IWW Mobile Rail Workers Win AGAIN!

Press Release - Mobile Rail Workers Union, May 20, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The workers from the Mobile Rail Workers Union have won ONCE AGAIN another round of ULP's in 2015 (Unfair Labor Practices) The full settlement details are below. We continue to fight and bargain for our first contract.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT IN THE MATTER OF Mobile Rail Solutions, Inc.

• Case 13-CA-129684
• 13-CA-130242
• 13-CA-130243
• 13-CA-132704
• 13-CA-137168

Subject to the approval of the Regional Director for the National Labor Relations Board, the Charged Party and the Charging Party HEREBY AGREE TO SETTLE THE ABOVE MATTER AS FOLLOWS:

POSTING AND MAILING OF NOTICE — After the Regional Director has approved this Agreement, the Regional Office will send copies of the approved Notice to the Charged Party in English and in Spanish. A responsible official of the Charged Party will then sign and date those Notices and immediately post them at the following Mobile Rail Solutions, Inc locations: Chicago (Storage Bay), G1 – Chicago (locations where notices to employees are regularly posted), G2 – Melrose Park (Storage Container), G3 – Rochelle (Storage Container).

The Charged Party will keep all Notices posted for 60 consecutive days after the initial posting. The Charged Party will also copy and mail, at its own expense, a copy of the attached Notice to all current employees and former employees who were employed at any time since December 1, 2013. Those Notices will be signed by a responsible official of the Charged Party and show the date of mailing.

The Charged Party will provide the Regional Director written confirmation of the date of mailing and a list of names and addresses of employees to whom the Notices were mailed.

COMPLIANCE WITH NOTICE — The Charged Party will comply with all the terms and provisions of said Notice.

PAYMENT OF WAGES AND BENEFITS — Within 21 days from approval of this agreement, the Charged Party will make whole the employee(s) named below by payment to each of them of the amount opposite each name. The amount payable to Ahern is for back pay and front pay wages, and as consideration, Ahern has agreed to waive any right to reinstatement.

The Charged Party will make appropriate withholdings for each named employee. No withholdings should be made from the interest portion of the backpay.

The Charged Party will also file a report with the Social Security Administration allocating the payment(s) to the appropriate time periods.

FEDERAL LAW GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO:

• Form, join, or assist a union;
• Choose a representative to bargain with us on your behalf;
• Act together with other employees for your benefit and protection;
• Choose not to engage in any of these protected activities.

WE WILL NOT fire employees because of their union activities.

WE WILL NOT refuse to give annual, non-discretionary pay raises to employees because of their union activities.

WE WILL NOT upon request, refuse to bargain in good faith with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of our employees in the following appropriate unit: All full-time and regular part-time drivers, helpers, and mechanics employed by the Employer and assigned to work at locations in Bedford Park, Chicago, Melrose Park, and Rochelle, Illinois, but excluding office clerical employees and guards, professional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.

WE WILL NOT impose discretionary discipline consisting of suspension, demotion, discharge or an analogous sanction, without first notifying and, on request, bargaining with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of our employees in the bargaining unit described above.

WE WILL NOT unreasonably delay in providing the Union with information it requests that is relevant and necessary to its role as your bargaining representative including the information it requested regarding our Random Drug Testing policies and procedures which the Union requested in and around December 2013 and May, 2014.

WE WILL NOT unilaterally cancel your health and dental insurance without bargaining in good faith with the Union to agreement or good faith impasse.

WE WILL NOT refuse to meet and bargain in good faith with your Union any proposed changes to the status quo in wages, hours and working conditions before putting such changes into effect, including changes in health/dental/vision/life insurance coverage and scheduling of employees’ work days and hours.

WE WILL NOT in any like or related manner interfere with your rights under Section 7 of the Act.

WE WILL pay Ahern for the wages and other benefits he lost because we fired him. (This was about 10 months of back pay paid at 100% and an additional 6 months of front pay paid at 50%) Ahern has waived his right to be reinstated.

WE WILL remove from our files all references to the termination of Ahern and

WE WILL notify him in writing that this has been done and that the termination will not be used against him in any way. (The termination was for the posting of the two videos highlighting safety concerns online which was also submitted to 3 OSHA regions in DVD form. )

WE WILL pay Andre Gage for the wages he lost because we refused to give him his annual,non-discretionary pay raise.

WE WILL, upon request, bargain in good faith with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) as the exclusive collective-bargain representative of our unit employees.

WE WILL, before issuing discretionary discipline consisting of suspension, demotion, discharge or an analogous sanction, notify and, on request, bargain with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of our employees in the bargaining unit described above.

WE WILL, if requested by the Union, rescind any or all changes to your terms and conditions of employment that we made to your health/dental/vision/life insurance coverage without bargaining with the Union.

WE WILL reimburse employees for the costs incurred due to benefits lost because of the changes to terms and conditions of employment that we made without bargaining with the Union.

WE HAVE provided the Union with the information it requested on June 11, 2014 concerning drivers’ licenses and driver sheets from April 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014.

WE HAVE provided the Union with the information it requested in December of 2013 and May of 2014 concerning drug testing.