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In This Issue

1. ORGANIZING
   
   
2. STRIKES & LABOR DISPUTES
   
   
3. MAJOR CONTRACT SETTLEMENTS & NEGOTIATIONS
   
   
4. ADMINISTRATIVE & COURT DECISIONS
   
   
5. LEGISLATION & POLITICS
   
   
6. CRIME & CORRUPTION
   
   
7. MISCELLANEOUS
   
   

1. Organizing

• The NLRB announced one of the largest ever mail ballot elections to begin on September 13, 2010, for more than 40,000 employees at Kaiser Permanente facilities throughout California.  The election will pit United Healthcare Workers-West, a SEIU Local that currently represents the employees, against National Union of Healthcare Workers.  NUHW was formed in 2009 by leaders who were ousted from UHW and filed an election petition with the NLRB in June seeking election for approximately 45,000 technical, service, and clerical workers at Kaiser facilities.  Employees will also have the choice of voting against union representation.  Ballots must be received by October 4 and votes will be counted October 6-8.  If no option receives a majority, employees will vote in a run-off election between the top two vote-getters.  Kaiser has chosen to  remain neutral in the election.  NUHW has also filed for elections in three other units of Kaiser employees in Northern California including 1,300 mental health professionals, 350 health care professionals, and some 380 optical workers.  UHW is asserting that contracts in those units bar any election.  The NLRB has not yet resolved that issue.
• Beverage workers, including 391 eligible bartenders, bar porters, and servers, at Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut voted in favor of representation by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 371 by a margin of 190 votes for to 145 votes against representation.  Foxwoods plans to challenge the election results on the ground that the NLRB does not have jurisdiction over an area run by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.  The union is willing to proceed to negotiations under tribal law, rather than the NLRA.  An April 2009 election conducted under tribal law resulted in a vote against representation.  Earlier this year, Foxwoods and UAW Local 2121 negotiated a first agreement for 2,500 casino dealers in negotiations conducted under tribal law.  The tribe initially challenged the UAW election, asserting that tribal sovereignty should prevail over NLRB jurisdiction but subsequently agreed to bargain.  
• In a NLRB-supervised election, KAG West tank haul drivers and mechanics in Southern California voted for representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 986 by a vote of 197-147.  The Teamsters have been actively organizing tank haul drivers throughout the country.
• A recent report by the Labor Project for Working Families, Cornell University IRL Labor Programs, and the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center concludes that the future of the labor movement depends upon transforming union cultures to acknowledge the needs of young workers and treating women’s work and family needs as priorities.  According to the report, the presence of women and young workers represents the most significant shift in the workforce in the past 50 years and unions must be responsive and effective as to these new demographics, both of which demand scheduling flexibility and improved work-life balance.  The report also claimed that while social media tools can be utilized to promote organization, face-to-face interaction with the targeted demographics remained the most effective method.

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2. Strikes & Labor Disputes

• Members of Nurses United of the National Capital Area have voted 526-147 to authorize a one-day unfair labor practice strike against the Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia.  The bargaining unit of 1,600 registered nurses authorized the strike to protest the firing of 18 nurses during large-scale snowstorms that hit the area in February.  The union filed a ULP with the NLRB alleging that the hospital unilaterally changed its policy regarding absences in the event of a snowstorm.  The hospital claims that the fired nurses refused to work and refused hospital-provided transportation during the storm.  Nine of the nurses have been reinstated.  Union officials have said that the hospital can avoid the strike by settling the charges.  No date has been set for the strike and the union must provide notice 10 days beforehand.  The strike authorization comes amidst the parties’ stalled negotiations over the terms of a new contract.  The nurses have been working without a contract since June 19, and the parties last bargaining took place on July 28. 
• SEIU’s United Healthcare Workers-West conducted a rally at Oakland’s Piedmont Gardens retirement community to protest the employer’s permanent replacement of dozens of employees previously on strike. Union members held a five-day strike in early August as the union and company have been unable to agree to a new contract since the previous contract expired in April.  During the strike, Piedmont hired temporary staff as replacements. Upon the strikers’ return, Piedmont informed 38 members they had been permanently replaced. 
• UNITE HERE Locals 1 and 450 members employed at four Chicago Hilton hotels authorized a strike at the hotels.  The strike would affect 1,800 employees and the vote gives the bargaining committee the authority to call a strike if necessary.  The employees are part of a broader group of 6,500 UNITE HERE members employed in 30 Chicago-area hotels that have been working without a contract since August 2009.  The parties remain far apart on several issues, including housekeeping workload.  Hilton has proposed a 20-room quota per eight-hour shift, up from the current 16-room quota.
• Teamsters members who were on strike for a week against Coca-Cola in Washington state went back to work after the company accepted the union’s unconditional offer to return.  The strike began in response to Coca-Cola’s alleged surveillance and intimidation of union employees and refusal to bargain in good faith. Negotiations between Coca-Cola and six IBT locals representing 500 workers at sites throughout Washington will resume in September in an effort to replace a contract that expired in May.  

