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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2018)
PAGE 2 | January 5, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Senior staff reporter: Don McIntosh Office manager: Cheri Rice Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are $15 a year for union members, $23 a year for all others. 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Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6 140 Trump NLRB majority puts Machinists election win at Precision Castparts back in legal limbo The ruling has national ramifica- tions, but whether the welders can unionize is again up to the Seattle NLRB office In a Dec. 16 decision, a new Trump-appointed majority on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) used a Portland-area la- bor law dispute to overturn a ma- jor Obama-era NLRB ruling that curbed employers’ ability to use legal delays to stymie union campaigns. When workers seek to union- ize, the NLRB determines which of their co-workers do and don’t belong in their proposed bargain- ing unit — if employer and union don’t agree. Under the law, units can include all of an em- ployer’s workers, those at a par- ticular location or department, or those in a particular craft spe- cialty. For decades, employers have filed frivolous objections to the units unions propose, win- ning only 5 percent of the time, but delaying union elections for years through multiple stages of appeal. But in a case called Spe- cialty Healthcare, an Obama-ap- pointed NLRB majority ruled in 2011 that when the NLRB has Precision Castparts welders, above, want to start bargaining a union contract. But a new NLRB decision could delay that for years. found the union’s proposed unit to be an appropriate one, em- ployers who want to challenge that decision have the burden of proof to show that workers they want to add to the unit share “an overwhelming community of in- terest” with workers in the unit the union proposed. Employer associations howled in protest, saying the Specialty Healthcare decision would lead to the proliferation of “micro- unions” like just the fragrance counter workers in a department store. But Machinists staff attor- ney William H. Haller, who wrote a law review article about Specialty Healthcare, says that’s not what happened: The average size of union-proposed bargain- ing units has remained about the same since 2011. “I think [employer groups’ mi- crounion argument] is a smoke- screen to disguise their real mo- tive, which is to make sure that the legal process is cumbersome and takes as long as possible,” Haller said. Last July, Machinists District Lodge W24 asked the NLRB to hold a union election for a group of 100 Portland-area welders at Precision Castparts. Precision ar- gued that a welders-only bargain- ing unit was improper, and that the unit should instead include all 2,500 Portland-area workers. [Precision has repeatedly de- feated attempts to unionize that larger group.] The NLRB’s Seat- tle office found that the welders were an appropriate bargaining unit, and under the Specialty Healthcare decision, declined to consider Precision’s objections and held a union election Sept. 22, which the Machinists won 54 to 38. Then Precision appealed, saying its objections should have been considered by the NLRB. On Dec. 26, the new Trump majority agreed — voting 3-2 to overturn the Specialty Health- care ruling and send the case back to the Seattle NLRB office, which must now consider Preci- sion’s objections. Will the welders get their union? It could go either way. They do the same kind of work, but in different departments. NLRB Seattle regional director Ron Hooks will decide. If he up- holds his previous ruling, Preci- sion can appeal through multiple stages, which could take two years or more to resolve.
