Battista jumps NLRB ship to join
largest union-busting law firm
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s long
been an open secret in the labor
movement that the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) under Presi-
dent Bush has been staffed by people
intent on destroying unions and work-
ers’ right to form unions.
Now there’s proof that at least one
member of the Board has been wait-
ing for the right moment to join
forces with those who openly oppose
unions. NLRB Chair Robert Battista
has left to work for Littler Mendel-
son, a notorious union-busting law
firm headquartered in Washington,
D.C. (with offices in 45 major metro-
politan markets.)
Battista has served on the NLRB
since 2002. During his tenure, the Re-
publican-dominated Board has taken
away the rights of so-called supervi-
sory workers to be represented by
unions (Oakwood Health Care case);
banned unions from using workplace
e-mail to communicate with their
members (Eugene-Register Guard);
made it harder to form unions through
majority sign-up; limited the ability
of illegally-fired workers to recover
back pay; and allowed employers to
discriminate against union supporters
in the hiring process.
Battista’s term expired in Decem-
ber. When he was re-nominated by
President Bush in January, Sen. Ed-
ward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman
of the Senate Health, Education, La-
bor and Pensions Committee, blasted
the move.
“It’s unbelievable that President
Bush would renominate Mr. Battista
to the Board after he led the most
anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union
Board in its history,” Kennedy said.
The nomination requires Senate
confirmation. Democrats control the
Senate, and the national AFL-CIO has
been urging Democratic leaders not to
confirm any NLRB nominations until
2009 — when a new president is in
office.
With confirmation going nowhere,
Battista asked Bush to withdraw his
nomination.
Shortly thereafter, Littler Mendel-
son announced that Battista was join-
ing its law firm. They praised Battista
for his influence in “several important
labor law decisions,” listing the Oak-
wood Health Care and Eugene Regis-
ter-Guard cases.
“Now Battista can make money
telling employers how to exploit the
law he helped to weaken in order to
prevent their workers from organiz-
ing,” wrote Erin Johansson on the
blog American Rights At Work.
To illustrate Littler Mendelson’s
disdain for unions, the blog posted a
five-page “Do’s and Don’ts” list the
law firm gives to clients. The Interna-
tional Labor Communications Asso-
ciation, AFL-CIO, went over that list
and selected its favorite recommenda-
tions. They are:
• “Tell employees that there will be
no automatic pay increases, no auto-
matic improvements in fringe benefits,
and no automatic union contract if the
union wins an election. Everything will
depend on what happens in collective
bargaining negotiations.”
• “Explain to employees that they
will be required as union members to
follow the orders of union officials;
they will effectively have another
‘boss.’ “
• “Remind employees that every
person put between you and the person
you are trying to talk to makes it more
difficult to get your point across. Why
not dispense with the middleman and
We support Mike Delman for
Multnomah County Commissioner District 3
talk directly with each other?”
• “Point out the indirect costs of
unionization that you want to avoid:
executive time spent in bargaining ses-
sions; work time of employees spent on
union business; costs of hiring lawyers
and other labor relations experts;
Money spent on such costs obviously
cannot go to the employees in higher
wages.”
• “Emphasize that your employees
are free to vote either for or against the
union. The company will not retaliate
in any way against union supporters;
thus, there is no reason to vote for the
union simply to protect the jobs of open
union adherents.”
The ILCA noted that the union-
backed Employee Free Choice Act
(House Resolution 800 and Senate
Bill 1041), supported by a bipartisan
coalition in Congress, would require
that employers and unions agree on a
first contract within a specific time-
frame or else go to arbitration. And it
would establish stronger penalties for
violation of employee rights when
workers seek to form a union and dur-
ing first-contract negotiations.
Tell AFL-CIO what
you think: Take the
2008 ‘Working
Woman Survey’
If you are a working woman, are
you worried about finding a job that
pays your bills and provides benefits?
Or concerned about the rising cost of
health care? Maybe you’re frustrated
you can’t find time to do your job and
spend time with your family. Or are
you tired of working as hard as your
male counterparts and not getting paid
as much?