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3. Major Contract Settlements & Negotiations

• The Transport Workers Union and American Eagle, an AMR Corp. subsidiary, reached a tentative, four-year agreement covering 2,140 fleet service workers.  The agreement provides a $16 per hour wage for clerks with 12 or more years of service and crew chiefs would receive additional hourly increases.  Workers with 4 to 11 years will receive a $500 signing bonus and new employees will receive $250.  Part-time workers will receive improved health care benefits.  If ratified (a vote is scheduled for mid-September), the fleet service workers at American Eagle will be among the highest paid regional carrier, on par with comparable employees at Chautauqua and SkyWest Airlines.
• UAW Local 571 members at General Dynamic Corp.’s Electric Boat division in Groton, Connecticut approved a 75-month contract that covers approximately 1,900 workers.  Members received a $1,500 signing bonus in August and will receive a second $1,000 bonus in January, along with 3% wage increase each year of the contract except the final year, when wages increase 3.25%.  Under these terms, design employee wages will rise from $27.14 to $32.48 and administrative employees will increase from $20.19 to $25.05. Monthly pension payments will also increase by $4 per month per year of service, but new hires and rehires will not receive a pension.  The contract also includes matching contributions for employee 401(k)s on the first 6% of pay.  Medical benefits were adjusted to require an up-front deductible with a 90/10 co-pay for other services and increases the cost of prescription drugs.
• UNITE HERE Local 483 members have ratified a five-year contract with Hyatt Hotels covering 400 employees at two Monterey, California hotels.  Wages will increase nearly 20% during the term of the contract, with non-tipped employee wages rising by $2.65, and employees will continue to receive health care benefits with making premium contributions.  Employer contributions to the defined benefit pension fund will increase five cents per year over the current payment of 47 cents per hour.  This marks the first renewal contract reached between UNITE HERE and Hyatt, with many more throughout the U.S. and Canada in negotiation.    
• UNITE HERE members also ratified a three-year nationwide contract covering 2,100 employees of Delaware North Company Travel Hospitality Services who work at the company’s food concessions and restaurants in 15 airports.  Wages were not part of the national contract negotiations and will be negotiated locally as part of supplemental agreements.  Employees will receive medical, dental, and vision benefits through the HERE International Union Health and Welfare Fund, and the new terms provide for expanded paid time off.
• Postdoctoral researchers at the University of California, represented by Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW, ratified a five-year contract covering more than 6,500 postdoctoral researchers.  The contract calls for researchers making less than $47,000 per year to receive minimum 3% annual raises and those making more than $47,000 to annual raise ranging from 1.5% to 2%.  Benefits and premium costs will remain the same until 2012 when researchers will pay more for benefits if the university and union are not able to agree on cost-saving measures. The contract also establishes minimum one-year appointments, with limited exceptions, and defines the conditions under which an employee can be laid off and resulting compensation.
