Labor Dispute (Strike)

[ekpugh]

I live and work in New York. Currently a union member envolved in a labor dispute...

What are the legal requirements for a company to decertify a union?
What are the legal requirements for a company to permenantly replace workers?

 

[buddy2bear]

A company cannot decertify a union -- it is illegal. They can, however, try to "break" the union. However, the employees can attempt to decertify, but there must be no company management at any level with their fingers in the mix.

A company can hire permanent replacement workers (thank President Reagan for taking the "teeth" out of a strike)at any time during a strike. When the strike is over, the strikers are put on a waiting list for the first available vacancies by order of seniority. It is illegal to terminate permanent replacement workers because the strike is over and the strikers want to come back to work.

If the strikers are "locked out" by the company, they might qualify for unemployment compensation while on strike, as well as some other State programs (free lunches for kids, etc.), depending on the State.

Basically, a strike is the last thing you want to do unless your skills are such that it would be extremely hard to replace you or the job market was very tight. The first thing I would have tried -- if the local was well-off financially and with the concurrance of International -- was to bury them in grievances.

 

[ekpugh]

I was under the impression that a company can not break or permenantly replace a union unless it could prove an economic need to do so.

As to the strike issue the membership was forced to strike because the company threatened to implement the terms of the new contract.

Does the fact that the union has charges pending in front of the NLRB mitigate the timing of permenantly replacing strikers?

A company cannot decertify a union -- it is illegal. They can, however, try to "break" the union. However, the employees can attempt to decertify, but there must be no company management at any level with their fingers in the mix.

A company can hire permanent replacement workers (thank President Reagan for taking the "teeth" out of a strike)at any time during a strike. When the strike is over, the strikers are put on a waiting list for the first available vacancies by order of seniority. It is illegal to terminate permanent replacement workers because the strike is over and the strikers want to come back to work.

If the strikers are "locked out" by the company, they might qualify for unemployment compensation while on strike, as well as some other State programs (free lunches for kids, etc.), depending on the State.

Basically, a strike is the last thing you want to do unless your skills are such that it would be extremely hard to replace you or the job market was very tight. The first thing I would have tried -- if the local was well-off financially and with the concurrance of International -- was to bury them in grievances.

 

[buddy2bear]

If a company has bargained to impasse, it can institute the "final" management proposals that were last on the table. It would then be up to the union to prove that there was no bargain to "impasse," or that the company's bargaining was not in "good faith." It would, perhaps, be a good idea to call in a federal mediator at this point in order to try to keep the lines of communication open.

When employees go on strike, a company can hire permanent replacement workers at any time during the strike. Just because there are unfair labor practice charges pending with the NLRB does not mean that a company has to just sit by and allow its business to go belly up because its employees are on strike.