Unfair Labor Practices

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore has settled a federal complaint alleging unfair labor practices, the hotel and a local union said Thursday. The agreement, signed Wednesday, came nine days after a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge began hearing the case. The vast majority of cases before the board ultimately settle. The federal agency's general counsel alleged that Hyatt Regency managers "interrogated employees about their union activities," began "invoking harsh discipline" when employees arrived late to work and fired four workers last year in reaction to their efforts to unionize with labor union Unite Here.

The Hyatt Regency Baltimore has settled a federal complaint alleging unfair labor practices, the hotel and a local union said Thursday. The agreement, signed Wednesday, came nine days after a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge began hearing the case. The vast majority of cases before the board ultimately settle. The federal agency's general counsel alleged that Hyatt Regency managers "interrogated employees about their union activities," began "invoking harsh discipline" when employees arrived late to work and fired four workers last year in reaction to their efforts to unionize with labor union Unite Here.

RYE BROOK, N.Y. -- Baseball owners may have suffered a significant setback in their attempt to implement a new economic system when the National Labor Relations Board announced yesterday that it soon will issue a pair of complaints charging management with unfair labor practices.The complaints both stem from the owners' decision to withhold $7.8 million in All-Star Game revenues that traditionally go into the Major League Baseball Players Association's pension and benefits fund.The announcement couldn't have come at a worse time for the ownership bargaining committee, which has been using the threat of a declared impasse to pressure the union into accepting a drastically altered player compensation system.

A hearing into allegations of unfair labor practices filed against the Hyatt Regency Baltimore began late Monday after hours of ultimately fruitless discussion about settling the complaint. National Labor Relations Board attorneys began their case against the hotel by describing the situation as a "predictable pattern" of "unlawful" management responses to unionizing efforts by employees working with Unite Here, a union that represents employees in fields such as hospitality. "It's a classic nip-in-the-bud case," said Sean R. Marshall, a senior trial attorney for the board.

Commissioner Earl Foreman, Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale, Blast coach Kenny Cooper and the Cleveland Crunch have been named in papers filed by the Major Indoor Soccer League Players Association charging unfair labor practices.The players union charges that those unfair practices included threats of blackballing players who continued to resist the salary cap reduction, and the blackballing of at least two players from the league.The complaint states that:* Foreman, Hale, Cooper "and other officers, agents and representatives" of the league interrogated players and created the impression of surveillance regarding which players continued to oppose a reduction in the collectively bargained salary cap.* Cooper and others threatened to blackball Major Soccer League players who continued to oppose a reduction in the salary cap.* Since near the end of July 1991, the MSL has refused to bargain with the MISLPA, the certified bargaining representative of the players, bypassing the union and imposing unilateral changes in salary and working conditions on its employees.

A hearing into allegations of unfair labor practices filed against the Hyatt Regency Baltimore began late Monday after hours of ultimately fruitless discussion about settling the complaint. National Labor Relations Board attorneys began their case against the hotel by describing the situation as a "predictable pattern" of "unlawful" management responses to unionizing efforts by employees working with Unite Here, a union that represents employees in fields such as hospitality. "It's a classic nip-in-the-bud case," said Sean R. Marshall, a senior trial attorney for the board.

An official with the union attempting to organize warehouse workers at the Joppa headquarters of Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. was not surprised by the overwhelming vote to reject the union's organizing efforts.The election was on Jan. 14, but the ballots were impounded by the National Labor Relations Board because the International Ladies Garment Workers Union complained to the NLRB that the company had created a work atmosphere that discouraged workers from endorsing the union.Thursday the NLRB denied the complaint and ratified the vote.

The National Labor Relations Board said yesterday that it has charged the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau Inc. with unfair labor practices.In a complaint filed Friday, the NLRB charged that the free legal service changed employee benefits without the agreement of the union that represents most of its attorneys and paralegals.William W. Thompson II, a Washington attorney who is representing the approximately 170 members of the Maryland Legal Aid WorkersUnion, said some members also believe managers are dragging their feet in negotiating the nonprofit bureau's first contract with the union.

Harbor Cruises Ltd. violated federal labor laws by pressuring workers to reject a 1994 union move to organize service employees on the Lady Baltimore and Bay Lady, and later firing union activists, the National Labor Relations Board ruled yesterday.By ruling in favor of the union that was seeking to organize waiters, waitresses, bartenders and galley staff who work aboard the two Baltimore cruise ships, the NLRB affirmed the decision last June by federal Administrative Law Judge John H. West.

WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders predicted that House members would vote overwhelmingly today in favor of a bill that would prohibit employers from permanently replacing striking workers.Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, Majority Whip William H. Gray of Pennsylvania, House Speaker Thomas S. Foley of Washington and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said the bill would have an easy ride through the House."We will adopt this and turn around a decade of unfairness," Hoyer said yesterday.

The National Labor Relations Board has accused air-conditioner maker Fedders Corp. of unfair labor practices against workers locked out of the company's Rotorex Co. plant near Walkersville.The company illegally fired 345 employees of the air compressor plant in Frederick County and failed to bargain in good faith with their representative -- the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers -- according to the complaint, filed Friday.Fedders doesn't comment on pending NLRB complaints, spokesman Kent Hansen said.

In an age of weakened unions, increased foreign competition and a continuing shift from manufacturing to service jobs, it has become crucial for labor and management to solve differences amicably, the chair of the National Labor Relations Board said yesterday."

Harbor Cruises Ltd. violated federal labor laws by pressuring workers to reject a 1994 union move to organize service employees on the Lady Baltimore and Bay Lady, and later firing union activists, the National Labor Relations Board ruled yesterday.By ruling in favor of the union that was seeking to organize waiters, waitresses, bartenders and galley staff who work aboard the two Baltimore cruise ships, the NLRB affirmed the decision last June by federal Administrative Law Judge John H. West.

WASHINGTON -- Once again, with the successful Republican-led filibuster against the striker replacement bill, organized labor has taken it on the chops.Coupled with last year's failure to defeat the North American Free Trade Agreement, the loss of the measure to protect strikers against what the unions still call "scabs" taking their members' jobs permanently marks a low point in Big Labor's legislative clout.The inability of the Clinton administration to deliver on thishigh-priority bill for organized labor has some pro-labor legislators, such as Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, grousing about the level of effort made by the White House to overcome the filibuster.

WASHINGTON -- Call them bureaucratic marriage counselors.They are the private and public sector experts summoned by the Clinton administration to mend broken relationships between management and labor in the federal work force.In Baltimore, federal agencies are bustling with these consultants, who oversee all facets of labor relations from labor-management retreats to role-playing exercises in the office. The goal is to bridge the often hostile divide between government workers and their supervisors.

The first thing you need to know about William B. Gould IV, who's slated to become new chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, is that he is crazy about baseball: a lifelong rabid Red Sox fan, a fantasy camper and a Major League Baseball salary arbitrator.A lawyer and college professor, Mr. Gould relishes the intricate teamwork that yields success on the playing field and the intense competition that breeds it. In short, a perfect outlook for becoming head of the 58-year-old NLRB, which enforces labor laws governing employers and workers.

The Major Soccer League players' union might have upset some of its players more than it did MSL officials by filing a complaint of unfair labor practices last week.The players say John Kerr, director of the Major Indoor Soccer League Players Association, is out of touch with players, acts unilaterally and is more concerned with getting money for former athletes than with preserving the jobs of the 112 active players."I'm going to talk to all our reps and see what we can do," said Dallas Sidekicks goalkeeper Joe Papaleo.