Shift break: NLRB punishes Oregon SEIU Local by banning successful organizing tactics

[Omaha Steve]

http://shiftbreak.com/

NLRB punishes Oregon SEIU Local by banning successful organizing tactics
16-May-2007

The National Labor Relations Board in a highly unusual move April 25, banned a Portland OR union from using card checks for union recognition for the next 6 months. Shauna Bello, a spokesperson from SEIU Local 49 and Dmitri Iglitzin, a Seattle labor attorney explain the implications of the NLRB action.
(05:13 Minutes)

http://www.shiftbreak.com/podcasts/shiftbreak1_2007-05-16.mp3 Download (1.19 MB)

[Solo_in_MD]

1. Any rationale as to why?

[Omaha Steve]

2. The NLRB is controled by Bush appointees

Get my point?

[Solo_in_MD]

3. Thats your conclusion, not what rationale the NLRB used

[Omaha Steve]

4. SEIU Union Must Abandon “Card Check” Union Organizing

Right to Works opinion: http://www.nrtw.org/b/nr_624.php

SEIU Union Must Abandon “Card Check” Union Organizing Drives in Pacific Northwest After Finding of Rampant Abuse of Employees’ Rights
6,500-large SEIU Local 49 must freeze coercive union organizing tool in midst of its national campaign to make “card check” the law of the land
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Portland, OR (April 24, 2007) – In a symbolic victory for employee free choice, a group of workers aided by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have forced Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 to abandon the coercive “card check” union organizing process in Oregon and Washington for six months because of repeated and widespread abuses by SEIU officials.

Card check union organizing strips workers of the limited protections of a government-supervised secret ballot election, and substitutes a process in which union agents can browbeat workers one-on-one into signing cards that are then counted as “votes” favoring unionization.

The settlement stems from federal unfair labor practice charges filed by Ryan Canney, a Portland-area Siltronics employee, and removes the unwanted union from his workplace Somers Building Maintenance –Siltronic (SBM). It also requires SEIU union officials to inform workers that the company will not bargain with union officials unless the employees so choose through a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) secret ballot election. The settlement also forbids Siltronics from recognizing a union based on a card check count for at least one year.

In October 2006, SEIU Local 49 union officials allegedly tricked Canney and his coworkers into signing “information flyers” that were later counted as votes favoring unionization. Soon after, SBM recognized the SEIU union as the monopoly bargaining agent despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of SBM employees signed two separate petitions to the NLRB – one prior to the SEIU union’s recognition and one after – stating their wish to remain nonunion. Canney also charged that Siltronics overlooked out of date cards, promised benefits, and otherwise deceived and coerced employees into supporting unionization.

“The NLRB has now recognized that SEIU union officials can’t be trusted with card check. Local 49 officials have become notorious for abusing workers’ rights during organizing drives,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “However, if abusive card check organizing becomes the law of the land, workers will suffer abuse at the hands of union organizers on a massive scale.”

Currently, Congress is considering legislation that would mandate card check as the only legal method by which unions could be recognized as representatives of all employees in bargaining units.

Canney’s settlement follows a similar settlement by Karen Mayhew, a Foundation-assisted employee of Kaiser Permanente. Although Mayhew’s settlement successfully removed the unwanted Local 49 union from her workplace, SEIU officials continued abusing employee rights using the card check scheme at other employers in Oregon and Washington State.

Read the NLRB Settlement: http://www.nrtw.org/pdfs/news-release-docs/PortlandSEIUSettlement.pdf


The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting over 250,000 employees in over 200 cases nationwide.

[Omaha Steve]

5. Labor officials tell union to hold off organizing efforts

I found this too.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/business/1177471523189920.xml&coll=7

Labor officials tell union to hold off organizing efforts
Oregon - A settlement over a card-check complaint at Siltronic ends in Local 49's six-month suspension
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
JOE ROJAS-BURKE and BRENT HUNSBERGER

Federal labor officials have forced the Service Employees International Union Local 49 -- one of Oregon's most active labor groups -- to suspend many of its organizing efforts for six months, as part of a legal settlement with a Portland worker who accused the union of violating labor laws.

The settlement highlights the National Labor Relations Board's efforts to exert more control over "card-check" agreements, in which employers may voluntarily recognize a union if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing representation.

With the use of card checks, unions have increasingly bypassed the traditional -- and more arduous -- federal election process that the labor board oversees. The number of petitions for NLRB elections filed by unions declined 26 percent between federal fiscal years 2005 and 2006. Experts say the drop-off largely has resulted from a surge in card-check and similar agreements.

FULL story at link.