Nonunion

Domino Sugar Corp. will pay $35,000 to settle a federal lawsuit accusing it of polluting the Inner Harbor by spilling sugar from its Key Highway refinery, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday.From 1991 to 1997, state inspectors said, they saw sugar falling into the Patapsco River from a conveyor belt, a "syrupy coating" at the company's wharf and brown foam flowing from storm drains.The EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment filed lawsuits last year. MDE spokesman Quentin Banks said the state is seeking $500,000 worth of spill prevention work to settle its case.

The Baltimore school board agreed last night to pay about 2,000 nonunion school employees $7.70 per hour as of July 1 and give them the opportunity to obtain health benefits.The agreement, pushed by the Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, means the school board is complying with a 1994 city law that gives city contract workers a "living wage" -- one that is well over the minimum wage of $5.15.The group of workers most helped by the agreement are food service workers and bus attendants, who work about 20 hours a week and receive no benefits.

NEW YORK -- Thousands of workers at Bell Atlantic walked off the job this morning as the telephone company and two unions failed to reach agreement before the workers' old contract expired at 12: 01 a.m.The workers began their strike after a day of tense talks between Bell Atlantic and the two unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The two sides voiced optimism that they might still be able to reach an agreement today and thus keep the strike very short and the disruption to a minimum.

Police wearing riot helmets and armed with batons stopped a minor clash between union and nonunion workers yesterday at a protest at a cancer center being built at Johns Hopkins Hospital.No arrests or injuries were reported, and the picket continued without incident. Police said the scuffle broke out between several protesters who were picketing over the use of nonunion workers on the project and about five nonunion workers, who walked through the picket line and onto the site.Tactical police -- called to relieve already-taxed Eastern District patrol officers who had arrived when the protest started at 6: 30 a.m. -- were on North Broadway when the incident occurred about 8 a.m.Police quickly brought the scuffle under control, but about a dozen officers formed a partial ring around the marchers, separating them from the gate, to prevent further trouble.

The National Labor Relations Board has sided with nonunion workers at Bell Atlantic Corp. who claim they were illegally charged union dues during the company's 1995-1996 contract dispute with the Communications Workers of America. Up to 4,000 workers could get up to $70 each in refunds.Unions collect fees from nonunion workers who hold union-represented jobs, because those workers get wages and benefits at union scales. But the CWA cannot collect the fees when there is no contract in force between the union and Bell Atlantic.

DETROIT -- Faced with a renewed emphasis by Detroit's Big Three automakers on paring costs, leaders of the United Automobile Workers made clear at a three-day convention in Detroit, which ended yesterday, that they are in no mood for concessions.With the UAW's triennial round of bargaining approaching this summer with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp., union leaders and auto executives are preparing for labor negotiations that are likely to be the most contentious in many years.

In a vote that could signal the fate of organized labor in the electric utility industry of the future, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers overwhelmingly rejected a unionization drive by more than a 2-to-1 margin.The 1,864-to-790 tally, concluding a two-day election held by the National Labor Relations Board, ensures that BGE will retain the nonunion status that has endured at the nation's oldest utility for nearly two centuries."I consider this to be a major victory for our employees, our customers and for our future," BGE Chairman and Chief Executive Christian H. Poindexter said.

Once the ILA "owned" the docks from Maine to Texas, its dominance rarely challenged. Yet cutthroat competition from nonunion workers -- and even other unions -- has gradually chipped away at the big union's century-old stranglehold.And the recent erosion of the ILA's power in Philadelphia has produced shock waves at other mid-Atlantic ports, nowhere stronger than on the docks of Baltimore, just 90 miles away."We're in a crisis time," said Ralph W. Judy, vice president of the International Longshoremen's Association, Local 333, who has worked the piers here for 23 years.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers yesterday filed a petition for a vote by 2,700 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. employees on whether to unionize, an event that could break the utility's 180-year nonunion history.IBEW Local 1900 filed its petition with the National Labor Relations Board to seek collective bargaining rights for the employees, Louis J. D'Amico, the NLRB's regional director, said yesterday. The local represents employees at Washington-based Potomac Electric Power Co., which is in the process of a $2.9 billion merger with BGE to form the Constellation Energy Corp.

