Monday, April 26, 2010
[IWS] NLRB Helps SAVE HUGO BOSS PLANT [23 April 2010]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
NLRB Action Helps To Save Hugo Boss Plant [23 April 2010]
Jobs preserved and new contract reached at Ohio manufacturer
or
http://www.nlrb.gov/shared_files/Press%20Releases/2010/R-2739.pdf
Renewed bargaining prompted in part by action taken by the National Labor Relations Board has
resulted in an agreement between employees represented by WORKERS UNITED/SEIU and
clothing manufacturer Hugo Boss that will keep a plant open and preserve several hundred jobs
in Brooklyn, Ohio.
“Clearly, both parties deserve credit for promptly returning to the table and hammering out a new
contract,” said Cleveland NLRB Regional Director Fred Calatrello. “This is a win for everyone,
but most importantly for employees.”
The three-year contract signed this morning and ratified by employees imposes some wage
concessions and provides for possible buyouts, but also calls for the employer to remain in Ohio.
Earlier, Hugo Boss declared that the parties had reached a bargaining impasse and it would close
the Brooklyn plant to move offshore. In response, the union on January 15, 2010, filed a charge
with the NLRB’s Cleveland office alleging that the Company had bargained in bad faith.
After an investigation, Regional Director Calatrello found reasonable cause to believe that the
Company had violated the NLRA. However, before the complaint issued, Hugo Boss entered
into a settlement which provided that the Company would return to the bargaining table and
bargain in good faith with the Union. That bargaining resulted in today’s announcement of a new
contract.
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to
safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their
bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices
committed by private sector employers and unions. The NLRB’s Office of the General Counsel
has independent prosecutorial discretion under the National Labor Relations Act to issue
complaints alleging such unfair labor practices.
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Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
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