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