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Labor Relations / Unions

AK Steel uses VEBA to settle retiree health care lawsuit

12/01/2007

AK Steel settled a lawsuit with a group of retirees from its Middletown Works by transferring their health care coverage to a voluntary employees’ beneficiary association (VEBA) trust. The 4,600 retirees sued in 2006 after the company moved to cut retiree health care costs to improve its competitiveness …

Prohibiting salary talk

12/01/2007

Q. It has always been a rule in our workplace that employees’ individual compensation information is to be kept confidential and is not to be discussed with co-workers. I recently had to write up one of my employees for violating this policy. That employee told me that my rule prohibiting discussion of wage information is illegal. Is this true? …

Saigon Grill told delivery drivers to hit the road

12/01/2007

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has accused Manhattan’s Saigon Grill restaurants of illegally firing 22 delivery drivers because they requested minimum wage. The workers complained they were paid as little as $120 for a workweek that sometimes reached 75 hours …

With health trust fund, UAW-Chrysler contract echoes GM

12/01/2007

The contract reached in October by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Chrysler closely resembled the UAW’s earlier agreement with General Motors, cutting wages for new workers and moving health care into a union-run health plan in exchange for job guarantees and bonuses …

Interstate Bakeries to close Southern California facilities

12/01/2007

On Oct. 3, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Missouri approved motions to allow the managers of Interstate Bakeries Corp. to go ahead with plans to close most of its Southern California operations …

‘Best Places to Work’ firm says state wants it shut down

12/01/2007

Bucks County contracting firm Worth & Co. says the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) has charged it with wage violations in an attempt to shut the company down because it is a nonunion shop. Worth won Pennsylvania’s “Best Places to Work Award” five years running, thanks to nominations from its employees …

Hospital workers suspended for peeping at George Clooney’s medical files

12/01/2007

When actor George Clooney was admitted into the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen after a motorcycle accident, staffers scrambled to get a glimpse of the star. Others apparently contented themselves with a peek at his medical files …

Union drive stalls at Hilton Casino in Atlantic City

12/01/2007

A Hilton pit boss and his wife are suing the United Auto Workers for $100 million, claiming the union harassed them during an organizing drive at the Atlantic City casino last spring …

Smithfield Foods gets tough with union, files RICO suit

12/01/2007

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc. has filed suit against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), alleging it waged a two-year campaign of extortion to force the company to unionize its hog slaughterhouse in Tar Heel …

Survey says half of refineries as dangerous as BP Texas City

12/01/2007

According to a recent survey, the same kinds of conditions that preceded a deadly March 2005 accident at BP Products North America’s Texas City refinery are pervasive in refineries across the nation. The survey polled union leaders at 51 refineries, representing 49% of the U.S. refining capacity …