Labor-Management Relations
- NLRB Regional Director Sustains Employer's Decision to Cease Using Union Driver
The Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board in Northern California dismissed an unfair labor practice charge against our client, which manufactures and transports hazardous chemicals. A truck driver had claimed that the company interfered with his rights under the National Labor Relations Act when it declined to use his services to haul its product. This followed a safety meeting, where comments by the employee caused the company to lose confidence in the employee's commitment to safety. The Regional Director of the NLRB agreed that the company's decision was legitimate and not a violation of the law.
- Arbitrator Denies Grievance of Employee Terminated for Workplace Violence
An experienced labor arbitrator found that our client, which owns and operates a refuse recovery plant that converts garbage into energy, had just cause to dismiss an employee for assaulting a fellow worker. The arbitrator rejected all of the union's numerous contentions, including that termination from employment was too severe a punishment for a long-term employee with an acceptable work record. The arbitrator agreed with our client that the employer's obligation to provide a safe workplace outweighed any mitigating factors that favored the employee.
- NLRB Regional Director Upholds Employer's Decision to Consolidate Union Business into a Non-Union Facility
Employers occasionally face obstacles when they implement prudent business decisions that conflict with the interests of union-represented employees. We assisted a Minnesota client in planning for the closing of a unionized facility and transfer of the work into a non-union location in the same city of its Florida business. Following the consolidation of the two locations, the non-union employees outnumbered the transferred unionized employees. The company withdrew recognition of the union, which led to the filing of unfair labor practice charges. After an extensive investigation, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board in Central Florida dismissed the charge after agreeing with us that the consolidation was done for non-discriminatory reasons, the company was entitled to close its union location and continue to operate its non-union facility, and that the union had lost majority support in the surviving, combined workforce.
