Ceridian Corp. violated federal labor law when it refused to grant workers unpaid time off to help negotiate a union contract, an administrative law judge has ruled.
Ceridian must reimburse workers who resorted to using personal days and other paid time off to participate in past contract negotiations, said William N. Cates, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board.
The company must also give negotiating team members time off for future bargaining sessions, Cates ruled.
SEIU Local 113, which represents 120 employees at Ceridian?s LifeWorks Services call center, says the company behavior is part of a pattern seeking to deny workers their collective bargaining rights.
?They?ve told us across the table that they have no intention of living up to the administrative law judge?s decision,? said Jayne Hetchler, business representative for Local 113. ?They say they will go back to the NLRB and ask to have it dismissed.?
More charges being investigated
The workers, who include lawyers, financial advisers and mental health professionals, still are seeking their first contract with Ceridian. Negotiations began last September, after workers voted in May 2003 to join Local 113.
?They say if we want a contract, we can take it on their terms,? Hetchler said. ?These workers are all professional people. All of them have a master?s degree, at a minimum. This employer has not taken any of their issues to heart.?
Local 113 has filed two additional unfair labor practice charges against Ceridian, which is a Minneapolis-based company that provides human resources services in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
One charge accuses the company of failing to bargain in good faith. The second says the company is illegally turning a blind eye to workers trying to get rid of the union ? allowing employees to circulate a decertification petition during work hours and at other times on company property, and to use company email in their campaign. Hetchler says the company denies union activists similar access to co-workers during the workday.
The Minneapolis office of the NLRB has dismissed the decertification petition, pending its investigation of Local 113?s unfair labor practice charge.
Workers at Ceridian LifeWorks provide counseling and other personal assistance to workers at other companies that contract with Ceridian.
Hetchler says Local 113 is contacting unionized companies that utilize Ceridian and asking them ?to seriously consider whether to renew their contract or not.?
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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Ceridian Corp. violated federal labor law when it refused to grant workers unpaid time off to help negotiate a union contract, an administrative law judge has ruled.
Ceridian must reimburse workers who resorted to using personal days and other paid time off to participate in past contract negotiations, said William N. Cates, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board.
The company must also give negotiating team members time off for future bargaining sessions, Cates ruled.
SEIU Local 113, which represents 120 employees at Ceridian?s LifeWorks Services call center, says the company behavior is part of a pattern seeking to deny workers their collective bargaining rights.
?They?ve told us across the table that they have no intention of living up to the administrative law judge?s decision,? said Jayne Hetchler, business representative for Local 113. ?They say they will go back to the NLRB and ask to have it dismissed.?
More charges being investigated
The workers, who include lawyers, financial advisers and mental health professionals, still are seeking their first contract with Ceridian. Negotiations began last September, after workers voted in May 2003 to join Local 113.
?They say if we want a contract, we can take it on their terms,? Hetchler said. ?These workers are all professional people. All of them have a master?s degree, at a minimum. This employer has not taken any of their issues to heart.?
Local 113 has filed two additional unfair labor practice charges against Ceridian, which is a Minneapolis-based company that provides human resources services in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
One charge accuses the company of failing to bargain in good faith. The second says the company is illegally turning a blind eye to workers trying to get rid of the union ? allowing employees to circulate a decertification petition during work hours and at other times on company property, and to use company email in their campaign. Hetchler says the company denies union activists similar access to co-workers during the workday.
The Minneapolis office of the NLRB has dismissed the decertification petition, pending its investigation of Local 113?s unfair labor practice charge.
Workers at Ceridian LifeWorks provide counseling and other personal assistance to workers at other companies that contract with Ceridian.
Hetchler says Local 113 is contacting unionized companies that utilize Ceridian and asking them ?to seriously consider whether to renew their contract or not.?
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org