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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2012)
Worker strikes in U.S. were up in 2011, but still extremely rare Laurie Kelly, Megan Rivas and Renae Miller, union reps for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, were among 250 attendees at the 16th annual Oregon Labor Law Conference in Portland. Labor Law forum draws 280 union reps, shop stewards Another sellout crowd of 280 participants attended the 16th annual Oregon Labor Law Conference Jan. 27 in Portland. Coordinated by Norm Mal- bin, general counsel for the In- ternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48, the day-long conference is all about educating union reps, shop stewards, and elected offi- cers on the latest labor laws so they can better represent their members. A host of labor law experts were brought in to lead work- shops. Among the presenters were retired National Labor Bob Bussel, director of the Labor Relations Board (NLRB) re- Education and Research Center gional director Richard Ah- at the University of Oregon, ern; Oregon Employment Re- conducts a hands-on workshop lations Board chair Paul that focused on the national Gamson; and labor attorneys assault on public employees. Liz Joffe, John Bishop, Nel- son Hall, Barbara Diamond, see nothing wrong with it,” Lieb- Mike Tedesco, and Cheryl Coon. man told the union audience. “It’s The luncheon’s keynote nothing more than what employers speaker was Labor Commis- have posted for years. We’ve got an sioner Brad Avakian. OSHA (Occupational Safety and In a morning plenary session, Health Administration) poster; management-side attorney Rick we’ve got an OFLA/ FMLA (Ore- Liebman provided an overview gon Family Leave Act/Family of recent employment law court Medical Leave Act) poster; we’ve decisions, as well as and update got an EEOC (Equal Employment of new statutes and regulations. Opportunity Commission) poster; One topic Liebman touched on we’ve got a BOLI (Bureau of La- was a new NLRB regulation that bor and Industries) poster on wage has caused a management uproar. and hours; a Department of Labor The rule requires all private-sector poster — why would this be any employers to display a poster that different? All it does is tell employ- explains workers’ rights to form a ees what their rights are.” union under the National Labor Liebman actually advocates for Relations Act. The regulation orig- the posting requirement, saying it inally was to go into effect Dec. 21, possibly could possibly ward off a 2010, but the backlash by big busi- unionizing drive by nipping in the ness was so intense (the National bud early whatever problem a Association of Manufacturers sued worker(s) might have. to block it), that it was postponed Liebman believes the third time — twice. It now is set to go into ef- will be the charm.“I suspect this fect April. 30. time it will get posted. Most em- “I break ranks with most of my ployers have gotten used to the fact management colleagues in that I that it is coming,” he said. PAGE 8 Large-scale strikes and lockouts rose slightly in 2011, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau re- leases data once a year on what it terms “work stoppages” involving at least 1,000 workers that last at least one day. There were 19 such work stoppages in 2011, up from 11 the pre- vious year. The 2011 strike with the biggest impact, in terms of lost workdays, was the 10-day strike at Verizon by 45,000 members of Communications Work- ers of America. Also of note was the four-month lockout by the NFL of 1,900 members of National Football League Players Association. While an increase from 11 to 19 strikes is a 72 percent increase, it doesn’t buck the trend: Strikes have almost disappeared in the United States since 1980. The 1950s averaged 352 large-scale work stoppages a year, a record which fell to 283 a year in the 1960s, and 289 a year in the 1970s. Work stoppages then plummeted to 83 a year on average in the 1980s, 35 a year in the 1990s, and 17 a year in the first decade of the 21st century. And that’s just the number of work stoppages. Strike activity from the 1950s to 1970s also involved more workers, and lasted longer: In a typi- cal year, one to two million workers took part in work stoppages which lasted on average 20 days. Last year’s major work stoppages, by contrast, in- volved 113,000 workers, who stayed out nine days, on average. Eleven of the 19 large-scale work stoppages last year lasted a week or less, including five hospital strikes that lasted just one or two days. Two of the 19 large-scale work stoppages in the BLS list were in the Pacific Northwest — an eight-day strike by 1,900 teachers in Tacoma, Washington, and a purported 11-day strike in April by 1,500 members of Oregon-headquartered United Associ- ation of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 290. But details of the Local 290 work stoppage cast doubt on BLS figures. Al Shropshire, elected Local 290 busi- ness manager this January, said inter- mittent pickets were put up at just three contractors after a multi-em- ployer agreement expired. Picketing occurred on just four or five days, with fewer than 50 members impacted — far less than the 1,500 members cov- ered by the contract. Subsequently, the employer group’s contract offer im- proved, and a new labor agreement was approved on a close vote. Most of the time, a work stoppage is a strike by employees. But as the New York Times noted Jan. 22, lock- outs — once rare — are increasingly being used by employers to squeeze concessions out of their unionized workers. Two work stoppages that began last year — both lockouts — continued into 2012: • In late November, Cooper Tire and Rubber Company locked out 1,000 members of United Steel Work- ers Local 207L at its plant in Findlay, Ohio, after they rejected a second round of wage and benefit conces- sions. The company operated the plant with replacement workers brought in from elsewhere, but locked-out work- ers were ruled eligible for unemploy- ment benefits. In January, workers rat- ified a new contract and went back to work. • A lockout continues for 1,300 members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers in Minnesota, Iowa, and North Dakota. Their employer, American Crystal Sugar Company, is the country’s largest sugar-beet processor. K noW Y our r igHts y oU aRe entitleD to tiMe - loSS BenefitS While the inSUReR iS DeciDing WhetheR to accePt yoUR WoRKeRS ’ coMPenSation claiM . i f they Do not Pay yoU theSe " inteRiM BenefitS ," they May oWe yoU a Penalty . NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS FEBRUARY 17, 2012