• Members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers locals in four Michigan Sugar Co. plant and warehouse locations ratified a five-year contract covering 600 employees that will increase wages 14.5% over term and add a $400 per month cafeteria plan for employees working more than 1,600 hours per year that can be taken as cash or used to pay for health care coverage, contributions to a 401(k) account, or long-term disability insurance. Health care coverage remains unchanged, which includes an option with no employee premium contribution.  The defined benefit pension plan for regular employees will increase $1 per year in the first two years, and the company will increase its 401(k) match.
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members ratified a three-year contract covering 1,800 Oregon and Washington employees of Frontier Communications Corporation.  Members will receive annual hourly wage increases of 2.75% and Frontier will continue to pay health care premiums with no required employee contribution throughout the terms.  Also, Frontier will pay $345 per year of service for new hires’ retiree health care to a maximum of $10,500 for retirees with 30 years of service. However, existing employees with 30 years of service at retirement will receive 90% of retiree health care costs. 
• AT&T and Communications Workers of America Local 1298 tentatively agreed to the terms of two similar three-year collective bargaining agreements that would cover 3,600 employees throughout Connecticut.  If ratified, the agreements would be the last of seven contracts to be approved by CWA members in AT&T bargaining units across the country.  From the CWA’s prospective, a primary purpose of the negotiations was to ensure that jobs would remain in Connecticut and the tentative agreement provides that 84% of non-customer-facing positions would remain in-state. The terms provide 3% wage increases in each of the first two years and a 2.75% increase plus a cost of living adjustment in the final year.  Health care plans remain intact until next year, when workers will then pay a monthly premium of $35 for individual coverage and $75 for a family.
• Tropicana Casino and Resort dealers in Atlantic City ratified a first contract spanning five years and covering 700 dealers that will provide an 18% hourly wage increase over the term of the contract.  Ratification occurred three years after the dealers elected the UAW as their bargaining representative and is the first contract to be entered among four Atlantic City casinos where UAW organized thousands of dealers in 2007.
• Collective bargaining data compiled by BNA during the first half of 2010 shows a decline in average wage increase in all sectors.  The all-settlements average first-year wage increase was 1.6%, down .9% for the comparable period in 2009. When lump-sum payments are factored, the increase rose to 1.9%, down from 2.8% the previous year.  The all-settlements average increase, excluding government construction contracts, was 2%, compared to 2.7% for 2009. The average increase for manufacturing contracts decreased from the 2009 amount by .8% to 1.2%.  Excluding construction, the nonmanufacturing average increase was 2.4%, down from 3%.  Construction contracts averaged an increase of only .2%, down from 2%.  State and local government contracts increased by an average of 1.2%, as compared to 2.3% in 2009.
• Major contracts reached in Canada during the second quarter of 2010 produced an average base wage increase of 2%, down slightly from 2.1% in the first quarter.  The average for 2009 as a whole was 2.4%.  The data was based on 74 contracts covering 195,550 employees, 26.8% of whom experienced a wage freeze; 44.6% received an increase from 2%-2.9% and 17% received an increase 3% or greater.  The private sector saw greater increases from the four previous quarters, up to 2.5%, which matches the average increase in the construction industry.