The AFL-CIO and Working Amer-
ica’s just-launched online 2008 “Ask a
Working Woman” survey enables you
to share workplace concerns about is-
sues such as equal pay and stronger
family and medical leave laws.
Go to aaww.questionpro.com/ to
take the survey.
G ENE P RONOVOST , J OE D EVLAEMINCK , D ICK S PRINGER ,
G ARY H ANSEN , L ORI R ICE , R.N., UFCW L OCAL 555,
O REGON N URSES A SSOCIATION
And Congratulations, Mike, on your endorsement by the
Multnomah County Corrections Officers Association
Vote for Real Change. Vote for Mike Delman
www.mikedelman.com
MAY 16, 2008
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Helping to stamp out hunger
Retired letter carrier Pat Horne unloads bags of food at the Troutdale
Post Office May 10, part of the National Association of Letter Carriers
one-day “Stamp Out Hunger” national food drive. For the 16th year
in a row, members of Letter Carriers Branch 82 picked up sacks of
non-perishable food while delivering the mail on Saturday, May 10.
The sacks, delivered earlier in the week, were paid for partly by
donations from two dozen labor organizations. Letter carriers
returned the bags of food to their home stations, where more
volunteers separated the donations and loaded them onto trucks
headed for the Oregon Food Bank. As of press time, 700,000 pounds of
food had been collected in the Portland metropolitan area. The goal
this year is 2 million pounds of food statewide. Last year’s food drive
brought in 1.6 million pounds of food throughout Oregon and
Southwest Washington. Among those volunteering to load and unload
mail trucks in Troutdale was Cody Howlan, son of Delores Howlan, a
NALC Branch 82 shop steward.
IN MEMORIAM
Cliff Puckett, a longtime member
of Cement Masons Local 555, died of
a heart attack at his Salem home on
Thursday, April 17. He was 66.
Puckett was a 30-year member of
the union. He served as president of the
local from May 1987 through April
1990; as business agent/financial sec-
retary from January 1992 through
April 1993; and as apprentice coordi-
nator from April 1990 through Sep-
tember 1994. He retired Oct. 1, 1994.
Born in Egypt, Ark., on April 9,
1942, he was the son of Cliff and Dol-
lie (Jones) Puckett. He moved with his
family to Dinuba, Calif., when he was
14.
He married Debbie Paine on Aug.
15, 1975, in Reno.
He enjoyed golfing, fishing, camp-
ing, beachcombing and spending time
with family.
In addition to his wife, Puckett is
survived by a son, Cliff of Salem, a
member of the Carpenters Union; a
daughter, Angela Nyseth of Salem; his
mother; a brother, Lee of Florida; a sis-
ter, Linda Garrison of Dinuba, Calif.;
and five grandchildren.
To leave online condolences, visit
www.macyandson.com.
A memorial service for Margaret
Ulrika ‘Peggy” Dereli will be held at
10:30 a.m. Friday, May 30 at St.
Michael The Archangel Church, 424
SW Mill St. Portland.
Dereli passed away on Mother’s
Day, May 13, 2007, due to complica-
tions related to Alzheimer’s disease.
She was 70.
In the early ‘70s Dereli was a three-
term Democratic state legislator from
Salem’s District 32. After leaving the
Legislature she moved to Portland and
worked as a consultant and lobbyist
representing several building trades
unions and Amalgamated Transit
Union Local 757. She later went to
work for Kaiser Permanente, where she
remained until her retirement in 2000.
Her companion of nearly 20 years
was Lloyd Knudsen, a retired political
and legislative director of the Oregon
AFL-CIO.
Former State Sen. Dick Springer
will speak at the memorial.
Dereli is survived by her daughter,
Suzan Dereli, son-in-law, Donald
Meservey, and grandsons, Aaron and
Simon Eskenazi, all of Mercer Island,
Wash.
Dereli’s family encourages dona-
tions in her name to the Alzheimer’s
Association of America.
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