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In This Issue

1. ORGANIZING
   
   
2. STRIKES & LABOR DISPUTES
   
   
3. MAJOR CONTRACT SETTLEMENTS & NEGOTIATIONS
   
   
4. ADMINISTRATIVE & COURT DECISIONS
   
   
5. LEGISLATION & POLITICS
   
   
6. MISCELLANEOUS
   
   
7. UPCOMING EVENTS
   
   
8. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

1. ORGANIZING

• The Communications Workers of America, the UNI Global Union federation, and the German-based ver.di union filed a complaint with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Germany, alleging that Deutsche Telekom AG (T-Mobile USA’s parent company) violated OECD guidelines by campaigning to undermine U.S. employees’ efforts to join a union. In their complaint, the unions urged OECD to investigate the issues and ensure that Deutsche Telekom AG allows all of its workers, globally, to participate in union activities.

• Employees at Ikea’s Swedwood furniture manufacturing plant in Danville, VA voted 221-69 in favor of representation by the International Association of Machinists (IAM). The employees had been working with IAM to form a union since 2009 — only several months after IKEA opened the plant, its first in the United States.

• Unions are using telephone town hall meetings to communicate with members over many issues, including collective bargaining negotiations, political elections, and legislative issues. Unions have also been using these virtual meetings for outreach, organizing, soliciting volunteers, or for union officials to poll members’ attitudes. This new technology allows thousands of members to participate at one time.

• 240 employees of six H&M stores in the New York City area voted in favor of representation by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, Local 888 (affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers), through a card check procedure. These employees join 1,200 H&M employees in Manhattan who voted to unionize in 2007.

• A new report released July 25, 2011, finds Asian American and Pacific Islander workers now make up one of the fastest-growing groups in the unionized workforce. The report, Diversity and Change: Asian American and Pacific Islander Workers 2011, conducted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Center for Labor Research and Education at UCLA, found the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workforce is 20 times larger today than it was in 1960, making up 5.3% of the total U.S. workforce. In 2010, 1:20 U.S. union members were AAPI, up from 1:40 20 years ago. Although AAPI workers are one of the fastest growing shares in the unionized workforce, the percentage of AAPI workers in a union has been falling for decades, as has the unionization rates for all U.S. workers.

• A certification application by the United Food & Commercial Workers Canada to represent employees of Wal-Mart Canada Corp.’s store in Windsor, Ontario, as well as unfair labor practice complaints filed by each side related to the certification process, was rejected by the Ontario Labor Relations Board on July 21, 2011. The application was denied on the grounds that the six-year delay since the organizing drive eliminated any labor relation purpose to continue the litigation.

• The National Mediation Board (NMB) extended the certification of the IAM as the bargaining agent for workers at pre-merger United Airlines to the comparable class of 1,035 stock clerks at United Continental Holdings Inc. In doing so, NMB rejected the Company’s request to hold an election, stating that no other union had presented authorization cards, as required, to contest IAM’s application. For NMB to hold an election, another union would have needed to submit cards showing support from at least 35% of the combined workforce.

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2. STRIKES & LABOR DISPUTES

• Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) voted to give union leaders authorization to call a strike against Verizon Communications Inc., if a fair contract cannot be reached. Negotiations between IBEW and CWA and Verizon have been ongoing since June and cover some 55,000 wireline employees in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The contracts are set to expire August 6, 2011.

• Hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE staged protests against Hyatt Hotels and what the union contends is back-breaking workload increases for “housekeepers.” The protests took place in nine cities in what UNITE HERE described as a “national day of housekeeping action.” The union also contends that Hyatt has eliminated jobs, replaced career housekeepers with minimum wage temporary workers, in addition to imposing dangerous workloads. A Hyatt spokesperson expressed confusion over the protest. In March, Hyatt agreed to sign the same contract as the one adopted by Hilton Hotels Corp., Starwood Hotels, and Resorts Worldwide Inc. and give workers one year back pay.

• Honeywell International Inc. and the United Steelworks union agreed to end a one-year lockout at its specialty chemicals facility in Metropolis, IL. With the agreement, 230 employees represented by USW Local 7-669 will return to their jobs. Additionally, the parties reached a tentative three-year bargaining agreement. The lockout began on June 28, 2010, when the parties hit an impasse over overtime pay while negotiating a new agreement.