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4. Administrative & Court Decisions

• The Seventh Circuit held that employees cannot recover compensation under the FLSA for time spent donning and doffing safety gear when the employees’ collective bargaining agreement states that such time is not compensable.  However, the terms of the contract did not affect the employees’ right to sue under state law.  Workers at a Kraft Oscar Meyer plant in Wisconsin brought a lawsuit alleging that Kraft had violated the federal FLSA and Wisconsin wage and hour laws by failing to pay the employees for time spent putting on and taking off safety equipment.  The collective bargaining agreement between Kraft and the employees’ representative, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 538, states that such time is not compensable.  The Court of Appeals held that FLSA Section 203(o) permits an employer to exclude time an employee spends changing clothes at the beginning or end of the workday from the number of hours the employee works if the parties to a collective bargaining agreement agree to do so. The Wisconsin wage and hour law, on the other hand, contains no such exception that would bar the employees from pursuing a state-law action.  The Court also concluded that federal wage law  did not preempt the employees’ state-law claim since the FLSA permits states to set additional restrictions and resolution of the Wisconsin wage and hour claim did not require interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement.  Spoerle v. Kraft Foods Global Inc., No. 09-2691.
• The Sixth Circuit ruled that questions as to whether grievances made in the wake of a labor dispute are arbitrable are for a court, not an arbitrator.  The case involved International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers members employed at Middletown Works in Middletown, Ohio.  In 2007, Middletown and the union negotiated a new contract that included a transition agreement governing the first six months the members were back on the job following a lockout. The transition agreement specified, in narrow terms, the grievances that could be arbitrated during the transition time.  The union filed 93 separate grievances, which Middletown denied on the ground that they were not arbitrable under the transition agreement. While the district court determined the issue of arbitrability was itself arbitrable, the Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, held that the question of arbitrability is one for the courts and because the transition agreement excludes nearly all claims from the grievance and arbitration procedure outlined in the 2007 contract, the grievances were not arbitrable.  Int. Ass’n. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Local Lodge 1943 v. AK Steel Corp., No. 09-3425.
• The Ninth Circuit held that four supermarket chains that agreed to share profits in the event of a strike or lockout by their represented employees violated federal anti-trust laws.  In 2003, three Southern California grocery store chains agreed to bargain with several United Food and Commercial Workers locals as a single multiemployer unit.  The three chains privately agreed, along with a fourth chain bargaining independently, that in the event of a strike against any of the companies, all four would lock out their workers within 48 hours.  The Court commented that this was a traditional labor tactic.  The chains also agreed that in the event of a lockout or strike, any company that earned revenues above its historical market share among the four firms would redistribute 15% of its surplus revenues to the other companies according to an agreed formula.  The Court of Appeals called this agreement anticompetitive on its face and held that it violated the federal Sherman Act.  The Court also rejected the companies’ argument that they were exempt from the antitrust laws under the nonstatutory labor exemption because the exemption only apples to labor practices that are “essential to collective bargaining.” California v. Safeway Inc., No. 08-55671.
• A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting members of United Food and Commercial Workers at a Mott's processing plant in Texas from placing strike-related labels on food and beverage products manufactured by Mott's.   The workers were supporting a strike by members of an affiliated union in upstate New York by placing strike-related labels on Mott's products in grocery stores.  In issuing the injunction, the judge determined that the UFCW members had violated federal anti-tampering laws and that Mott's stood to incur irreparable injury if the members’ acts continued.  Mott’s LLP v. United Food and Commercial Workers, No. 3:10-cv-01315 (N.D. Tex. August 5, 2010).
• The NLRB held that SEIU Local 715 committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to respond to requests for information by two Palo Alto area hospitals about the reorganization and merger of the local because such information was relevant to the hospitals’ interest in determining whether Local 715 continued to exist. One month after the hospitals had settled a contract with Local 715, UHW representatives informed the hospitals that it was representing the barging unit.  In response to the hospitals’ inquiry, Local 715 claimed it continued to represent the unit but had entered into an agreement with UHW.  The hospitals then refused to bargain with UHW until Local 715 provided documentation of its relationship with UHW. Local 715 presented its service agreement with UHW but the hospitals refused to recognize it as the bargaining unit until proper steps were taken to change the representation.  After Local 715 refused to provide requested information as to its status on numerous occasions, the hospitals filed an unfair labor practice.  The ALJ and NLRB determined that unions have a parallel duty under the NLRA to furnish relevant information necessary for an employer to fulfill its contractual obligations.  The Board likened the situation to that of an alter-ego company and determined that when an employer requests information pertaining to an outside, third-party union, it must have an object, factual basis for believing that such information would be relevant in determining the union to which it has a collective bargaining obligation and that the hospitals met their burden in this case.  Service Employees Int’l Union Local 715, 355 NLRB No. 65.
