Northwest labor press., January 16, 2015, Page 5, Image 5

Business groups sue to stop new NLRB
rule that streamlines union elections
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several
business groups are suing the National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over a
new rule it finalized in December that
modernizes and streamlines union cer-
tification elections. The five-member
NLRB —an independent government
agency charged with conducting elec-
tions for labor union representation and
with investigating and remedying un-
fair labor practices — adopted the rule
Dec. 12 on a 3-2 vote.
On Jan. 5, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, the National Association of
Manufacturers, the National Retail
Federation, and others filed suit in the
U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia. The plaintiffs argue that the
NLRB illegally imposed the rules be-
cause they “impermissibly limit the
right of all parties to engage in pro-
tected speech at precisely the time
when their free speech rights are most
important.”
These same business groups in 2011
went to court to overturn the union
election rule. They won on the grounds
that the Board didn’t have a proper quo-
rum to pass the rule. In 2012 the busi-
ness groups also successfully sued to
block an NLRB rule that simply re-
quired employers to post a notice
telling workers that they have a legal
right to form a union.
“Union avoidance” consulting is a
billion-dollar business in the U.S. De-
laying elections and challenging bar-
gaining units are common tactics used
BULL Session delivers $330k to 8 charities
Eight children’s charities in Oregon
were recently presented with the per-
fect holiday gift — cash donations to-
taling $330,000. Checks were distrib-
uted during a ceremony at the Benson
Hotel on Dec. 4. The gift was from the
BULL Session, a coalition of business,
union, and labor leaders who gather an-
nually for a golf tournament and auc-
tion to raise money for local charities.
Since its inception in 1991, the
BULL Session has grown into one of
Oregon’s largest charity events, having
raised more than $5.2 million to help
provide support services for children.
Last year’s activities were held Sept.
8-9 at the Oregon Convention Center
and The Reserve Vineyards and Golf
Club in Aloha. More than 400 golfers
participated.
Organizations that received a dona-
tion included Albertina Kerr’s Chil-
dren’s Developmental Health Services,
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital,
Gales Creek Camp, March of Dimes,
Swindells Resource Center of Provi-
dence Child Center, Randall Children’s
Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, Shriners
Hospitals for Children-Portland, and
the Wheel to Walk Foundation.
by employers to undermine employee
choice. It gives them time to hold
meetings to intimidate workers and de-
nounce the union.
Research shows that during organ-
izing campaigns, more than one-third
of companies fire pro-union workers.
Studies also show that the longer a
company draws out the election
process, the better chance they have of
defeating a union organizing campaign.
Data from the NLRB’s own case
files show instances of employer intim-
idation, spying, firings, harassment, and
threats to close or move, among other
methods of labor law-breaking.
The new NLRB rule seeks to reduce
unnecessary litigation and delay in the
union certification process, and to en-
sure that workers, employers and
unions receive timely information via
electronic filing of election petitions
and other documents.
“While the NLRB’s new rules will
address the most egregious delaying
practices, they will not prevent em-
ployers from communicating their anti-
union message to workers and will
likely make scant difference to the bal-
ance of power in certification cam-
paigns,” John Logan, professor and di-
rector of labor and employment studies
at San Francisco State University,
wrote in The Hill newspaper.
The new union election rule is
scheduled to go into effect on April 14,
2015.
Miss Oregon Teen USA has union ties
Kenna Sloy (center), the daughter of Ken (right) and Leslie (left) Sloy, will
represent Oregon at the Miss Teen USA pageant to be held this August in the
Bahamas. Leslie is president of Teamsters Local 223 in Portland, and a 35-
year member of the union. Kenna, 17, is a senior at Barlow High School in
Gresham, where she is active in volleyball and cross country running. She
wants to study criminal justice in college and work as a forensic scientist.
Kenna was one of 16 girls competing for the 2015 Miss Oregon Teen USA
crown last November in Portland. She was 1st runner-up in 2014 and 3rd
runner-up in 2013. The competition is judged on personal interview, evening
wear and swimwear. Oregon has produced three Miss Teen USA title
winners, the most in the nation. Mindy Duncan won the crown in 1988;
Bridgette Wilson won in 1990; and Tami Farrell won in 2003. The labor
community can support Kenna’s pursuit of the crown by following her on
either Facebook: Miss Oregon Teen USA, or Instagram: missorteenusa.