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3. MAJOR CONTRACT SETTLEMENTS &
   NEGOTIATIONS

• United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler Group LLC began labor contract bargaining the week of July 25 to renegotiate their national master agreements which are set to expire September 14, 2011. These meetings are the first formal talks since the 2009 government-aided bankruptcy reorganizations of GM and Chrysler. The UAW announced that its priorities this year include seeking investment commitments to maintain and expand job opportunities, raise standards for new hires and temporary and contingent workers, and to resist healthcare cost-shifting to employees and seek longer periods of company paid healthcare for laid-off workers. As a condition of the federal bailout, workers at GM and Chrysler do not have the right to strike, nor can companies lockout workers.

• United Nurses & Allied Professionals, an independent union, representing more than 2,200 registered nurses and other professional employees at a Rhode Island Hospital, ratified a four-year contract guaranteeing job security for workers with more than five years of service. Additionally, the contract includes: incremental yearly wage increases for employees at step 10 or above; reductions to vacation accruals, overtime payments, tuition reimbursement; increases in co-payments for prescription drugs; and a guarantee that employee premium contributions for health insurance will not increase for the duration of the contract.

• A three-year labor contract between the members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 212 and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York in Buffalo, NY was ratified on July 13, 2011, following a 12-week lockout. The contract covers 350 employees and includes, a 5% wage increase over term, a $2,500 lump-sum bonus and maintains benefits.

• The leaders of the NFL Players Association voted to recommend a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and settlement to the players in an antitrust class action against the league, which was subsequently approved by the players and NFL team owners. The settlement ends the league’s lockout, saving the 2011 football season.

• The United Auto Workers Local 2110 and the Village Voice ratified a new three-year contract. Employees will maintain full healthcare benefits with no employee contribution to the insurance premium and employer matching of funds to employees’ 401(k) accounts. Employees will also receive wage increases of $25 per week in each year of the contract. In exchange for the wage increases, employees agreed to forgo the employer’s 3% up-front contributions to 401(k) accounts provided under the previous contract.

• A five-and-a-half year CBA between members of the United Mine Workers (UMW) and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. was ratified July 13, 2011. The contract is “substantially the same” as the agreement between UMW and the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) that was ratified last month. Although they do not work for BCOA, UMW workers at Alpha Natural Resources Inc. voted to ratify the agreement between UMW and BCOA and additional mining companies were given the opportunity to sign onto the contract—Alpha was the first to do so. The contract guarantees a wage increase by $1 per hour per year, healthcare will be preserved with no cuts or added costs and the pensions for current and future retirees is preserved.

• The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) ratified a three-and-a-half year contract with major video game companies. The contract includes the first-ever “streaming” payment to performers in the form of a new cloud gaming fee. Cloud gaming allows users to play a video game while connected to the cloud — without purchasing the game. The contract provides for every principal performer engaged in a video game made available on a streaming service will be paid an additional one-time payment of 15% of the initial session fee paid. Additionally, the contract includes a 3% increase in all minimum compensation over the life of the contract and a 0.5% increase in contributions to the AFTRA health and retirement fund.

• Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and the Air Line Pilots Association, the unions representing pilots of Southwest Airlines and Air Tran Airways, reached an agreement, in principle, on a transition plan and how the carriers will combine their seniority lists. The seniority lists governs how Air Tran pilots will be incorporated into Southwest’s seniority list — which determines pay, schedules, and days off. Importantly, the union and company negotiating teams accomplished this task without resorting to arbitration.

• New York state reached an agreement on a five-year contract with the state’s second-largest union of state employees, Public Employees Federation. The agreement, which covers a unit of 54,000 white-collar state employees, follows the pattern set one month earlier with the state’s largest union, the Civil Service Employees Association. Under the tentative contract, base pay would be frozen for three years with 2% increases in the last two years of the contract and job security from layoffs provided for two years. In exchange, the contract raises the amount employees pay for health insurance premiums. The contract must be approved by the state legislature and the rank-and-file members of the union.

• Local 1168 of the Communications Workers of America and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East announced that their members ratified a two-year contract with Kaleida Health. The contract covers 8,000 workers at five hospitals, as well as a number of freestanding clinics and skilled nursing homes in Buffalo, NY. Although Kaleida sought $100 million in cuts, in benefits, and a wage freeze, the unions were able to negotiate a wage increase and retain current benefits for workers. Additionally, workers will retain their pensions and maintain their healthcare coverage with “virtually no new cost shifting.”

• Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 ratified a three-year master contract with Ride Aid Corp. covering 2,600 workers at 190 stores in Pennsylvania. The contract provides wage increases and maintains current pension benefits, but requires increased employee contributions toward health insurance premiums. This master contract also merges three separate labor agreements that covered Philadelphia, PA: Reading, PA: and northeastern PA.

• Members of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, Communications Workers of America Local 32035 ratified a two-year contract with the Washington Post. The contract covers 920 news and commercial employees and provides a $13 per week wage increase in the first year of the contract, a $500 signing bonus for full-time workers and a $350 bonus for part-time workers who work less than 30 hours per week. After the first year, full-time employees receive a $1,200 lump sum payment, while part-time employees receive an $800 lump sum payment. The new contract also increases severance benefits for union workers whose jobs are outsourced — including at least three weeks of severance for each year worked. Retirement benefits were also increased.

• The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace Local 2001 in Wichita, KS rejected a 9.5 year contract offer from Spirit Aerosystems Inc. 2,350 technical and professional workers at Spirit are represented by the union. The union stated that the company’s offer sought “large concessions from employees,” froze wages for a decade, and “ignored proven methods for harnessing medical costs.” The members did not vote on strike authorization and the union expressed eagerness to return to the bargaining table.

• Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) voted to reject tentative four-year contracts with Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) that would have covered roughly 3,000 employees at the company’s Allegheny Ludlum stainless steel plaint in Brackenridge, PA and their titanium operations in Albany, OR. The mail ballot ratification vote showed the agreement was rejected by a vote of 1,358 to 824. USW said retirees concerned about their increased healthcare premiums lobbied active members to vote against the agreement.

• Analysis of bargaining data compiled by BNA through July 25, 2011, for all settlements showed an increase of 1.4% in the average first-year wage increase from the comparable period of 2010, which showed a 1.5% increase. The median first-year increase for settlements reported to date in 2011 was 1%, compared with 1.5% for 2010; the weighted average was 1.3% compared with 1.6% in 2010. When lump-sum payments were factored into wage calculations, the all-settlements average first-year wage increase to date in 2011 was 1.7%, compared with 1.9% in the comparable period of 2010. Median increase was 1.5% in 2011, as opposed to 1.9% in 2010; the weighted average was 1.9% versus 2.4%. Of the contracts reported to date in 2011, 43% called for a first-year wage freeze, 27% called for increases of up to 2%, 23% called for increases between 2% and 4%, and the remaining 7% called for increases of more than 4%.

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4. ADMINISTRATIVE & COURT DECISIONS

• In a recent memoranda to NLRB Regional offices, the NLRB Division of Advice concluded that employees who post complaints about their employment on Facebook or other social media sites may not be protected from disciplinary action, even if their complaints are job-related. In the three cases reviewed, employees who were fired or disciplined for posting job-related complaints asserted that their employers’ actions violated Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA. The NRLB Division of Advice concluded in each case, the online comments were individual grievances or gripes, rather than concerted complaints, and the NRLA did not protect the workers against disciplinary action. In re JT’s Porch Saloon & Eatery Ltd.; Martin House; Wal-Mart. For more information on this topic, click here to see Winston & Strawn LLP’s recent client briefing on these memoranda.

• Reversing a finding by an administrative law judge, the NLRB found that Peterbilt Motors Co.’s refusal to hand over wage and benefits information requested by the United Auto Workers did not materially affect the stalled negotiations and therefore did not make the lockout at the truck manufacturer’s Nashville, TN plant unlawful. The NLRB also overturned the administrative law judge’s ruling ordering Peterbilt to compensate employees for wages during the lockout period. The plant has been permanently closed since April 2009 when negotiations over a 2008 CBA were officially stalled. Peterbilt Motors Co.’s.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit revived a previously dismissed lawsuit filed by ABF Freight against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and rival trucking company YRC Worldwide over allegations that IBT and YRC violated a national CBA when they negotiated concessionary amendments to the contract due to YRC’s dire financial situation. The case was dismissed earlier by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in December 2010 on the grounds that ABF did not have standing to bring the action and that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear it. The Eighth Circuit found ABF did have constitutional standing with regard to IBT because the interim agreement between the union and employer specified that ABF would become a party to the new NNMFA and would implement its work conditions. ABF Freight Sys. Inc. v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters.