• The NLRB ordered a third decertification election be held at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles to determine whether 400 employees will continue to be represented by United Healthcare Workers-West.  The Board affirmed the ALJ’s determination that the union had interfered with the employees’ free choice by sending bargaining unit members checks purportedly containing over-deducted union dues that were considerably more than that which the members were entitled to.  Two previous votes favoring continued representation by UHW have been overturned after the Board upheld the hospital’s objections.  Good Samaritan Hosp., No. 31-RD-1555. 
• In a 2-1 decision, the NLRB ruled that Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino management in Las Vegas interfered with a June 2008 election by its security officer employees to determine representation by the International Union, Security, Policy and Fire Professionals of America.  The majority found that Mandalay Bay reduced overtime work opportunities for its full-time officers in January 2008 and that the officers’ complaints to the company were not addressed at that time.  In April 2008, SPFPA filed a petition for an NLRB election and, in response, the company began conducting focus meetings during which high-level management met with the security officers to discuss organization and their job concerns.  During at least two meetings, management told the officers that the reduction in overtime opportunities was a “failed strategy” and that the policy was being “looked at.”  The officers’ overtime opportunities were subsequently restored near the time of the June election.  The Board majority stated its long-standing rule that in the absence of a previous practice of doing so, an employer’s solicitation of grievances during an organizational campaign is objectionable when the employer expressly or impliedly promises to remedy those grievances.  The majority held that Mandalay Bay management’s focus meetings constituted solicitation of employee grievances and that their statements created an implied promise to remedy the grievances.  Member Schaumber, in dissent, found that Mandalay Bay had an established practice of listening to employee complaints at pre-shift meetings and that the “failed strategy” statement represents a permissible and protected expression of opinion. Mandalay Corp. d/b/a Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, 355 N.L.R.B. No. 92.
• The NLRB ruled 3-2 that a state-funded operator of group homes for developmentally disabled individuals failed to show that a New York law that limits the use of state funds to encourage or discourage employees from seeking union representation interfered with a June 2003 election in which the group home workers chose representation by UNITE HERE.  The majority found that the Company failed to show that the state-law sufficiently impacted eligible voters to set aside the election results because the law does not prohibit campaign activity, or obtaining funds from alternative sources, but merely limits the use of state funds to support specified activities.  The dissenters contended that the New York law is preempted by the NLRA (the majority assumed it was not) and that the majority does not adequately account for the power of the state to control or limit employer behavior during elections.  Indep. Residences Inc., 355 N.L.R.B. No. 153.
• The full NLRB, in several 3-2 decisions, has granted review in two sets of cases that will require the Board to revisit prior precedent regarding when a union’s support among employees can be challenged.  One set of cases involves issues of voluntary recognition governed by the Board’s 2007 Dana Corp. decision, which overruled 40-year-old precedent in holding that when an employer agrees to voluntarily recognize a union based on a majority of signed union authorization cards, it must post notice that employees have a right to petition to decertify or support a rival union within 45 days.  The second set involves the question of whether the Board should overrule its 2002 MV Transportation decision which held that a successor employer’s obligation to recognize and bargain with an incumbent union may be challenged by the employer, employees or rival union.  The Board has invited interested parties to file amici briefs by November 1 on specified issues.  Rite Aid Store #6473, 355 N.L.R.B. No. 157; UGL-UNICCO Serv. Co., 355 N.L.R.B. No. 155.
• The National Mediation Board determined that Delta Airlines interfered in the February 2010 election for 91 technicians by offering significant raises to nonunion technicians during the election, announced eight months before the raises were to take affect, and conducting meetings to influence workers.  As a result, the technicians will have a new representation election.  In re Application of Int’l Ass’n of Machinists, 37 N.M.B. No. 53.
• Communications Workers of America members, and employees of AT&T subsidiary Southwestern Bell, have filed a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action in the Eastern District of Missouri claiming that because Southwestern Bell failed to pay them for time spent representing other employees in labor-management meetings, they are entitled to unpaid overtime wages.  Under the terms of their contract, CWA must provide a union representative to be present for investigatory meetings if requested by a member who is being investigated for misconduct.  Southwestern Bell typically schedules its investigatory meetings during employees’ work time.  Kayser et. al. v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., No. 4:10-cv-01495 (E.D. Mo.).
• The Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards is proposing to revise Form LM-30 to address questions left by the 2007 amendments to the form.  The LM-30 is an annual financial form submitted by union officials and union employees and is intended to implement the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act’s requirement that such individuals publicly disclose potential conflicts between their personal financial interests and their duty to the union and its members.  The Department of Labor said its proposal would clarify requirements regarding union stewards and high level union officials and the procedure for reporting various payments.

