 441 “Yes” votes. This is the third major defeat of the UAW among auto manufacturing and auto supplier companies in as many… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingOn October 25, Fuyao Glass America, the UAW and the NLRB reached an election agreement for an NLRB-supervised, secret-ballot election at the Fuyao plant in Moraine, Ohio. Approximately 1,500 Fuyao production and maintenance workers will vote on whether to designate the UAW as their collective bargaining agent. The election is set for Wednesday, November 8… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingOn October 16, the UAW filed a petition to represent approximately 1,500 production and maintenance workers at Fuyao’s glass plant in Moraine, Ohio. Fuyao, a Chinese glass company, supplies Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota from the Moraine plant, which was once a GM auto plant. GM closed the auto plant during the 2008 recession, and… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingBy nearly a 2-to-1 margin, Nissan’s production and maintenance employees at its Canton, Mississippi facility rejected UAW representation. The count was 2,244 “no” votes to 1,307 “yes” votes. The UAW had invested heavily for over six years in trying to convince Nissan’s Mississippi workers to vote “yes.” Through demonstrations and rallies featuring actor Danny Glover,… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn July 16, the UAW and Nissan entered into a Stipulated Election Agreement with the NLRB. Under the Agreement, the UAW agreed that only the production and maintenance workers employed directly by Nissan would be able to vote. The Agreement excludes from the bargaining unit “temporary employees” and “contract employees,” and specifically excludes those workers… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn July 10, the UAW filed a NLRB Petition for Election to represent all of the production and maintenance workers at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi manufacturing facility. The facility has over 6,500 workers. The petition could not only include the production and maintenance workers employed directly by Nissan, but also include contract workers employed by Kelly… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn October 23, the UAW filed an NLRB election petition to represent about 165 skilled maintenance workers at VW’s Chattanooga plant. This petition for a union vote comes 20 months after the UAW lost a union election to represent all of the production and maintenance workers at the VW facility. Following the 2014 election loss,… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Liz Cramer on Posted in Management,Union OrganizingA federal appellate court recently reigned-in the NLRB’s attempt to limit an employer’s response to union activity. The case, Intertape Polymer Corp., previously covered on this blog, arose in the context of a union organizing drive. As discussed in our prior post, the NLRB decided that the employer engaged in unlawful employee surveillance, confiscation of… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingThe last several years have seen significant decisions benefiting unions announced around Labor Day. This year was no different. There was the more easily satisfied joint employer test and a decision allowing dues checkoff provisions in a union contract to survive the expiration of that contract. (More on that development coming soon!) Add to these a new guidance memorandum (pdf) from… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingA recent decision from the NLRB is a good reminder that employer statements during union organizing activity have potentially wide-ranging effects. This latest case involves Purple Communications, a provider of sign language interpreters who facilitate real-time, two-way phone communication between hearing-impaired and hearing individuals. The union filed objections after suffering narrow election defeats at two… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Nelson Cary and Christina Otero* The United Steelworkers union lost an election at a tape manufacturing facility, with 97 votes for and 142 votes against the union. During the campaign, however, the employer confiscated union literature from the employees’ break room and engaged in surveillance of employees’ union activities. For these transgressions, a majority… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Just before the NLRB hearing about the UAW objections to the VW election was to start, the UAW withdrew its objections to its 712-626 defeat in the February 2014 election. Thus, the UAW ended its legal battle to overturn the election results. The UAW stated that pursing its objections would take months… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer On March 10, 2014, the NLRB Acting Regional Director issued an order allowing two groups of VW workers opposed to the UAW and an another organization to intervene in a hearing on the UAW’s effort to have its election defeat set aside. After the UAW’s 712-626 defeat at Volkswagen, the UAW filed objections… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Seeking to set aside its loss, the UAW filed formal objections to the VW election with the NLRB. The UAW alleges interference with the NLRB election process by third parties. The UAW requests that the NLRB set aside its 712-626 loss in the February 14 election and conduct another secret-ballot election. The UAW has until… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer By a vote of 712 to 626, the VW workers in Chattanooga rejected UAW representation. The defeat leaves the UAW in a precarious state. The UAW was hoping to use a victory at VW as momentum for its campaigns at Nissan in Canton, Mississippi, and at Mercedes Benz in Vance, Alabama. Instead, the UAW finds… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Voting begins at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 12, and the polls close at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, February 14. By 11:00 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Chattanooga will know whether the UAW has been certified as the exclusive union representing the Volkswagen workers at its Chattanooga plant. VW has done a lot for… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Between February 12 and 14, the polls will be open for the workers at Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga to decide whether they want to be represented by the UAW in a secret-ballot election. Much is at stake for the UAW, the VW workers, and the Chattanooga community. For the UAW, this is the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBEarlier this year, the Acting General Counsel met with the Practice and Procedure Committee of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. This meeting is an annual undertaking. The AGC answered questions the Committee collected from labor law practitioners around the country. Earlier this month, the AGC released a memorandum (pdf) summarizing the questions that… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBWith the effective date of the NLRB’s new election rules now less than 48 hours away, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel (AGC) continues his implementation efforts. On Thursday, the AGC issued a memorandum (pdf) to the various regional offices of the NLRB containing additional information interpreting the new rule. It also contains implementation instructions for the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBThe NLRB published a final rule on the election process late last year. In doing so, however, the final rule left out a number of changes to the election process that were originally proposed in June 2011. For example, there were proposed changes to the requirements to provide lists of employee names and contact information after… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBThe NLRB has announced that it will hold an open meeting on July 18, 2011 to consider input from interested parties about its recently proposed rule on the election process. The meeting will take place at the NLRB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. and will begin at 9 a.m. Those interested in attending, or making a presentation, must notify… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in EFCA,NLRBIt is only Wednesday, and yet the week has still been a tough one for employers concerned about union-related issues. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed a new interpretation regarding persuader activity. Then yesterday, the NLRB announced a proposed rule that will significantly change, and likely accelerate, the union election process. The official publication of the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBA supervisor gives a pro-union petition to her subordinates and asks them to sign it. Not surprisingly, some of them do so. The supervisor then remains actively involved in the organizing campaign. She speaks at union meetings and wears union insignia. In the secret ballot election the NLRB conducts, the union wins the majority of the votes… Continue Reading