• In a 2-1 split decision, the Eighth Circuit determined that the Norris-LaGuardia Act deprived a district court of jurisdiction to enjoin the NFL from continuing to lockout its players during the negotiation of its CBA. The circuit court stated that the district court lacked jurisdiction in the case because it concerns the terms or conditions of the players’ employment and therefore “involve[es] or grow[s] out of a labor dispute” under the Norris-LaGuardia Act. In March, a group of players filed a complaint in federal district court claiming that the NFL’s planned lockout would amount to a group boycott and price-fixing agreement in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as state contract and tort law. Brady v. National Football League.

• The Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board ruled, 2-1, against unfair labor practices complaints filed against Wal-Mart Canada Corp., by the United Food and Commercial Workers. The union had alleged illegal efforts to block organizing at the company’s outlet in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. The Labor Board also upheld an application by Wal-Mart employees seeking a vote to decertify the union. UFCW has applied for judicial review of the labor board ruling, which is scheduled to be heard August 11, 2011. United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1400 v. Wal-Mart Canada Corp.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the NLRB’s ruling that an International Union of Operating Engineers local did not violate federal labor law when it fined and expelled a Michigan member, David Williamson, who was hired as a labor consultant. Williamson was hired by the start-up firm, Hydro Excavating, to determine which unions could claim jurisdiction over the excavation work and to identify those that would offer the most cost-effective labor terms if they represented the employees performing the work. In denying Williamson’s petition for review of the NLRB’s decision, the court stated that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) did not prohibit the Operating Engineers Local 324 from taking action against Williamson. Specifically, the court stated that Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the NLRA prohibits union coercion of an employer “in the selection of his representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining or the adjustment of grievances,” however, the NLRB had “a rationale basis to conclude that information-gathering is qualitatively different from the activities Section 8(b)(1)(B) protects.” Williamson v. NLRB.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the general counsel for the NLRB may be assigned the authority to file petitions seeking injunctive relief. In the matter before the court, an NLRB administrative law judge determined that a Hawaii-based hotel had engaged in various unfair labor practices. The Regional Director of the NLRB sought and was granted an injunction against the hotel. The petition had been approved by the Board’s general counsel, but not by the NLRB itself. The Ninth Circuit panel disagreed with the hotel’s interpretation of Section 10(j) of the NLRA, stating that the law does not specify the level of involvement the Board must have in each petition for injunction. Although the underlying NLRB proceeding remains pending, the Court affirmed the injunction on the merits. Fankl v. HTH Corp., et al.

• Citing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s deference to tribal sovereignty, an Oklahoma federal district court granted the Chickasaw Nation’s request for a preliminary injunction, on July 11, barring the NLRB from hearing charges by International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 886 that a casino controlled by the tribe violated the rights of employees under federal law. In granting the injunction, the court rejected the argument that it lacked jurisdiction to enjoin an unfair labor proceeding. The court said that if the appellate court decides the NLRB is empowered to enforce the NLRA against tribal entities, the NLRB will be free to resume processing the charges. In December 2010 Local 886 filed unfair labor practices charges against the casino alleging that it interrogated employees about union activities, prohibited solicitation of employees on behalf of the union, and engaged in unlawful surveillance. Chickasaw Nation v. NLRB.

• Regis Corp., which owns franchises or holds ownership interests in more than 12,000 beauty and hair salons, has agreed to a NLRB settlement requiring Regis to post NLRB notices at approximately 6,500 facilities across the United States and to produce and distribute a new DVD that will show an NLRB agent introducing and then reading the entire text of the NLRB remedial notice. In addition, the agreement awards back pay to two employees that claimed they were subjected to discrimination due to resisting company use of secret vote agreements. This agreement resolves unfair labor practices charges against Regis Corp. alleging that it pressured employees in late 2009 not to sign union authorization cards and required employees to watch a DVD titled “Union Awareness,” which encouraged employees to sign agreements that would limit the effect of any authorization cards they signed in the future. Regis Corp.

