Friday, October 25, 2013

Palermo Continues Anti-Union Activity

Will this never end?

There has been a labor struggle at Palermo's which has lasted over a year.  The strife started when Palermo's tried to quash efforts by the workers to unionize.

During that year plus, the workers filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the company's illegal actions.  While Palermo got away with firing scores of illegal immigrants, they still got pinched for illegal practices:
Gottschalk said he found reason to believe that the company did violate the law by telling “five or six” employees that if they left their jobs to join the strikers, “they would not have jobs to come back to.”

Gottschalk said he is recommending that the company “cease and desist” from engaging in such “retaliation” and restore those employees’ jobs.
Sadly, Palermo apparently did not learn their lesson and have started up again with their anti-union activities:
The charge filed with the local NLRB office alleges that since Oct. 18 Palermo Villa has broken national labor laws by “prohibiting employees from communicating with other employees about unions and unionization while at work” and “subjecting pro-union employees to pretextual disciplinary warnings,” according to a copy of the document provided by Palermo spokesman Evan Zeppos.

[...]

Neumann-Ortiz pointed to photos posted on the Palermo Workers Union website that she called “anti-union literature.” The website includes a copy of Palermo’s settlement with the NLRB, as well as a poster with the Palermo logo that includes statements about unions and the company.

The statements include “It is Palermo’s belief that an outsider will not help you and will only interfere with our relationship and communications” and “So are you good enough now because the union can get money from you?” and “The union does not deserve the right to be your spokesperson!”

Zeppos confirmed that those “informational signs” were distributed by the company within the last two months. He said the company does not consider them “anti-union.”
The signs were taken down about two weeks ago, Zeppos said.
What? No "Loose lips sinks ships" posters? And if the signs were simply "informational," why did Palermo take them down?

It's no wonder that Milwaukee County Emperor Chris Abele loves the company so much. They are almost as anti-worker as he is.

4 comments:

  1. Remember the "good ole days", when workers wanted to unionize and they didn't have to be forced to? Or convinced why they should.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember the days when workers had to fight for eight hour work days, safe working conditions, no child labor laws, minimum wage....oh wait, those days are still here.

      Delete
    2. Isn't that why we have the DWD, OSHA, and labor laws? Seems to me the democrats in Washington do just fine on their own pushing a minimum wage agenda. Now if its the financing to get those politicians to office your worried about, then you would be more honest in your motives.

      Delete
  2. Saying we don't need labor unions 'cause OSHA will always be there to protect the workers is like saying we don't need concealed carry 'cause the police will always be there to protect you.

    Sounds good in theory...doesn't work so well in practice.

    ReplyDelete