Topics: Court Decisions, Union-Management Relations
By: Tashayla “Shay” Billington
Sometimes employers are subject to multiple collective bargaining agreements (CBA’s) that allow different unions to perform the same work for the employer. When this issue arises, the employer cannot resolve the dispute without breaching its obligation to one of the unions. This is known as a “jurisdictional dispute,” which gives rise to one of the rare occasions under the National Labor Relations Act that an employer can bring an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against a union.
Ninth Circuit: Kinder Morgan Controls, Work-Preservation Defense Applies
A decision by the Ninth Circuit in International Longshore and Warehouse Union v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stemmed from one such dispute between two unions - the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) – who both claimed the right under their CBA to perform certain work for SSA Terminals. Unable to resolve the dispute itself, SSA invoked section 8(b)(4)(D) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which makes it an unfair labor practice (ULP) for a union to “threaten, coerce, or restrain” an employer with the goal of forcing the employer to assign work to employees in one union over another union. When the Board finds cause to believe section 8(b)(4)(D) has been violated, it can hold a hearing to award the disputed work to one of the...
USCellular urged the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to uphold a D.C. Circuit ruling that dismissed whistleblowers’ False Claims Act (FCA) claims alleging spectrum auction fraud, branding their reque...