Labor & Employment Law

N.Y. Congress Members Urge CEO to Bargain with Mott?s Workers?and More Bargaining News

By Belinda Boyce

New York members of Congress urge CEO of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group to bargain with Mott’s workers, and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

WORK STOPPAGES
RWDSU/UFCW, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group: Members of the New York congressional delegation sent a letter to the CEO of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, urging the company to resume bargaining with 300 Mott’s workers who have been on strike for more than three months. Members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW (RWDSU/UFCW) Local 220 are fighting cuts imposed by the company, which last year earned $555 million in profits.

AFA-CWA, Delta Air Lines: The Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) filed a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, alleging the company is not honoring a contract that covers flight attendants at the former Northwest Airlines. Delta is accused of violating health and safety, scheduling and pay provisions of the contract.

NEGOTIATIONS
Multiple, Harley-Davidson: Harley-Davidson is threatening to move 1,700 jobs out of Wisconsin if it doesn’t reach a contract with the United Steelworkers (USW) and Machinists (IAM) by mid-September. The company is considering moving some work to its York, Pa., production plant, where hundreds of workers have been laid off in recent months.

MNA-NNU, Multiple Duluth hospitals: The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA-NNU) says a strike by 900 nurses at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth is “imminent,” after mediation ended last week without a deal. Some 400 nurses at another Duluth hospital, St. Luke’s, could also strike if mediation scheduled for tomorrow fails to produce a contract.

AFM, Detroit Symphony: Members of the Detroit Symphony Musicians (AFM) rejected the symphony’s contract offer and authorized a strike. Because of the poor economy, the musicians offered millions of dollars’ worth of cuts, but the symphony rejected their offer and demanded a 28 percent pay cut.

NFLPA, NFL: As fears of a 2011 lockout continue, NFL owners are planning to propose an 18-game season?up from 16 games?to the NFL Players Association (NFLPA). Players who have responded are reluctant to agree, pointing out the increased risk of injury.

Multiple, Northrop Grumman: Just over a month after it announced the closure of its shipyard in Avondale, La., Northrop Grumman said this week it plans to lay off 642 workers at its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard by the end of the year. Metal Trades Department President Ron Ault responded to the announcement by slamming both the company and the U.S. Navy and highlighted the economic repercussions for the Gulf region, still trying to recover from both Katrina and the BP oil spill.

TWU, American Airlines: Two units of American Airlines workers represented by the Transport Workers (TWU) rejected tentative agreements. Speaking on behalf of the more than 10,000-member mechanics group and the much smaller stock clerks group, TWU Vice President Garry Drummond said, “After four years of negotiations, a majority of TWU members in our mechanic and related and stock clerk groups were not convinced that this agreement represented an adequate return for the hundreds of millions of dollars of sacrifices we agreed to in 2003, to keep American planes in the air and prevent our employer from filing for bankruptcy.”

UFCW, Kroger: Workers at 17 Kroger stores in Flint and Saginaw, Mich., last week rejected the company’s contract offer and authorized a strike.  The nearly 2,000 workers are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) locals 876 and 951.

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for your information only.  As it is compiled from published news reports, not from individual unions, we cannot vouch for either its completeness or accuracy; readers who desire further information should directly contact the union involved.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 30, 2010 (boomark / email).