Charges dropped against ‘postal defenders’ — again
For the fifth time in two years, self-
described “postal defenders” have won
a reprieve. The latest came on Jan. 7
when Multnomah County Circuit
Judge Eric Bergstrom dismissed
charges of second-degree criminal tres-
pass against seven people protesting the
privatization of the United States Post
Office (USPS). The judge said the de-
fendants’ constitutional right to a
speedy trial had been violated. The
case, which was scheduled to go to trial
Jan. 14, was over a year old.
The trespass charges involved an
Oct. 29, 2013 action where 15 activists
had gathered in the third floor lobby of
the Main Post Office in downtown
Portland, holding signs and carrying a
petition with over a thousand signatures
of people opposed to the cutbacks at the
post office. The protesters wanted to
meet with the USPS district manager
and hand-deliver the signatures. When
that didn’t happen, seven protesters re-
fused to leave. Michael Meo, Bennett
Poe, Kent Spring, Michael Colvin,
Jamie Partridge, John H. Herbert and
Rev. John T. Schwiebert were subse-
quently arrested.
Despite the arrests, “postal defend-
ers” continued their attempts through-
out 2014 to meet with postal managers,
including a visit to the home of the dis-
trict manager last June.
Portland Communities and Postal
Workers United (PCPWU), organizers
of the action, have been fighting cuts
and closures to the postal service for the
past several years. In May of 2012, 10
activists were arrested occupying Port-
land’s University Station post office,
which has since been closed. In April,
‘Postal defenders’ protest Oct. 29, 2013, in the 3rd floor lobby of the Main Post Office in Northwest Portland. Shortly
after this photo was taken, seven people — Michael Meo, Bennett Poe, Kent Spring, Michael Colvin, Jamie Partridge,
John Herbert and Rev. John T. Schwiebert — were arrested for trespassing. (Photo by Michael Hastie)
JANUARY 16, 2015
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
2013, five protesters went to jail for a
civil disobedience action at the Salem
mail plant, which has since been dis-
mantled, with mail processing ma-
chines moving to Portland. The same
group was arrested in July after occu-
pying the private Matheson mail han-
dling plant. They also have blockaded
Dill Star Route, Inc. trucks multiple
times, demanding those companies
stop taking family-wage union postal
jobs. In December of 2013, the postal
defenders occupied the Eugene/
Springfield mail processing facility,
which had been slated for closure the
following month.
None of the cases went to trial, and
all charges eventually were dropped.
The USPS has slashed hours at half
the nation’s post offices — mostly rural
— putting retail postal services out of
reach for most working people. And as
public post offices are being cut and
closed, postal retail counters are being
set up in Staples and Walmart, run by
low-paid, poorly trained store clerks.
Eighty-two mail processing plants,
including three in Oregon, are due for
closure this year. In anticipation of the
closures, USPS changed its service
standards starting in 2015, delaying
every class of mail and virtually elimi-
nating overnight First Class delivery.
All the USPS cuts, closures, and
contracting out have been done in the
name of a “financial emergency.” Since
2006 the USPS has been forced to
spend nearly 10 percent of its budget
pre-funding retiree health benefits 75
years in advance. No other U.S. agency
or private business faces such a crush-
ing financial burden. Not only would
the postal service have been profitable
without the mandate, but the USPS has
also overpaid tens of billions into two
pension funds.
Union officials and PCPWU main-
tain the postal service isn’t broke.
PCPWU says the agenda of corporate
America and their friends in Congress
is to cripple the USPS, to soften it up
for union busting and privatization.
The USPS is a $65 billion annual busi-
ness with over $100 billion surplus in
its pension and retiree health benefit
funds, over 30,000 post offices and
200,000 vehicles. Postal activists claim
that America is being confronted with a
huge transfer of public wealth to for-
profit, private corporations.
CLARIFICATION:
A photo in the Jan. 2, 2015 issue of
the Labor Press of a large postcard be-
ing mailed to Postmaster General
Patrick Donahoe to notify him that he
had been named “Scrooge of the Year”
was taken by Jamie Partridge, a retired
member of the National Association of
Letter Carrier Branch 82.
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