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5. Legislation & Politics

• In a speech at an AFL-CIO meeting, President Obama stated  his intention to continue pushing for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which is currently stalled in the Senate.  President Obama also stated his administration would restore balance on the NLRB to ensure representation elections were held promptly.  The President encouraged labor leaders to get their membership out and vote for Democrats in the November midterm elections.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka applauded President Obama’s dedication to passage of the EFCA.
• Frustrated with the stalled status of the EFCA, the UAW is developing a set of principles to be presented to executives of nonunion automakers aimed at promoting unionization of  such companies.  The principles will include requirements for equal access for unions and management to communicate with employees, and a prohibition on threats, pressure or derogatory statements by or about the opposing sides.  According to UAW President Bob King, the UAW does not view its member companies as adversaries but as partners.  In a subsequent speech, Ford Executive Vice President Mark Fields echoed King’s sentiments and praised Ford’s relationship with UAW.
• The International Association of Machinists has launched a website aimed at encouraging unemployed workers to connect with others, become “jobs activists” and increase voter turnout among the unemployed in the upcoming elections.  IAM’s “UCubed” project allows the unemployed to connect with other local unemployed workers.  IAM also spent $100,000 in television advertising in high-unemployment areas in Pennsylvania and South Carolina during primary elections earlier this year.  IAM plans on future, non-candidate specific advertisements leading up to the November elections.
• The Arizona legislature approved a referendum that would restrict the use of authorization cards in determining union representation.  Under the proposal, the Arizona constitution would be amended to require that secret ballot elections be used when workers seek to form unions.  Opponents of the referendum see it as a preemptive strike against the proposed Employee Free Choice Act.  Arizona residents will vote on the referendum in November. 

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6. Crime & Corruption

• The former president and executive director of New York City’s United Craft and Industrial Workers Union, Local 91, Warren J. Annuziata, pled guilty of taking more than $500,000 in bribes from bus company owners.  The Local represents 2,000 bus drivers and bus escorts who work for companies that contract with the city’s Education Department.  Annuziata was charged with extortion and receiving unlawful payments from 1992-2009 in violation of the LMRA, which prohibits employers from making payments to union officials.  In a separate criminal matter involving Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local officials were convicted of taking bribes to secure bus routes for company owners. 
• Thomas Pokrywczynski, the former treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1342 in Buffalo, New York, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and restitution of $217,527 for embezzling funds from the union from 2002 to 2008.  In February, Pokrywczynski pled guilty to one felony count of embezzlement from a labor organization.
• Former Carpenters and Joiners of America Local 608 shop steward, Brian Carson, was sentenced to 19 months in federal prison, ordered to forfeit $100,000 and pay a $5,000 fee following his guilty plea to aiding and abetting the embezzlement of union benefit funds.  Carson was one of 10 defendants charged in August 2009 with a series of offenses aimed at the union’s New York City district council and related to an alleged $1 million bribery scheme to allow contractors to bypass contractual wage and benefits requirements. Eight of the defendants have entered guilty pleas, including the district council’s former executive secretary-treasurer, Michael Forde, and longtime shop steward and former business agent from 2004 to 2009, Brian Hayes.  Hayes pled guilty to two counts of racketeering charges and admitted to racketeering, taking at least one cash bribe from a contractor and giving false testimony. Each of the counts carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for December 3.

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7. Miscellaneous

• The AFL-CIO announced plans to establish a young worker national advisory committee to help formulate the federation’s outreach to workers under age 35.  A primary focus of the committee will be developing organizing strategy in new industries and new work arrangements, such as contract work and work from home.  AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler will lead the effort.
• SEIU Secretary-Treasurer and chair of Change to Win, Anna Burger, announced her retirement on August 11, effective immediately.  Burger’s SEIU duties will be temporarily fulfilled by SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.  United Food and Commercial Workers President Joe Hansen is expected to replace Burger as the chair of Change to Win. Burger’s retirement comes just months after she lost a bid to become president of SEIU.  Burger will continue to do consulting work with SEIU and will remain a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.   
• The Laborers’ International Union voted to rejoin AFL-CIO effective October 1, more than four years after the 500,000 member union disaffiliated from the federation.  Laborers’ General President Terence O’Sullivan will become a member of SEIU’s executive council and executive committee.  In 2006, the Laborers left AFL-CIO to form the Change to Win federation with six other unions. The Laborers are the third union to disaffiliate from Change to Win in the past two years.
• According to a Gallop poll, 52% of Americans approve of labor unions, which is up from 48% last year but the second-lowest percentage in the 74 years the survey has been conducted.  In 1936, when the poll began, unions enjoyed a 72% approval rating, which rose to 75% in the 1950s. 
• After serving two terms at the NLRB, Member Peter C. Schaumber left office on August 27.

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If you have questions about items that appeared in this bulletin, or would like to learn more about any of these topics, please contact William Miossi at (202) 282-5708 or (312) 558-6109, or one of the other Labor & Employment Relations partners listed here:

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