• UNITE HERE, in a settlement reached with Sutter Health, agreed to pay $6 million to the hospital and to apologize for sending false and disparaging postcards to potential hospital patients alleging that the hospital chain’s linens were dirty and germ-laden. The settlement ends six years of litigation and comes almost a year after a state appellate court overturned a $17 million jury award to Sutter Health because of faulty jury instructions. In this case, the union’s primary dispute was with Angelica, an industrial laundry that provides linens to hospitals across Northern California, including Sutter hospitals, and employed more than 2,500 workers represented by UNITE HERE. In conjunction with a nationwide campaign in 2003 to organize workers at Angelica’s commercial laundries, the union investigated and found that Angelica’s physical facilities were not in compliance with health and safety regulations. UNITE HERE sent its report to many of Angelica’s customers, including Sutter Health, after the hospital refused to meet with union representatives to discuss the union’s labor dispute. In 2005, Sutter Health sued UNITE HERE for defamation, trade libel and intentional interference with prospective economic relations. Sutter Health v. UNITE HERE.

• The California Supreme Court ruled, 6-1, that a Los Angeles city ordinance requiring purchasers of large grocery stores to employ the prior owner’s employees for 90 days is not preempted by the NLRA or the California Retail Food Code. The court found that the NLRA does not preempt the ordinance because there was no evidence of Congress’s affirmative intent to “leave the subject of employee retention unregulated by states and municipalities.” Furthermore, the ordinance does not interfere with union activities or the collective bargaining process. The court also found that the ordinance was not preempted by California Retail Food Code because it did not overlap with the Code by imposing substantive food safety standards. Cal. Grocers Ass’n v. Los Angeles.

• The National Labor Relations Board held that Local 509 of the Laborers’ International Union’s promise that its employees would not have to pay union dues that their former employer did not deduct from their pay amounted to an improperly granted benefit that interfered with an employee vote on decertifying the union. The NLRB’s decision was based on the timing of the announcement which occurred shortly before the employees voted on a petition to decertify the union. Go Ahead N. Am. LLC.

• In two separate rulings, an administrative law judge recommended a new election be held on representation for 43,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in California and roughly 400 medical social workers at 37 Kaiser facilities after finding unlawful conduct by one union in the two-union race for representation between National Union of Healthcare Workers and United Healthcare Workers-West. The ALJ found that United Healthcare Workers-West, a local of the Service Employees International Union, interfered with the unit employees’ free and un-coerced choice in the election when it disseminated warnings that Kaiser was likely to unlawfully withhold wage increases and other benefits from employees, as it was found to have done in 2009. The United Healthcare Workers West is considering an appeal. Kaiser Found. Health Plan. Permanente Med. Group.

• A Virginia federal judge denied a motion to dismiss, filed by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), in a matter brought by food services company Sodexo Inc. Sodexo alleged the union violated the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by attempting to extort company management into allowing 80,000 hourly employees to unionize. In doing so, the company alleged the SEIU tried to circumvent the NLRB’s traditional unionization/election process. Sodexo Ind. v. Service Employees International Union, et al.

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5. LEGISLATION & POLITICS

• Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed the Fair and Open Competition in Governmental Construction Act (S.B. 165) into law, preventing government entities from entering into construction contracts that either discourage bidders from entering into collective bargaining agreements or discriminate against bidders who refuse to participate in labor agreements. Specifically, the act prohibits references to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) in bid specifications or other “controlling documents” related to public projects and would prohibit government entities from using PLAs as a condition for grants or tax credits. Gov. Snyder stated that the new law would encourage competition and give “everyone an equal opportunity to compete for jobs.”

• Linda Puchala took over as chairman of the three-member panel of the National Mediation Board. The NMB regulates labor-management relations at nearly 500 railroads and 100 airlines under the Railway Labor Act. Puchala succeeds fellow Democrat Harry Hoglander. This is Puchala’s first three-year term, she initially chaired the board from May 2009 until June 30, 2009 when she completed the term of her predecessor.

• In a 238-183 vote, the House defeated a floor amendment to a fiscal year 2012 spending measure (H.R. 2354) that would have prevented the application of the Davis-Bacon Act requirements for federal energy and water projects. The Davis-Bacon Act requires contractors to pay workers a prevailing wage, determined by the Labor Department, for projects that are valued at less than $20 million and are funded by H.R. 2354. With a vote of 219-196, the House passed the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act without the amendment.

