Penny Pritzker‘s Hyatt Hotels are being attacked for not succumbing to union demands to eliminate workers’ right to secret-ballot elections, Illinois settles a pension problem (sort of), and the SEIU is in Day Two of its strike at the University of Illinois.
It’s Tuesday, March 12, 2013, and here are your Union Briefs:
Unlike the unreasonable UniteHere contract demands in these four cities, none of the three contracts in Philadelphia, Denver or San Diego were conditioned upon Hyatt giving up the rights of its associates to a democratic, secret ballot election for union representation in other cities, and none of the three contracts insisted on an unacceptable provision that would allow the union to strike during the contract term.
For more than three years, in an effort to pressure Hyatt to give up the democratic rights of some non-union associates to participate in a secret ballot vote on whether they want to be represented by a union, UniteHere leadership has denied their members in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Waikiki a vote on Hyatt’s contract proposals. These proposals contain the wage and benefit increases Hyatt associates deserve and are the same as what UniteHere accepted at Starwood and Hilton hotels in these cities years ago.
Federal authorities announced Monday that Illinois has agreed to settle a securities-fraud charge that accused the state of misleading investors about the financial health of its public-employee pension systems, which are now $96.7 billion short of what’s needed to cover promised retirement benefits.
Florida State Board of Administration, Tallahassee, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Pension Plan, Washington, are seeking changes in Hewlett-Packard Co.’s board and will vote their shares against the election of five directors, adding to pressure from other pension funds, according to statements from the organizations.
The head of WCVB-TV says U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch relied on ‘‘erroneous assumptions’’ when announced that he won’t run ads for his U.S. Senate campaign on the TV station in the Boston market because of an ongoing contract dispute between that station and some union employees.
The University has landed in the same position it lands in year after year. Except this time, there isn’t anyone crying wolf. Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 73 have begun striking and will continue until midnight Wednesday or until the University makes an offer that the members are willing to accept.
Over the past six months, Steve Wahlenmayer has worked as a daily hire for NBC Sports, which is party to a bargaining agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union. Because New York lacks a Right to Work law, regular employees can be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment after 30 consecutive days of employment. This means temporary or daily hires cannot be required to pay union dues if they don’t reach the 30-day threshold.
In other news…
Until tomorrow…
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“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.”
Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)
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