Union contracts between UNITE HERE – the largest union representing hotel workers – and hotels across the country are starting to look very similar. In 2009, 2010, and 2011 UNITE HERE took a very aggressive, combative approach to negotiations that resulted in strikes, boycotts, and high profile acts of civil disobedience. The union approached hotels…

The collective bargaining agreement between Reyco Granning, a commercial vehicle suspension supplier, and the Teamsters provides holiday pay to workers who work at least 8 hours on the last regularly scheduled workday prior to the holiday. The CBA further states that an exception “may be made” if an employee arrives to work late by less…

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge held that Bloomingdale’s did not violate federal labor law by maintaining an arbitration program that required employees to waive their rights to pursue class or collective actions because employees had a right to opt out of arbitration thus making the waiver voluntary. Despite the NLRB’s argument that…

We speak the language of our professions. I have to remind my accountant that I don’t speak accountant-ese. A construction client of mine is endlessly amused that I don’t know how to use a jigsaw. And my father-in-law catches himself remembering that I don’t know the difference between a spark plug and a piston. Likewise,…

Thankfully employers are not required to negotiate until they collapse on the treadmill of collective bargaining. When irreconcilable differences exist between the union and the company – after full, good faith negotiations – the law recognizes that an impasse has been reached. The National Labor Relations Board has defined impasse “as the point in time…

Surface bargaining is when an employer engages in bargaining that is insincere, usually with the intent to not reach agreement with the union and thus not enter into a new collective bargaining agreement. Consider surface bargaining as sort of going through the motions. Surface bargaining is a form of bad faith bargaining. The National Labor…