Ascension St. Agnes Hospital Nurses Demand Vote to Remove NNOC/NNU Union Officials
Requested vote to remove NNOC/NNU Union Officials would take place in unit of roughly 600 nurses; similar efforts also taking place in New York and New Jersey
From the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation:
Worker Advocate Blasts Labor Board Ruling to Allow Charleston Workers Minimal Say in Boeing Case
Big Labor watchdog slams ruling as insufficient; ploy to quietly sweep workers’ stories under the rug
Washington, DC (June 20, 2011) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C. has ruled three Charleston-area Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) employees are allowed to intervene, albeit minimally, in the NLRB’s high-profile case against Boeing.
With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, North Charleston Boeing employees Dennis Murray, Cynthia Ramaker, and Meredith Going, Sr. filed a motion earlier this month to intervene in the NLRB’s unprecedented case targeting the company for locating production of some of its 787 Dreamliner airplanes in South Carolina, in part due to its popular Right to Work law.
An NLRB Administrative Law Judge in San Francisco denied the workers’ request and the workers were forced to file an emergency appeal with the national Board in Washington, D.C. The Board in D.C. has ruled that the employees can only file a brief in the case once the hearings, occurring in Seattle, Washington, are concluded.
Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement in the wake of the Board’s ruling:
“The Obama Labor Board is poised to set a dangerous precedent that would allow union bosses to dictate to job providers where to locate their jobs with the aim, of course, of avoiding states with Right to Work protections for their workers and forcing more workers into union-dues-paying ranks.
“The public outcry regarding the NLRB’s renegade, pro-forced-unionism actions – spearheaded by the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon – thus far has forced the NLRB to try to save face, but the ruling still leaves much to be desired.
“The NLRB’s half measure is just a ploy to quietly sweep these workers’ stories under the rug while allowing the forced unionism advocates on the Board to try to appear they are not ignoring the workers in this case.
“The Board’s ruling is a further injustice to these workers, allowing only a minimal role in a case so vital to their job prospects and the Charleston community at large. Once again the Obama Labor Board is putting union boss priorities ahead of the rights and well-being of individual employees.”
“Foundation staff attorneys plan to pursue all legal options to ensure that the rights of Charleston-area Boeing employees, and America’s independent-minded workers, are protected against the encroaching expansion of forced unionism.”
Late last week, Foundation attorneys also filed a federal unfair labor practice charge for Boeing employee Dennis Murray. This charge alleges that the union unlawfully retaliated against Charleston Boeing workers for removing the union from their facility. The NLRB regional office in Wilmington, North Carolina is investigating the charge.
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Requested vote to remove NNOC/NNU Union Officials would take place in unit of roughly 600 nurses; similar efforts also taking place in New York and New Jersey
Despite going head-to-head with the well-funded legal teams of Southwest Airlines and the TWU union, Charlene Carter and her Foundation legal team led by staff attorney Matt Gilliam have fought — and won — crucial victories in her case.
Brief: 1199SEIU officials engaged in backchannel communications with federal labor board to block vote; same union is facing ouster effort by NJ workers as well