September 28 : June 9 : February 23 : January 19

• SEPTEMBER LABOR LAW UPDATE

Labor and Employment Law Practice Group Publications Vice-Chair Ray LaJeunesse, Vice President & Legal Director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, has provided a comprehensive update of significant recent labor law decisions. Please click HERE to access this summary. (PDF)

• NLRB Solicits Amicus Briefs in "Top-Down Organizing" Representation Case

In many industries, employers are entering into so-called "neutrality and card-check" agreements with unions attempting to organize their employees. Under these agreements, employers typically agree not to oppose the union, to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining agent without a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board if a majority of the workers sign union authorization cards, to allow union access to the employer's facilities to solicit employee support, to give the union the names and home addresses of employees, and to conduct "captive audience speeches" at which union and management personnel urge employees to sign union authorization cards. On June 7, 2004, the NLRB granted review in two cases in which workers, represented by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, have submitted petitions for an election to decertify a union that their employer recognized without an election through such an agreement. The Board will consider "whether the recognition [without an election] should be a bar [to a decertification election] . . . where . . . it follows a card-check agreement that was entered into when the union had no majority support." The Order Granting Review also granted a motion that the Board solicit amicus briefs on the issues these cases raise. Dana Corp./Metaldyne Corp. and UAW, 341 N.L.R.B. No. 150, Cases 8-RD-1976, 6-RD-1518, 6-RD-1519. Additional information about these cases may be obtained from Staff Attorney Glenn Taubman or Bill Messenger, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, at 800-336-3600 or legal@nrtw.org.

• FEBRUARY LABOR LAW UPDATE

Labor and Employment Law Practice Group Publications Vice-Chair Ray LaJeunesse, Vice President & Legal Director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, has provided a comprehensive update of significant recent labor law decisions. Please click HERE to access this summary. (PDF)

• OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS RIGHT TO WORK LAW

In 2001, Oklahoma's voters by a margin of 54% to 46% approved a Right to Work amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution, prohibiting requirements that workers join or pay dues or fees to unions as a condition of employment. On December 16, 2003, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously upheld that provision in two cases brought by unions attempting to strike it down. In a case certified from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, the Oklahoma court held "that rulings by federal courts applying federal law to the effect that certain provisions of the right to work law are subject to preemption (but not 'invalidation') of some of its terms as to some but not all workers in some but not all situations fails to overcome the presumption of validity to which the right to work law is entitled under Oklahoma law." Local 514 Transport Workers v. Keating, 2003 WL 22952807 (Okla. Dec. 16, 2003), on certification from 66 Fed. Appx. 768, 2003 WL 2007934 (10th Cir. 2003). In the second case, filed originally in state court, the court rejected arguments that the provision violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Oklahoma Constitution. Eastern Oklahoma Bldg. & Constr. Trades Council v. Pitts, 2003 WL 22952358 (Okla. Dec. 16, 2003).