The Chicago Tribune will have a unionized newsroom for the first time in its 171-year history. The parent company of the Chicago Tribune announced together with the Chicago Tribune Guild, affiliated with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), that the company will voluntarily recognize three collective bargaining units representing over 300 editorial employees. The decision avoids a formal election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) representation case process.
All 25 non-management attorneys at CAMBA, a New York-based legal provider, signed authorization cards in favor of representation by a United Auto Workers (UAW) local. The attorneys would join about 1,200 other Local 2325 members if the new bargaining unit is recognized.
The Regional Director (RD) for NLRB Region 19 in Seattle ruled that a proposed unit of rework welders and specialists at three PCC Structurals facilities in Oregon is appropriate for collective bargaining and representation by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). The RD reached the same conclusion last year, but the Board used the employer’s challenge of the RD’s certification decision as a vehicle for overturning the 2011 Specialty Healthcare standard, which had toughened the standard for employers to challenge so-called micro-bargaining units.
The NLRB’s Regional Director in Atlanta approved a representation election involving a proposed bargaining unit of 178 Boeing flight-line technicians, finding that the employees have far more in common with each other than with the other 2,700 production and maintenance employees working at the plant. The workers will vote whether to join the IAM.
More than 172 school bus drivers and monitors in Albany, N.Y. voted by a 2-to-1 margin to join the Teamsters Local 294. The workers are seeking a contract that addresses safety concerns, time off issues, and wage and benefits increases.
Roughly 200 school bus drivers and monitors in Plymouth Township, Mich. voted to join Teamsters Local 243. The Durham School Services employees transport Ann Arbor Public School students and will join other Durham drivers, monitors, and mechanics in Chattanooga, Tenn., who voted to join the Teamsters earlier in May.
Boeing technicians voted to form the first collective bargaining unit at the company’s factory in South Carolina. The “micro unit” will be represented by the IAM and includes approximately 170 flight-line workers of the approximately 7,000 mechanics who build Boeing 787 Dreamliners in North Charleston, S.C. The company announced that it will contest the election, which it contends violates federal labor law. A 2017 attempt by the IAM to organize the entire factory unit was rejected by 74 percent of workers.
Pilots at Flexjet LLC voted 318 to 220 to decertify the Teamsters as their bargaining representative. The pilots had voted narrowly to join the union in 2016 but were unable to agree to a labor contract with the company. The decertification vote was verified by the National Mediation Board on May 30 and is a significant blow to organized labor in one of its few remaining strongholds.
