Unfair Labor Practices

The company that built the engine involved in a fatal Baltimore police helicopter crash Nov. 4 confirmed yesterday that the motor was assembled by workers who had not been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.Michael D. Wolf, a vice president of marketing for Pennsylvania-based Textron-Lycoming, said yesterday that the workers -- filling in during a strike -- were qualified, despite their lack of FAA certification.Wolf refused to say which jobs were handled by the uncertified employees, some of whom he described as office workers.

With the threat of a strike serving as an undercurrent, the division among umpires along league lines grew wider yesterday. At least eight of the 13 new umpires the National League has hired have joined the umpires' union, a person close to the union said, but none of the American League's 12 new umpires has applied for membership. Twenty-two umpires, 13 from the NL and nine from the AL, face the loss of their jobs Sept. 2 after the leagues' acceptance of their resignations. The union has tried to salvage their jobs in talks with the league presidents and through unfair labor practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

The legal battle over the move to the 40-hour workwee focuses on two main arguments: discrimination against women and unfair labor practices, including breaking an implied contract.Work hours for state employees are set out in state regulations, which describe the workweek as ranging from 35 to 40 hours, according to James F. Truitt Jr., assistant attorney general and counsel to the Department of Personnel.As a result, he says, there are no legal grounds for a case of breaking an implied contract.

Up-To-Date laundry, the state's largest industrial laundry, was sued yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore by employees who say they were subjected to racial slurs and lower wages because they are African-American. The class action suit alleges that the West Baltimore laundry, which cleans the Baltimore Ravens' uniforms and linens for the region's biggest hospitals, has fostered a hostile work environment since 1998. The suit names five plaintiffs, but lawyers say it was filed on behalf of hundreds of African-Americans who worked at Up-To-Date during the past three years.

The labor union representing Potomac Electric Power Co. workers has filed charges against the Washington utility and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. over what it claims are attempts to undermine the organization.As part of the charges, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1900 also has requested that the National Labor Relations Board block the transition process involved in the planned March 1997 merger between the two utilities.Among the IBEW charges filed are that Pepco has bargained in bad faith regarding future job eliminations and that BGE has "threatened, coerced and intimidated" employees and threatened to fire them.

An administrative law judge ruled yesterday that the managers of Harbor Cruises Ltd. violated federal labor laws by firing workers and admonishing them not to complain during and after a 1994 unionizing drive by the waiters and waitresses aboard the Bay Lady and Lady Baltimore tour boats.Judge John H. West ordered the company, which runs dinner cruises out of the Inner Harbor, to rehire and pay back wages with interest to employees fired after the 1994 organizing drive by Local 37 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

CHICAGO -- Richie Phillips, the Philadelphia lawyer who represents the Major League Umpires Association, yesterday filed an unfair labor practices charge against the American and National leagues.Phillips said league officials are planning to lock out the umpires, beginning Opening Day, until a contract agreement is reached, and replace them from a pool of 200 amateurs."We're very, very far apart," Phillips said. "There is hope, assuming they want to get serious and work out a deal. But if they're intent on a lockout, there is no hope."

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.

Forgive Stephanie Huesgen if she sounds a tad maternal about the Archbishop Spalding High School music department.In eight years she has nurtured the department from a 15-member band to one that boasts a choral program, a guitar group, a music theory class and an award-winning 96-member concert and symphonic band."

Officials of Giant Food Inc.'s food workers union said yesterday that they plan to step up pressure to protect members' jobs as the Federal Trade Commission reviews the Landover-based chain's proposed sale to international food retailer Royal Ahold NV.The FTC is expected to direct Ahold, as part of its purchase of Giant for $2.7 billion, to divest about five grocery stores in Maryland in areas where the Landover Giant competes with Giant Food Stores Inc....