Advocates for Labor and Progressive Institutions
Beginning in the fall of 2007, several corporations in the midst of organizing and/or publicity campaigns launched by major international unions began filing civil lawsuits seeking treble damages under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act (or its state cognates).
On two fronts, Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC attorneys recently turned back “right to work” efforts to make it more difficult for unions to collect agency fees from nonmembers whom they represent in collective bargaining.
In late July 2007 the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved newly negotiated labor agreements between bankrupt auto parts manufacturer Dana Corporation and the unions that represent its hourly employees.
On June 14, 2007, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Davenport v. Washington Education Association, 127 S. Ct. 2372 (2007), reversing the Washington Supreme Court’s holding striking down a state campaign finance law that restricted unions’ use of funds derived from agency shop fees.
In Beck v. PACE the firm represented the United Steelworkers in briefing and argument in the United States Supreme Court on issues regarding an employer’s responsibility in termination of a single-employer pension plan. The Court ruled on June 11, 2007 (Docket No. 05-1448), that although all the assets and liabilities of such a plan can be transferred to a multiemployer pension plan, such a transfer cannot be considered a means of terminating the single-employer plan under Title IV of ERISA.
Finding that the Mayor and Fire Chief of the District of Columbia had acted “in clear contravention of their own regulations,” District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Tignor issued a temporary restraining order on May 7, 2007 forbidding the city government from imposing penalties against two firefighters that were over and above the disciplinary action recommended by the Fire Department’s own internal hearing panel.
The firm, as labor counsel to Prince George’s County FOP Lodge 89, successfully defended the right of police officers in the County to rank-order promotions.
The nation’s first lawsuit seeking to enforce the unfunded mandates provision of the No Child Left Behind Act was filed by Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC, in April of 2005 on behalf of a broad coalition including the NEA, nine of the NEA’s state affiliates, a local NEA affiliate, and nine school districts from Michigan, Texas and Vermont.
In cases brought by the firm, district courts in Idaho and Utah struck down provisions of those states’ laws that prohibit local government employers from allowing their employees to make political contributions through payroll deduction. The rulings are currently on appeal in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits.