Posts tagged misconduct
Who’s on strike and who’s close? Labor unions are flexing
August 8, 2023 // Recent decades suggest there won’t be a strike at more than one at once. UAW (United Auto Workers) typically picks one “target” at which to focus negotiations and possibly strike and then demand that the other two unionized automakers agree to the same “pattern” deal. That one really has the chance to hurt the Democrats since the union is very upset about the auto industry plans to shift to EVs (electric vehicles). They see EVs as a jobs killer because of so many fewer parts – it takes about one-third fewer jobs to build an EV than an internal combustion engine (ICE) car. And many of the EV jobs are at battery plants being built nationwide right now, but which are joint ventures between the automakers and foreign battery companies, and thus not guaranteed to be unionized. Even if those battery plants end up with a union, it’s not clear the joint venture will agree to UAW-level wages. The one UAW-represented plant in Ohio pays roughly half of what workers are paid at an engine or transmission plant owned by one of the Big Three (US automakers) and represented by the UAW.
VA, AFGE reach ‘historic’ settlement to reinstate, compensate thousands of wrongfully fired feds
August 4, 2023 // The department said it expects the total cost of the settlement agreement with AFGE to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The exact amount, though, could take years to determine, depending on how many former employees ultimately choose to return to their VA jobs. The settlement comes years after AFGE, which represents more than 291,000 VA employees, filed a grievance against the department in 2018. The union said the agency’s implementation of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act, which aimed to speed up the firing process for poor-performing VA employees, violated their collective bargaining agreement.
Exclusive: California union president threatened staff and stole records, report finds
January 13, 2023 // An embattled California union president faces new discipline from SEIU after an independent investigator determined that he threatened staff, improperly suspended other elected officers and stole documents from the labor organization. The investigator’s report, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, is the latest setback for Richard Louis Brown, the already-suspended leader of SEIU Local 1000, the largest public employee union in California state government. Brown could face immediate removal from his roles as union president and steward after the investigation found sufficient evidence to support 12 alleged acts of misconduct. The investigator also recommended that Brown be reprimanded for his actions and barred from running for office until 2025.
The NLRB Ordered the United Mine Workers to Pay $13 Million. This Video May Show Why.
August 9, 2022 // Earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) assessed the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)—which has been on strike in Alabama against Warrior Met Coal since April 1, 2021—to pay $13.3 million to the company for “for costs including increased security, damage repair and lost revenues from unmined coal,” as well as “almost $30,000” to individuals, mostly for damage to vehicles.
NLRB: Mine workers to pay Alabama coal company over $13M
August 5, 2022 // A federal oversight board ordered the United Mine Workers of America to pay more than $13 million in compensation to an Alabama coal company where members have been on strike for more than a year, a ruling the union said Wednesday it would challenge. The National Labor Relations Board said Warrior Met Coal Mining was due some $13.3 million for costs including increased security, damage repair and lost revenues from unmined coal, and individuals were due almost $30,000, mostly for damage to vehicles. Both amounts included interest. Cecil E. Roberts,
Pennsylvania labor federation requests investigation into workplace harassment allegations
April 14, 2022 // The state AFL-CIO’s newly elected president was accused on social media of verbally abusing female staff
Jerry Dias, resigned president of Canadian autoworkers union Unifor, under investigation
March 17, 2022 // In that time, Dias acted as a consultant to the Canadian government and its negotiating team on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement; launched a campaign to save General Motors Co.'s plant in Oshawa, Ontario; and helped workers navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.
At police board hearing, FOP President John Catanzara announces impending resignation from Chicago Police Department
November 15, 2021 // “Catanzara, who has faced dozens of misconduct allegations throughout his career, was elected president of the Fraternal Order of Police last year, and he’s believed to be the first union leader to hold the job while stripped of his police powers.”