• The NLRB denied requests by three Republican senators and nine associations to postpone a public meeting, which subsequently took place July 18 in Washington, D.C., on the Board’s proposal to amend its representation case regulations. The proposed rules would streamline litigation and limit the availability of Board review in representation cases by allowing the Board to conduct representation elections in a shorter period of time after the filing of a petition for a secret ballot election. Senators and associations had requested a postponement in order to submit written comments on the proposed changes. The Board stated that parties unable to attend the hearing could file written comments by August 22, 2011. In further response to Board’s proposed amendments, on July 27, 2011, Senator Jim DeMint and six co-sponsors proposed S. 1425, the “Fair Representation in Elections Act” that would amend the NLRA and prevent the NLRB from conducting an election to resolve a question of union representation of workers less than 40 calendar days after the Board received a petition for such an election. The proposed Act would also require the Board to provide at least 14 days notice before conducting a pre-election hearing on representation case issues.

• Stating that NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Soloman has not satisfied requests for documents concerning the unfair labor practice complaint against Boeing Co., the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will consider the use of “compulsory process” if the documents are not turned over within two weeks (by July 26, 2011). Soloman has submitted some documentation to the Committee, but has resisted handing over some case-related documents on the grounds that it “could seriously compromise the litigation and result in an unfair advantage to one litigant over the other.” The Committee’s inquiries concern the NLRB unfair labor practice complaint alleging Boeing unlawfully established an additional assembly line for the production of 787 aircrafts at a nonunion plant in South Carolina in order to retaliate against union workers in a Washington state plant.

• Also related to the Boeing matter, the House Education and Workforce Committee approved a federal labor law amendment, a substitute version of “Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act” (H.R. 2587), in a vote along party lines. The amendment, aimed at blocking the NLRB from ordering Boeing Co. to restore jetliner production to Washington state, will strip the NLRB of authority to order or seek an employer’s restoration or reinstatement of work or business activity as a remedy for an employer’s unfair labor practices.

• Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois signed H.B. 2987, the Illinois Project Labor Agreement Act (Public Act 97-0199) into law on July 27, 2011. This new law promotes the use of project labor agreements on state public works projects, creating specific participation for minority and female workers and fair-bidding provisions for minority- and women-owned businesses. The Act codifies Quinn’s previous Executive Order 2010-3, issued March 31, 2010, that required state departments under governor control to include PLAs on certain state-funded construction projects.

• The reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration is being obstructed mainly by disagreements over a change to representation election procedures for airline workers — based on policy objections from Delta Air Lines. Delta objects to a National Mediation Board rule promulgated last year that makes it easier for airline employees to unionize. This rule requires only a simply majority of votes to be case in favor of unionization for a union to be certified as representative of a bargaining unit. The House version of a four-year FAA reauthorization bill (H.R. 658), which passed in April, contains a provision that would repeal the rule, while a Senate version of the bill (S. 223), passed in February, does contain the provision. The differences between the versions are to be resolved in a conference committee.

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6. MISCELLANEOUS

• John C. Truesdale, the longtime executive secretary of the National Labor Relations Board, died of cancer at the age of 89. Truesdale served in multiple top NLRB posts, including as a member of the board four times over a 20-year period, and as chairman of the agency.

• Joseph Nigro, the general secretary-treasurer of the Sheet Metal Workers since 2006, succeeded Michael Sullivan as general president of the union. Nigro follows Michael Sullivan, who was the union’s president for the last 12 years. Joseph Sellers, the business manager of the Philadelphia-based Sheet Metal Workers Local 9, was elected as general secretary-treasurer.

• Communications Workers of America (CWA) delegates re-elected President Larry Cohen to a third term, and elected Annie Hill to the secretary-treasurer position, formerly held by Jeff Rechenbach. In an effort to save costs, Hill’s former position as executive vice president was eliminated, under a change to the CWA constitution approved by CWA delegates. CWA plans to continue to focus on strategies for building the union through local leadership and strategic industries funds such as its “Speed Matters” campaign, which promotes affordable high-speed internet for all Americans. CWA’s organizing priority for 2011 includes T-Mobile USA.

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7. UPCOMING EVENTS

• August 29-31, 2011
  Winston Sponsors and Labor Attorneys Speak at 2011 PIHRA Conference Speaking Engagement

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8. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

• NLRB Division of Advice Finds No Protection for Some Employees Complaints Posted on Social Media Sites. Briefing

• IRS Increases Mileage Rates for Remainder of 2011. Briefing

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If you have questions about items that appeared in this bulletin, or would like to learn more about any of these topics, please contact William Miossi at (202) 282-5708 or (312) 558-6109, or one of the other Labor & Employment Relations partners listed here:

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