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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2011)
June 17, 2011_NWLP 6/14/11 10:10 AM Page 8 ...Political interference at NLRB unprecedented (From Page 1) 16 individuals, four organizations are recognized at Labor Appreciation Night The Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC) rec- ognized 16 people and four organizations June 4 at its annual Labor Appreciation and Recognition Night din- ner. Nearly 200 people attended the event. The guest speaker was Oregon Congressman David Wu. In its 14th year, the dinner recognizes people and busi- nesses from the Portland metropolitan area for their ef- forts in helping better the lives of all workers. It also serves as a fundraiser for Labor’s Community Service Agency. This year’s event raised $2,640 selling raffle tick- ets for donated cash and prizes — all made in America. The top award of the evening is the Del Ricks Com- munity Service Award, in honor of the late Del Ricks, who served as LCSA’s executive director for 17 years. The award was presented posthumously to Bill Shatava, a 40-year member of Teamsters Local 81. Shatava died April 11. He served as president of the Northwest Ore- gon Labor Retirees Council and the Teamsters Retirees Club. A special “Heritage Award” went to Tommy “Team- ster” Malloy, a retired lobbyist for Teamsters Joint Council No 37. The labor council’s “Business Appreciation” awards were presented to American Income Life Insurance and IBEW & United Workers Federal Credit Union. Recognition awards (pictured above) went to: NOLC Office Manager Julie Devlaeminck, a member of Office and Professional Employees Local 11 who is retiring this month; Steve Hanson, a retired member of the In- ternational Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU); Barbara Mathey, CEO of IBEW & United Workers Fed- eral Credit Union; Tim Carrier, business rep of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 5 and member of Painters Local 10; Belinda Reagan of Portland Federa- tion of Teachers & Classified Employees Local 111- American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Andrew Mc- The late Bill Shatava of Teamsters Local 81 received the Del Ricks Community Service Award. Shatava passed away April 11. Gough, president of Worksystems Inc.; Steve Hammond and Gary Bucknum of the Inlandboatmen’s Union; Con- nie Rose of Bakers Local 364; Jonni Ocejo of the Inter- national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48; State Rep. Michael Dembrow of Portland Community College Faculty Federation Local 2277-AFT; Ron Rogers of the Oregon Alliance for Retired Americans and retired member of the Oregon School Employees Association; Dan Clay, president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555; Jeff Ander- son, secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 555; and ILWU Local 8 and ILWU Local 8 Credit Union. Vickie Burns, executive director of Labor’s Commu- nity Service Agency, received a special recognition award from United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. Making the presentation was interim CEO Jay Bloom. nominee for the permanent position of NLRB general counsel, but 10 Repub- lican senators wrote to Solomon with a thinly veiled threat to link their ap- proval of his nomination to his position on the Boeing case, and 19 Republican senators wrote to President Obama urging that he withdraw Solomon’s nomination because of the Boeing complaint. • Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) intro- duced a bill in the U.S. Senate to amend the National Labor Relations Act to make Boeing’s relocation legal. The bill now has 35 co-sponsors, all Republicans, including Senate Minor- ity Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken- tucky) and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain (R-Ariz.) The same bill was introduced in the House May 24, and has 20 Republican co-sponsors. • Two Republican-led House com- mittees demanded that Solomon turn over all NLRB documents addressing the Boeing complaint in advance of the Seattle hearing; he refused. • Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chair- man of the House Oversight and Gov- ernment Reform Committee, an- nounced that his committee would hold its own hearing about the Boeing complaint in South Carolina, three days after the Seattle hearing. Issa re- quested that Solomon attend. He de- clined on the grounds his appearance could threaten the rights of the parties to a fair trial. But Issa asked Solomon June 7 to reconsider or face a subpoena compelling his attendance. On June 10, Solomon agreed under protest, writing: “I am not aware of any other time … that a general counsel has been com- pelled to testify at a Congressional hearing about the merits of a pending case.” “I wouldn’t be surprised if these at- tacks ultimately intimidate acting gen- eral counsel Solomon, who’s not a politician but a career civil servant,” said James Brudney, Ohio State Uni- versity law professor and former chief counsel of the Senate Labor subcom- mittee. “The fact that they have not done so thus far is a tribute, perhaps to his courage, but certainly to his dedi- cation to the rule of law.” Brudney spoke on a telephone DOL releases free smartphone app to track work hours, pay WASHINGTON, D.C. — Not sure you’re getting paid properly for hours worked? The U.S. Department of Labor has released a free applica- tion for smart phones — to allow workers to keep track of their own work hours, break times, overtime pay and wages. Instead of relying on company records, employees can maintain their own time sheets and accurately determine wages earned. PAGE 8 Users can view a summary of work hours in a daily, weekly and monthly format; and e-mail the sum- mary of work hours and gross pay as an attachment. The information could prove invaluable during a Wage and Hour Division investiga- tion when an employer has failed to maintain accurate employment records. The application can be down- loaded from the Wage and Hour Di- vision’s website at http://dol. gov/whd. It’s currently compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch, but the Labor Department says it will ex- plore updates to enable similar ver- sions for other smartphone plat- forms, such as Android and BlackBerry, as well as other pay fea- tures not currently provided for, such as tips, commissions, bonuses, de- ductions, holiday pay, pay for week- ends, shift differentials and pay for NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS regular days of rest. For workers without a smart- phone, the Wage and Hour Division has a printable work hours calendar in English and Spanish to track rate of pay, work start and stop times, and arrival and departure times. The cal- endar also includes easy-to-under- stand information about workers’ rights and how to file a wage viola- tion complaint. panel discussion that was convened by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy to draw attention to ex- treme interference by members of Congress in a pending legal case. The group is a network of attorneys and law students that promotes the U.S. Con- stitution as a protector of individual rights and genuine equality. NLRB proceedings resemble court actions, Brudney said. “When agencies are acting similarly to judges, they should be insulated from extreme po- litical pressures that might influence or appear to influence their decision and undermine our basic notions of fair- ness.” “There’s nothing extraordinary about this case as far as the legal prin- ciples,” said co-panelist Catherine Fisk, a law professor at University of California Irvine. “What’s unusual about the case is the fact that Boeing is a very large company and the decision to build the facility involves a massive capital expenditure.” “Since the early 1960s it’s been clear that National Labor Relations Act makes it illegal for a company to trans- fer work, to close one facility and open another, or to locate new production from one facility to another in retalia- tion for employees having exercised their statutory right to unionize and bargain collectively or to strike,” Fisk said. But it’s legal for a company to move for other reasons, including because of labor costs; so it will be the task of the administrative law judge to decide whether hostility to the right to strike was the predominant motive, Fisk said. It will take time for the judge in the Boeing case to make a decision, Fisk and Brudney said. Then either side could appeal that to the five-member National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. It could easily be 2012 before they decide the case. The case could then go to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2013 and even on to the U.S. Supreme Court. June 30 day of action will fill bus for seven rallies Jobs with Justice is sponsoring a day of action for good jobs Thursday, June 30. The group wants to fill a bus and travel to seven locations in the Portland metropolitan area for rallies. At each of the targeted locations unions have either contracts expiring that day or are they are currently in bargaining. Activists will board the bus at 9:30 a.m. at 1125 SE Madison. A closing rally is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. at a lo- cation that had not been disclosed at press time. Lunch will be provided. For more information, call Chris at Jobs with Justice at 503-236-5573. JUNE 17, 2011
