Guest blogger: Steven M. Chanley

Chamber of Commerce v. Lockyer (9th Cir.)

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down on NLRA preemption grounds a California statute that forbids a recipient of state funding from using any of those funds to promote or deter union organizing. Although somewhat facially neutral, the problem was that, in practice, the statute had a disparate impact on an employer’s right of free speech as to matters falling within the NLRA’s coverage. Accordingly, the statute was found to be preempted under both the Garmon and Machinists preemption doctrines.

Comment: Another example of the NLRA forbidding states from putting their thumb on one side of the scale or the other in matters of unionizing. Isn’t it best just to leave such matters to a well-informed employee electorate, whose personal rights are at stake anyway?

I apologize to my few readers for my total lack of posting the last few weeks. I’ve still been checking for new developments in the Courts and Legislature, but honestly, due to an emergency at work, I haven’t been as diligent as I could be.

The Bee has a good article on the labor meeting going on. I think there will be interesting developments.

As what I had expected to be the labor war of the decade (even if it’s not exactly what most people think of when they think of unions), the NHL cancelled its season. At the 11th hour, the player’s union split and one faction buckled to accept a salary cap. Even still, the two sides couldn’t seal the breach. The NY Post’s (ironically) Larry Brooks has been saying this was management’s strategy all along: to force an impasse. The problem there is, except in Alberta, impasses don’t work the way the do here–you can’t have replacements. That would mean that Toronto and Montreal would not be in the league. That won’t work–would it?

So, the lockout ends in San Francisco. Thanks guys. No way you could have gotten that done in time for my conference? (= Those scab maids had no idea how to do a room. Seriously. Apparently, the honchos at the management companies agreed. [No, of course I don't seriosly expect any of this done on my timetable.]

Workers’ Comp judge files a workers’ comp case after death threat. Cue Alanis. It’s ironic. The Sacramento Bee reports.

California’s 150 workers’ compensation judges are six times more likely to file on-the-job injury cases than their judicial counterparts in state government, a Bee investigation has found.

Six times more? Attention appeals court judges: file claims for tongue whiplash after intense colloquy. Is that amount attributable to just knowing their rights alone? Do Superior Court judges not know their rights?

The Fresno Bee reports:

The California Nurses Association, which represents about 300 nurses at University Medical Center, delivered the 10-day strike notice to hospital officials late Friday. The advance notification, required by law, was delivered not long after contract negotiations between the two sides concluded earlier in the day. The two sides have been trying to come to a contract agreement for more than a year.

In the California Journal, this article discusses the trends in union membership and other changes over the years.

Wow.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom threatened Monday to join hotel workers on their picket lines today unless hotel owners end a four-week lockout and allow employees to return to their jobs for a 90-day cooling-off period.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The SF Chronicle reports.

In the ongoing hotel/worker labor dispute, the hotels have locked out the laundry worker. The LA Times reports.

I was going to say century, but that would really be stretching it. Plus, I know that professional athletes hardly conjure the labor strife of 100 years ago, but the NHL battle coming up may have a touch of everything.

I have to admit, though, that the NHL labor talks are extremely high stakes. Literally–not rhetorically–the future of the league is riding on the outcome.

Yet another round of talks are going nowhere. The owners’ stategy has been suggested to be to aim for a labor impasse and unilaterally impose their hard cap next year. The current CBA will expire one day after the World Cup finale, on 9/15.

If you are unfamiliar with the NHL labor dispute, it’s a little more complex than the usual millionaire versus billionaire conflict of major sports. First and foremost, the NHL’s popularity has plummeted in the last ten years. Teams have been added in areas where hockey is not a traditional sport, instead of putting more teams where it’s sure to be popular. There have been several bankruptcies of late, yet no contraction.

Since CLEL purports to track California labor law issues, it’s worth pointing out that the California teams have been very successful of late. San Jose was in the final four this year, and Anaheim went to game 7 of the final before losing. But they haven’t had the attendance you might expect from championship caliber teams.

CLEL will continue to follow this brinksmanship.

On a slightly different note …

The NHL is having its own labor woes. After a lockout shortened the 1994-5 season to just half a season, they parties are back at it this year. The players refuse the league’s demand of a salary cap. NHL players earn 76% of revenues in salary, higher than any other major sporting league in the US. The latest talks today went nowhere, the AP reports.

(There are three NHL teams in California. The San Jose Sharks, Western Conference Finalists in 2003-4, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Western Conference Champions in 2002-3, and the Los Angeles Kings.)