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Labor Relations News Update May 28, 2014

Today’s Labor Updates:

Norway’s oil rig workers reach wage deal, strike threat averted

New Costs of Obamacare Complicate Labor Negotiations

OSHA actively encouraging employees to file charges with the NLRB

Keystone fight unites unlikely bedfellows   

 

 

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Norway’s oil rig workers reach wage deal, strike threat averted

12:00pm IST

OSLO, May 28 (Reuters) – Workers operating oil rigs off Norway reached a deal in wage talks with employers on Wednesday to avert a strike after similar negotiations with other oil sector workers broke down in recent weeks.

Two unions representing workers who operate oil drilling rigs reached a deal with the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, representing their employers, the Safe and Industri Energi unions said.

“We achieved results for some of our demands but had to compromise on other demands in this particular instance,” Hilde-Marit Rysst, head of Safe, said in a statement.

“We are pleased with the overall financial settlement,” Leif Sande, head of the Industri Energi union, said separately.

Two years ago, about 10 percent of Norway’s offshore workers went on strike for 16 days, cutting oil output by 13 percent and gas production by 4 percent.

The dispute ended when oil firms threatened a full lockout and the government stepped in to impose a deal. The strike helped push oil prices above $100 per barrel.

This year, three rounds of talks with other types of oil workers – platform workers, oil services employees and those operating onshore supply bases – have broken down. These are heading for state mediation in the coming weeks.

The first of the mandatory mediation rounds is scheduled for June 16-17.

Unions have said if the talks fail, they would shut down two ExxonMobil platforms and one operated by GDF Suez with combined production of around 80,000 barrels of oil per day.

The government, however, can force through a settlement if it believes a strike would threaten Norway’s economic interests. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; editing by Jason Neely)

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New Costs of Obamacare Complicate Labor Negotiations

Tuesday, May 27, 2014 10:11 AM

By: Melissa Clyne

Labor unions, originally ardent supporters of Obamacare, are now embroiled in heated battles with employers over who has the onus of paying for future costs and new mandates, such as covering dependent children until age 26, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Obamacare-related cost increases for millions of workers are predicted to rise between 5 percent and 12.5 percent in the next few years, according to the newspaper.

“It’s been a challenge for even some of the stronger unions to maintain the quality health plans that they have offered over the years,” New York lawyer Daniel Murphy, who represents employers in labor talks, told the Journal.

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Union officials have said they feel like the Obama administration bamboozled them to get their support for the president’s biggest legislative accomplishment. The White House has refused to allow concessions to solve some of the issues hampering current labor talks, the Journal said.

“When we first supported the calls for healthcare reform, we thought it was going to bring costs down,” said Jim Ray, a lawyer for Laborers International Union of North America, according to the Journal. Ray said Obamacare provisions have resulted in 5 percent to 10 percent increases for construction workers’ health plan costs while lowering wages for some laborers.

The Journal quoted an official it didn’t identify as saying the Obama administration has “worked hard to smooth implementation” of Obamacare.

The Alaska Airline flight attendants’ union is at a stalemate with management because company officials have refused to provide sufficient protection for union members from skyrocketing costs of the healthcare law, the newspaper reported.

Similar conflicts are playing out in Philadelphia, with its transit system workers, and in Las Vegas, where thousands of housekeepers, waiters, and others have voted to go on strike June 1 if they can’t reach an acceptable resolution with their union over new Obamacare-related costs, according to the Journal.

The discord may have a ripple effect in November’s midterm elections, with the historically left-leaning union workers possibly throwing support to Republicans, The Washington Post reported in January.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, has benefited from labor’s disenchantment with Obamacare. The Laborers’ International Union endorsed Christie in his re-election campaign in 2013 and contributed $300,000 to the Republican Governors Association, headed by Christie. The Post reported that labor officials have spoken with the governor’s aides about a possible appearance by Christie at a union convention.

Donald “D.” Taylor, president of the union Unite Here, which represents about 400,000 hotel and restaurant workers, told the Post that it could be a situation of union workers not so much getting behind Republicans as it is holding back support for Democrats.

