Annual Labor Law Conference attendees told
Law tilts against unions, but labor can’t give up fight
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Over 230 people packed the International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers Local 48 hall Feb. 1 for the 11th Annual Oregon
Labor Law Conference, and yet there was hardly a labor lawyer in
the room. That’s because the conference is about teaching labor
law to folks in unions who need to know it — union reps and
elected leaders whose job is to defend members.
In a day’s worth of legal workshops, they learned that workers
have muscular laws to defend them if they are cheated of breaks or
overtime pay or discriminated against on the basis of race, gender,
religion, disability. But if they get fired for trying to unionize their
workplace … good luck to them.
The conference is a labor of love for IBEW Local 48’s staff at-
torney, Norm Malbin, who sees it as a way to empower the wider
labor movement with legal knowledge. No speakers are paid, and
yet it draws prominent trainers. Highlights included a vision of
how different things could be if states could pass stronger labor re-
lations laws; a candid update from the National Labor Relations
Board’s top regional official; a walk through recent court rulings
from an attorney who’s normally a union adversary; and a cata-
logue of the last year’s legislative achievements from the Oregon
Senate Majority Leader.
“The National Labor Relations Act, that great bell of freedom
for my father’s generation, has failed,” declared Henry Drum-
monds, professor of law at Lewis & Clark Law School. “It doesn’t
protect the worker’s right to concerted action. It boxes the worker
in. It confines the union. And it unlevels the playing field.”
The NLRA is supposed to protect workers’ rights to organize
and bargain collectively. But unlike most other landmark federal
laws, the NLRA “pre-empts” state legislatures from going any far-
ther. Instead of setting a federal “floor” like the laws that created
the minimum wage, overtime, or occupational safety protections,
the NLRA sets a federal ceiling that states can’t exceed, and that
so-called “right to work” states can lower.
So it’s no accident, Drummonds argued, that state and local
public sector unions are flourishing — the NLRA doesn’t apply to
public workers, so states have been free to pass laws that make it
easier for public sector workers to unionize. Imagine, Drummonds
said, if states could pass laws more favorable to private-sector
unions — banning so-called “permanent replacement” of strikers,
forbidding employers from holding mandatory-attendance anti-
union meetings, giving union organizers equal access to workers
at the workplace, or providing real penalties for employers who
fire workers for supporting a union.
Richard Ahearn, Seattle regional director of National Labor Re-
lations Board, didn’t take issue with the description of recent
NLRB legal decisions in the packet that introduced him: that
they’ve been diminishing “already pathetic remedies” for workers’
rights violations, and that they are known for “astonishing delays,”
like the workers who were awarded backpay last year because
they were illegally denied reinstatement — in 1990! Instead,
Ahearn took partipicants through the practicalities of decisions
that make it harder for employers to voluntarily recognize unions,
easier for employers to refuse to hire pro-union workers sent in by
the union, and denying union rights to workers who supervise oth-
ers even partially.
For the third year in a row, Malbin was able to get manage-
ment-side attorney Rick Liebman to speak. Liebman, a partner in
the Barran Liebman law firm, is the only management attorney to
have spoken, though, as he pointed out, sometimes he works for
unions too, because unions are themselves employers. Liebman
delivered an update on recent employment law court decisions.
At least things are getting better in state law, said Oregon Sen-
ate Majority Leader Kate Brown (D-Portland), a former family
law attorney and a classmate of Malbin’s in law school. It was the
first time Brown accepted the invitation to speak at the conference,
and she had a lot to report.
Last year, for the first time in over a decade, Democrats con-
trolled the Oregon House, Senate, and governor’s office. Brown’s
list of the pro-worker laws passed last year left her almost out of
breath: a ban on employment discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation; the right of nursing mothers to unpaid breaks for ex-
pressing milk; time off work for crime victims to get restraining
orders; a ban on golden parachutes for top school officials; making
safety a mandatory subject of bargaining for firefighters; prohibit-
ing “non-compete” contracts for low-level employees; extending
unemployment benefits to all workers locked out in labor disputes;
and more. It was a very successful legislative session for labor,
Brown said, and even more progress is likely in 2009.
Labor Bowl for MDA April 27
The 19th annual Labor Bowl Challenge to benefit the Muscu-
lar Dystrophy Association (MDA) will be held Sunday, April 27,
from 1 to 4 p.m. at Cascade Lanes, 2700 NE 82nd Ave., Portland.
Registration starts at noon.
Portland area labor unions have collected $276,041 for the
charity since its inception. Money raised from pledges and a silent
auction helps provide wheelchairs and braces for youngsters,
medical care, research and summer camps.
Pledge packets are available at the Northwest Oregon Labor
Council or by calling Tor at MDA at 503-223-3177.
For more information, call Kelly Pendell, a member of Letter
Carriers Branch 82 and coordinator of the event, at 503-493-5903.
Karl Bik, Co-Chairman
Cement Masons Trust Funds for Northern California
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FEBRUARY 15, 2008
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
©2007 Union Bank of California, N.A. Member FDIC
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