Court Orders Goya Foods to Negotiate With UNITE HERE
Ten years later, workers are still waiting. NEW YORK, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On April 24th, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled that Goya Foods must negotiate a contract with Goya warehouse and sales workers in Miami seeking better wages and working conditions. UNITE, a predecessor union of UNITE HERE, won National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections to organize these workers in 1998. But a decade later, the workers still do not have the benefits of a union contract.
During the organizing campaign, Goya used a host of tactics - including harassing workers who supported the union, threatening workers, and holding mandatory meetings full of anti-union diatribes - in an effort to avoid unionization. After the workers voted overwhelmingly for union representation, Goya worked to frustrate the workers' desires. The company had weak enforcement of federal labor laws on its side as it sought to weaken and divide the workers to the point at which they would give up on forming a union. UNITE filed charges with the NLRB, challenging Goya's recalcitrance during bargaining, their unilateral changes in working conditions, and their discriminatory treatment of those who openly supported the union. In 1999, the NLRB's General Counsel charged Goya with at least twenty-three violations of U.S. labor law, including threats of job loss, plant closings, interrogation, discrimination in work assignments, and the firing of at least three union supporters. Later in 1999, Goya stopped bargaining with UNITE and illegally withdrew recognition of the union.
The union, workers, and General Counsel took the case to a trial under federal labor law in 2000. In 2001, the judge ruled in favor of the union and workers on every issue. He ruled that the three Goya workers were fired illegally for supporting the union and recommended that the NLRB order their reinstatement and back wages. He found Goya guilty of threats against workers who supported the union, interrogation of union supporters, and failure to bargain in good faith as required by federal law. Goya appealed, but by July 2001, the record was complete. It took the NLRB until August 2006 to make a ruling. Goya was found to have unlawfully withdrawn union recognition, and the NLRB ordered it to resume bargaining with the union. But the NLRB did not order that Goya agree to a contract for the workers. It cannot under current law. Goya was found to have engaged in unlawful threats and interrogation. For those violations, it had to post a notice in its plant saying it won't do it again and pay backpay to workers who lost work because of the company's misconduct. No fines or penalties were imposed. None are available under current law. Last week's opinion requires Goya to comply with the August 2006 order by the NLRB to resume bargaining with the union. The court's decision reads, in part: "Although the Board's delay in ruling in this case is of considerable concern, the peculiar posture of this case and the particularly egregious nature of Goya's unfair labor practices persuade us that enforcement of the Board's order should not be denied in this case." Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE, said: "For ten years, these workers have been standing up for their rights. That is far too long to wait when bills need to be paid and meals need to be put on tables. The court's ruling will give these workers what they so richly deserve." Employee Free Choice Act Under proposed federal legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act, if the parties are unable to reach a first contract, binding arbitration would be available to settle their differences. For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act, visit: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/home/ UNITE HERE is a labor union representing 460,000 members in the hotel, food service, gaming, laundry, garment and textile industries. First Call Analyst: Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070817/CLF013LOGO
CONTACT: Eric Sharfstein of UNITE HERE, +1-212-332-9373 Web Site: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/home/
2008-04-28 19:01:18 0347030 PRNEWSWIRE
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