The County Council will hold a public hearing tonight on an amended bill that will raise the pay of nonunion county employees who are temporarily transferred to a job with a higher pay scale.The legislation will give these employees a benefit already enjoyed by county workers who are represented by a union.According to the bill, if an employee is temporarily assigned to a higher paying position, the appointing authority can give that employee a 5 percent raise or the minimum base pay of the temporary position, whichever is higher.

Gov. Martin O'Malley wants to expand unemployment benefits to part-time workers and allow state unions to collect fees from employees not in a bargaining group - two labor items in his legislative package unveiled yesterday. In a session that has the General Assembly grappling with a $2 billion shortfall, few of the governor's two dozen initiatives cost money. Among the proposals are an effort to repeal the death penalty, legislation to prevent the Maryland State Police from spying on peaceful protest groups and a pair of bills to take guns away from people who are the subject of protective orders.

Howard County police and firefighters have overwhelmingly approved two generous contracts that offer 5 percent and 6 percent raises, and among the best starting salaries in the Baltimore region. County Executive Ken Ulman campaigned hard last year on a commitment to bolster public safety, and Howard County Sheriff James F. Fitzgerald, a former union president whom Ulman endorsed, said the 5 percent raise for police officers and 6 percent raise for firefighters reflected the executive's desire to keep his word.

Brian Nesbit Organizer United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 27, Towson Salary --$83,500 a year Age --36 Years on the job --Nine How he got started --Nesbit became a UFCW member in 1986 when he started working at Safeway in Greenbelt as a sophomore in high school. He continued working there after graduating. During his employment, he got more involved in union activities and became a shop steward. In 1998, he was offered a staff position as an organizer in Local 27, which covers most of Maryland, including the Eastern Shore, and western and northern counties, and Delaware.

Don't be fooled by political stunt The result of the police union vote on its support for county executive is not a surprise. In truth, what would you expect from an organization that calls for a vote from less than 7 percent of its membership? Union Secretary Dan Besseck would not say how many of the 290 members had a chance to vote. The answer is that with less than 25 people in attendance, the union allowed a vote with union leadership cheerleading the way. And who is that leadership?

PHILADELPHIA - US Airways' chief executive officer said yesterday that the airline would, as expected, ask a bankruptcy judge to impose temporary pay cuts of 23 percent on its union workers to conserve cash during the slow fall travel season. CEO Bruce Lakefield told employees in a recorded message that the filing was to be made yesterday. The airline has refused to discuss the details of its request, but union leaders who received the request confirmed the cuts. The airline has not asked its 2,300 executives and managers for the same sacrifice.

A construction worker was injured early yesterday when someone hurled a brick or rock through his car windshield as he drove into the new Ravens complex in Owings Mills, Baltimore County police said. The 5:30 a.m. incident marked the start of a daylong protest that drew dozens of members of the Baltimore carpenters union who said they are angry that nonunion workers have been used for construction of the Ravens complex. They said they would return every workday until the Ravens start using union employees.

Managers of The Sun and the leaders of its largest employee union reached an agreement in principle yesterday that is expected to forestall layoffs threatened at the newspaper. Dale M. Cohen, vice president of human resources and legal affairs for The Sun, told managers in a meeting yesterday afternoon that negotiations with the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild had yielded a compromise, allowing the company to implement a voluntary severance program to trim its payroll. Union officials said last evening that they expected a written agreement to be signed by union and company representatives Monday.

Faced with a mounting budget crisis, the city's Board of Estimates is expected to approve a proposal today to increase health care costs for elected and appointed officials, and all other nonunion city employees. The proposal would take effect Jan. 1 next year and is expected to bolster Mayor Martin O'Malley's chances of persuading unions to agree to similar calls for increased health care contributions. O'Malley said in his State of the City speech this month that city workers should expect such sacrifices in order for the city to control its budget.

The Baltimore Board of Education will offer the public an opportunity tomorrow night to suggest remedies to reduce the school system's multimillion-dollar deficit, which has resulted in the layoff of hundreds of employees. The board will hold a public forum from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the school district's headquarters, 200 E. North Ave., to hear recommendations from parents and community members about what actions the system should take to trim a budget deficit that could reach $30 million if left unchecked.

In the Region Union, Verizon target of complaint by NLRB over dues The National Labor Relations Board's Baltimore office has issued a complaint against the Communications Workers of America union and Verizon Communications Inc. for collecting about $150,000 in dues from nonunion members during last year's strike against the phone company. Verizon employees said the company should not have collected the equivalent of union dues from them, as nonunion members, after the strike in September.