Advocates for Labor and Progressive Institutions
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York recently dismissed an effort by Hostess Brands, Inc., filed under Section 1113 of the Bankruptcy Code, to reject its collective bargaining agreements with several local unions affiliated with the Bakery Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.
Nineteen U.S. Senators, with the assistance of Bredhoff & Kaiser, have filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of new regulations imposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”).
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin recently ruled on a challenge brought by a coalition of seven unions, for which Bredhoff & Kaiser served as lead counsel. The court struck down on equal protection and First Amendment grounds two important provisions of Wisconsin Act 10, the widely publicized antiunion statute sponsored by Governor Scott Walker in 2011, a requirement for annual recertification by an absolute majority of union members and a prohibition on the voluntary withholding of union dues from a general employee’s paycheck.
A Maryland union representing public safety workers achieved victory in an arbitration challenging a county’s refusal to provide benefits to spouses of members who entered into valid, out-of-state marriages.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia prohibiting Volvo Group North America, Inc. from unilaterally modifying or terminating the health benefits of over 430 retirees of the New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Virginia.
The Third Circuit recently held that a District Court had improperly exercised jurisdiction in a dispute over work assignments that must instead be resolved through arbitration.
Bredhoff & Kaiser lawyers successfully defended the National Education Association in Daniels-Hall v. NEA, No. 08-35531 (9th Cir. Dec. 20, 2010), a case brought by two public school teachers claiming that the NEA violated ERISA in the selection and monitoring of mutual funds available to participants in a nationwide benefit plan established under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code.
In September 2010, Firm lawyers led the negotiations for a new musicians’ collective bargaining agreement covering the band and guest musicians on the new Conan O’Brien Show. Among other terms, the agreement provides enhanced protections and benefits for musicians when their performances are exploited on “new media” platforms.
Affirming a judgment in favor of former America West Airlines pilots now employed by US Airways following the 2005 merger of the two airlines, the Fourth Circuit held that a lawsuit filed against a number of individual pilots and their advocacy organization by the leadership of the union now representing the pilots of the merged airline failed to state a claim under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). Bredhoff & Kaiser represented the America West pilots in this litigation, which grew out of disagreement between the former America West and US Airways pilots about principles to be applied in integrating the two airlines’ seniority lists. US Airline Pilots Ass’n v. AWAPPA, LLC et al., ___ F.3d ___, 2010 WL 2979322 (4th Cir. July 30, 2010).