“You can’t just order people to do stuff,” Taylor said. “If their health plan gets wrecked, why would they then go campaign for the folks responsible for wrecking their healthcare?”

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OSHA actively encouraging employees to file charges with the NLRB

Roetzel & Andress Matthew D. Austin USA May 22 2014

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) whereby employees who file untimely complaints against their employers alleging violations of the OSH Act will be told to contact the NLRB. The statute of limitations to file a complaint with OSHA is just 30 days from the date of occurrence, but employees have 6 months from the date of occurrence to file unfair labor practice charges against their employers with the Board.

According to the MOU the Directorate of Whistleblower Protection Programs (DWPP) and the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) recommend that OSHA establish the following policy:

OSHA personnel will advise all complainants who have filed, or attempted to file, an untimely Section 11(c) complaint to also contact the NLRB to inquire about filing a charge alleging unfair labor practices. OSHA personnel must first follow their Region’s policy with respect to discussing the complainant’s rights under Section 11(c) and options with respect to untimely filed complaints (e.g. screen out or docket/dismiss).

After such discussions, OSHA personnel will then advise complainants regarding their ability to contact the NLRB. OSHA will advise the complainants that they may file a charge with the NLRB and that the NLRB time limit to file (6 months) is longer than OSHA’s (1 month) and therefore OSHA recommends that the complainant contact the NLRB as soon as possible to discuss his or her rights.

OSHA personnel are even supplied with the following talking points to advertise the NLRB to untimely OSHA complainants:

·       OSHA recommends that you contact the NLRB as soon as possible to inquire about filing a charge alleging unfair labor practices.

·       The time limit to file a charge with the NLRB is 6 months from the unfair labor practice.

·       The NLRB is responsible for enforcing employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA protects employee rights to act together to try to improve working conditions, including safety and health conditions, even if the employees aren’t in a union.

·       You may also locate your nearest NLRB Field Office at www.nlrb.gov/who-we-are/regional-offices (OSHA may want to look up the nearest office and provide the number and address).

Untimely OSHA complainers will also receive a follow up letter from OSHA reminding them to reach out to the NLRB for support. Part of the follow up letter template provided to OSHA personnel reads as follows:

I regret that OSHA is unable to assist you further in this matter. However, OSHA recommends that you contact the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as soon as possible to inquire about filing a charge alleging unfair labor practices. The NLRB is responsible for enforcing employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Employees are protected under the NLRA to act together to try to improve working conditions, including safety and health conditions, even if the employees aren’t in a union. The NLRB time limit is 6 months from the unfair labor practice.

OSHA estimates that up to 600 complaints are untimely filed each year. While this agreement does not necessarily give workers a second bite at the apple for lodging complaints related to safety and health, it does solicit and encourage employees to pursue alternative avenues of filing legal actions against their employers – avenues employees would otherwise not likely know are available.

Of course, the NLRB is embracing the MOU and has issued its own intra-agency memorandum instructing its intake officers to record whether the unfair labor practice charge was a referral from OSHA. The Board has even encouraged its employees to assist in training OSHA personnel in the nuances of the National Labor Relations Act to further help OSHA identify and market the Board’s purpose to employees.

While some MOUs result in a tremendous increase in charges at certain agencies, other MOUs have no impact on other agencies. Time will tell whether this MOU will increase the number of unfair labor practice charges filed against companies. Nonetheless, many businesses could learn an advertising and growth lesson from the Board over the past few years. Even though unionization rates continue to decline, the National Labor Relations Board effectively markets its services, enjoys increased workloads, and receives larger operating budgets year after year.

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Keystone fight unites unlikely bedfellows   

By Laura Barron-Lopez – 05/24/14 08:38 AM EDT

The fight to approve the Keystone XL pipeline has strengthened the relationship between unlikely bedfellows: the oil and manufacturing industry, and unions.

The pairing between industry and a number of construction unions has undoubtedly put President Obama in an uncomfortable situation as labor unions have more often than not backed his policies.

