If the NMB declares self-help is available as a remedy, federal law prohibits Parker from firing anyone who participates in a union-sponsored job action.
He can't lock out workers and continue to operate. Also against federal law.
Do some study and get back.
Me thinks you need to brush up and do some study yourself. Here are some highlights for you. This material is not copyrighted, only requires a reference. Read it and weep:
Federal labor laws require a 60-day waiting period before workers can strike to force termination or modification of an existing collective bargaining agreement. The terms of the agreement remain in full force and effect during this period, and
any employee who strikes can be fired. The 60-day "cooling-off period" begins when the union serves notice on the employer or when the existing contract ends. This provision does not affect the right of employees to strike in protest of some UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE of their employer. It does help to prevent premature strikes, however.
Read more:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/10553/Strike-Fe...l#ixzz0QXhJf4Tk
Slowdown
An intermittent work stoppage by employees who remain on the job. Slowdowns are illegal because they give the employees an unfair bargaining advantage by making it impossible for the employer to plan for production by the workforce.
An employer may discharge an employee for a work slowdown.
Read more:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/10554/Strike-St...l#ixzz0QXhtJzVs
In economic strikes, however,
the employer is not required to take back the strikers immediately upon the settlement of the dispute. Economic strikers are still categorized as employees and are entitled to reinstatement in the event vacancies occur, but the employer does not have to reinstate any worker who has found substantially equivalent work elsewhere or who has given the employer a legitimate and substantial reason for not reinstating that worker.
The hiring of permanent replacement workers has become an important management weapon against economic strikes, giving the employer the ability to hire a nonunion workforce and to threaten the local union with destruction. U.S. labor unions have been unsuccessful in persuading Congress to amend the National Labor Relations Act to provide immediate job reinstatement to economic strikers.
An employee has
no right to be paid while on strike, nor does the employee have a right to claim UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION benefits, unless state law provides the benefit. Employees who refuse to cross a picket line on principle are treated in the same way as strikers, but those who are kept from their jobs through fear of violence are entitled to collect unemployment compensation.
Read more:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/10554/Strike-St...l#ixzz0QXkM3PVe
Here is a case study for you, the NWA strike:
Viewpoint: Looking Back on the Northwest Strike
— Malik Miah and Terry O'Rourke
Striking mechanics and cleaners at Northwest Airlines (NWA) voted November 6 to end their 15-month strike. This marks a new stage in airline employees’ fight to turn back an orchestrated assault on wages, benefits, and working conditions.
This decision reflects the strikers’ desire to move on, but it also allows the strikers’ union, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), to begin the difficult challenge of rebuilding the union at NWA.
AMFA takes encouragement from other workers and unions that successfully reestablished themselves following a similar defeat. AMFA workers at Alaska Airlines slowly yet persistently restored wages, benefits, and union status following a failed strike conducted by their former union in 1985.
Once it became clear that the strike by mechanics alone could not shut down the carrier, and the other unions on the property would settle with management then the AMFA leadership fought for the best possible strike settlement.
The strikers decided by a three-to-one margin to accept the strike settlement agreement. Each striker must now decide whether to accept ten weeks severance pay without recall rights or accept five weeks severance with two years recall rights.
The union lost its agency shop status in this strike. That means that no worker will be forced to belong to or pay dues to the union. The union, however, retains its status as the legal representative of the mechanic and related class and craft at NWA. If NWA does survive bankruptcy, clearly it is better to be in a position to seek to rebuild the union in the future.
The final settlement allows strikers to be recalled as openings occur. All seniority rights are protected. The original replacement workers hired from vendors and scabs that crossed the picket line remain on the property. Yet they don’t have super seniority for job assignments or protection from future lay offs.
It is a difficult situation no doubt. But history shows that a strong shop floor leadership can over time begin to rebuild the union and improve the lot of the workers.
LABOR DISUNITY
What lessons can be drawn from this 15-month long battle?
The strikers’ determination was not enough to achieve victory. The mechanics and related employees did what no other workers in the industry have done since the Eastern Airlines strike in the late 1980s—strike a union-busting management as it headed into bankruptcy. The strikers, however, were not able to shut down the carrier and force a fair settlement.
The chief reasons for the failure became clear early in the strike. The unity of management, courts, and government allowed NWA’s owners to keep its planes in the air. Disunity in the house of labor undercut the power of the strikers.
NWA management not only hired scabs prior to the strike, it received support from the courts and government at every turn. This included reassigning one FAA inspector that refused to look the other way as NWA maintenance struggled in the early days of the strike.
The leadership of the other unions at NWA, particularly the pilots and ramp and baggage handlers’ unions, refused to support AMFA’s strike. These two unions (the Machinists and the Air Line Pilots Association) each had a representative on the NWA Board of Directors. They not only turned their back on striking workers by crossing the picket lines, but even did struck work.
The failure to build a cross-union alliance exposes a fundamental weakness of all U.S. unions, not just in the airlines. The complicity of most NWA unions in undermining a legal strike (the flight attendants union was the lone exception) even before it began was a gift to management. That betrayal emboldened management to demand similar concessions from the other NWA unions.
AMFA’s decision to strike, in that context, was courageous. It was the only union to stand up and resist the corporation’s draconian concessions by walking the picket line.
Some labor officials criticized AMFA for striking against such odds. They point to AMFA’s independent status (it is not affiliated with the AFL-CIO or Change to Win federation) as the reason that it has few friends. AMFA was criticized as “elitist,†even though it represents not only mechanics, but also cleaners at NWA.
Regardless, the draconian nature of the company’s final offer, which would have eliminated over half of the union jobs at NWA, made the strike inevitable. The acid test for every union was simple: which side are you on?
LESSONS LEARNED
Could AMFA been better prepared? Could it have taken steps to improve the odds of winning? Of course.
The union could have responded aggressively with picketing and public relations once it became aware that NWA was training replacements at a hotel in Tucson, Arizona months before the strike deadline. (Editor’s Note: NWA spent at least $107 million to hire, train, and house scabs in the 18 months leading up to the strike alone.)
Reaching out to the wider labor community earlier and more aggressively could have led to more substantial support during the strike. Similarly, more should have been done to build alliances with community and campus organizations.
Since NWA operates internationally, AMFA could have also reached out early to international labor organizations to build allies. AMFA did begin to do that as the strike unfolded, and sometimes found unions abroad to be more responsive than their U.S. counterparts.
Unfortunately, even if all these avenues had been fully exploited, they could not outweigh the loss of coordinated action by the other unions at NWA.
ANOTHER WAY
There is one bright spot for labor in the airline industry. NWA’s feeder carrier, Mesaba Airlines, followed NWA into bankruptcy at the end of 2005. Seeing what had happened at NWA, the three main unions at the airline formed the Mesaba Labor Coalition.
The alliance was forged at all levels, with the unions (ALPA, AFA, and AMFA) coordinating their negotiations, legal tactics, and community outreach efforts.
The coalition offers a ready model for labor at every airline. Instead of factionalism, these unions are uniting against their common enemy.
This type of unity will be needed at United Airlines in 2009 when all six of the airline’s major unions’ contracts expire. We need a United Airlines Labor Coalition.
CHALLENGE AHEAD
At Northwest, the next step is to return to a property where scabs still work. It will not be easy.
Yet AMFA is still the legally recognized collective bargaining agent. This gives the union some leverage.
AMFA Assistant National Director Steve MacFarlane captured the sentiment of many NWA strikers: “While we did not stop Northwest, we did stand and fight for what was just and right.
“There is no shame in fighting and losing. There is only shame in failing to have the courage to defend yourself and your coworkers.â€
