Advocates for Labor and Progressive Institutions
Largely affirming a judgment entered by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, the Second Circuit held that public-employee unions may lawfully charge objecting nonmembers for expenditures the union incurs in attempting to organize nonunion workplaces that compete with the nonmembers’ public-sector jobs.
In two related proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, one tried to a federal jury and one tried to the Court, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and one of SEIU’s largest local unions, SEIU – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), were able to obtain favorable judgments with the help of attorneys from Bredhoff & Kaiser.
In March 2010, Firm lawyers led the negotiations for a new musicians’ collective bargaining agreement with the Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies Joint Policy Committee on Broadcast Talent Union Relations for a new three year collective bargaining agreement covering musicians who record television and radio commercials. The agreement increases musicians wages, pension and health benefit contributions and clarifies how musicians are compensated for commercials made in the first instance for use in new media and for commercials made for traditional media that are later used in new media.
The firm recently has obtained the dismissal, under FRCP 12(b)(6), of two lawsuits brought by employers under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), alleging that the defendant unions violated RICO by engaging in a “pattern of racketeering activity” the purpose of which was to “extort” an agreement concerning union recognition from the employer. The two lawsuits are: Cintas Corporation, et al. v. UNITE HERE, et al., slip op., 2009 WL 604099 (S.D.N.Y. March 9, 2009); and Wackenhut Corp. v. SEIU, 593 F. Supp. 2d 1289 (S.D. Fla. 2009).
Interpreting a recent Supreme Court decision on the extent to which the First Amendment protects public-employee speech, the Ninth Circuit reinstated the First Amendment retaliation claim of an Idaho school employee who contended that he had lost his job for bringing to the attention of top school administrators his principal’s failure to follow school district policies concerning school safety and security.
Scheduled for a six week trial beginning October 27, 2008, Smithfield Foods, Inc. and the UFCW (and other defendants) settled the case on the morning the trial was to begin.
On September 3, 2008, the Florida Supreme Court held in Ford v. Browning that two ballot initiatives which proposed constitutional amendments concerning school vouchers could not lawfully be placed on the November 2008 general election ballot.
In April 2008, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a merger that, when consummated, resulted in the world’s largest airline.
The firm filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Change to Win labor federation in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Lozano v. City of Hazleton, arguing that a local ordinance adopted by a Pennsylvania city that imposed restrictions on the employment of unauthorized aliens is preempted by federal law.