But when it comes to the Keystone XL pipeline, a number of unions are frustrated and have built up their relationship with prominent oil lobby American Petroleum Institute, and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

“I think they feel like they have been cast aside, and they’re not important and that’s their frustration,” said Russ Girling, CEO of Keystone XL developer TransCanada Corp. “Unions find it insulting.”

In a letter to the Senate earlier this week, API and NAM partnered with five labor unions, calling for a vote on a Senate bill that would greenlight the oil-sands pipeline.

The friendship between NAM and the Laborer’s International Union of North America, a building trades group, was built around the Keystone XL pipeline, said Chip Yost, assistant vice president for energy and resources policy at NAM.

The CEO of NAM called up LIUNA’s president in 2010 to talk about approving Keystone XL, and since the relationship has only grown.

“It’s a unique relationship but a great relationship,” Yost said. “And it’s strengthened because of Keystone XL, it’s the beginning of  a long-term partnership.”

Yost added that Keystone XL has also opened up NAM to working more with other labor unions.

“As unions and the business community have worked their way through the Keystone XL process, they have come to understand that have to unite together and work together as a team,” Yost said.

Keystone XL is just the beginning when it comes to the number of projects the industry and labor unions would like to work together on.

But Yost said some are worried that the fight surrounding the pipeline, which would carry crude from Alberta oil-sands to Gulf refineries, will become a template for opponents of other energy infrastructure projects.

Green groups opposing Keystone argue that construction of the pipeline would only create mainly temporary jobs, and roughly 50 permanent ones, citing findings in the State Department’s environmental analysis.

The labor industries response: We want those jobs.

“They are temporary job, but important jobs,” Yost said.

That’s why the latest delay has only further enraged labor unions, and industry.

“What has intensified is the call for politics to come out of the process,” said Khary Cauphen, who handles federal relations for the oil Iobby.

Cauphen said the battle cry for Obama to rule on Keystone XL is intensifying because the administration has delayed the project for nearly six years.

The administration has defended the roughly five and a half year process, stating the president will not get ahead of the review of the pipeline. The latest freeze on State’s national interest analysis was attributed to uncertainty surrounding litigation in Nebraska, where a section of the pipeline’s route runs.

“What we’ve seen in the past when Congress has passed legislation, it has actually slowed the process down. So we believe that this has to be run by the book outside of politics, and that’s the way it’s being run,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said, shortly after the recent delay.

Supporters of the pipeline say enough is enough, and that after multiple environmental reviews the administration has all the information it needs to decide.

What has helped manifest, or embolden, the pairing, is a newfound alliance that not everything must be a fight.

“What you are seeing in this working relationship is that we don’t everything should be a fight,” legislative director for LIUNA David Malliano said of the partnership around Keystone. “What Keystone has done is it’s clarified that world view for us.”

“The national association of manufacturers are going to positions on things we won’t agree with, we are join to continue to represent the inters of our members, but when there are things that we can come together on for workers and com

Mallino added that when companies get exposed to working with labor unions in a “fashion they’re not used to,” it helps everyone.

And now, when the administration had 14 days left in the interagency review of the pipeline, it has put a hold on the process for a second time, allowing its agencies more time to comment on the $5.4 billion project.

It’s a move that will only push labor unions and industry into finding another route to approve the pipeline.

“The five environmental statements have really exhausted what we know about the project,” a spokesperson for the International Union of Operating Engineers said, adding that in November it will back Democrats who support the project.

“Those are our allies, we will reelect them and get back to continue advocating for a vote on the project in the Senate,” the spokesperson said.

LIUNA has echoed a similar sentiment, broadcasting that it will hold its members’ elected representatives accountable. It sent letters to House Democrats opposing the pipeline stating it would notify its union members that they don’t back the project.

“If  you are going to oppose the pipeline then we are going to let constituents know what they are doing,” Mallino said. “Members don’t join our union so we can give people free passes. If folks don’t like the fact that we are vocal about this then they are misguided.”

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