On July 24, 2019, the United States House of Representatives passed a measure designed to rescue troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans. The Rehabilitation For Multiemployer Pension Act (House Bill No. 397) would provide loans and grants to insolvent and near-insolvent Multiemployer Pension Plans. The measure would create a new Treasury Department Agency-The Pension Rehabilitation Administration, to…

NLRB statistics and filings often do not reveal the true activity level of Operating Engineers Local 150. Frequently, Local 150’s strategy is more focused on picketing and boycotts, rather than traditional NLRB elections. The reality is that Operating Engineers 150 is probably the most active private sector union in Northern Illinois. They are exceedingly well…

In the Boeing Company case (365 NLRB No. 154 (2017)), the National Labor Relations Board established a new system for interpreting Employer policies and whether or not they would have a negative impact on an Employer’s ability to exercise their Section 7 rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Specifically in the Boeing Company case,…

In the case of UPMS Presbyterian Sunnyside, 368 NLRB No. 2-June 14, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board granted Employers greater rights to limit union activity on their premises. Under previous Board law, under the “public space” exemption, Employers had to allow non-Employee union representatives access to the “public areas of their property”, including restaurants…

Here are some of the most news-worthy developments in labor law for the first months of 2019. Local Right to Work Laws in Illinois Now Banned Governor Pritzker on April 12, 2019, signed legislation which prohibits local governments from passing Right to Work ordinances. Right to Work laws bar employers and unions from entering into…

As of Wednesday, April 3, 2019, the Illinois House gave final passage to a bill that has already cleared the Illinois Senate that would clearly establish that only State Government, not Local Government (i.e, city, village, municipality, etcetera), would have the exclusive authority to enact laws governing what are known as Union Security Agreements. These…

Construction industry unions, particularly Operating Engineers Local 150, continue to use the strategy which we regularly refer to as “rats, banners and street theater”. They rely on the 2010 Eliason & Knuth NLRB case which gives unions pretty much a green light to engage in secondary boycotts as long as they are not picketing. That…

In the course of our labor practice over the past 34 years, we have become intimately familiar with the various Northern Illinois labor unions. We have dealt with all of them. Naturally, most of these local unions are congregated in the metro Chicago area. The six country area is one of the few remaining areas…

While the above title is really the restatement of a very old Farmer’s Almanac comment, it has particular application for what is taking place with regard to Multi-Employer Pension Plans throughout the United States. An analysis of the Multi-Employer Pension Plan Funding Crisis that was released on or about November 1, 2018 by the Actuarial…

As our readers know, a significant portion of our practice here at Wessels Sherman is devoted to representation of employers in cases involving labor unions. This runs the full spectrum from remaining union-free to dealings with organized labor involving negotiations, arbitration, strikes, picketing, boycotts, and virtually all matters coming under the general description of labor-management…