NLRB Gives Rams Another Try at Solving Band Wrangle

Issuance of a formal complaint against the Los Angeles Rams in a dispute over the team’s switch last summer from union to non-union musicians for home games has been delayed to allow another attempt at a private settlement, according to a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.

The Rams had been given a Wednesday deadline to decide whether to accept an NLRB-proposed settlement or face a formal complaint and hearing from the board over charges filed in October by Orange County Musicians’ Assn. Local 7.

“The parties are trying to work out a private settlement outside the NLRB,” said Neil Warheit, the board attorney who investigated the union complaint. He labeled the delay “quite common.” If the NLRB hasn’t heard of a private settlement by Monday, he said, “I would assume the complaint would be issued in the first few days of next week.”

The development was news, however, to union local president Frank Amoss.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Amoss said. Warheit said his board has been working through union attorney David Rosenfeld, who could not be reached by The Times on Thursday. Rams officials also could not be reached.

Under the settlement proposed by the NLRB, the Rams would pay the union musicians who were put out of work for the season and would agree to bargain in good faith in the future. If a complaint is filed, the Rams would face a hearing before an administrative judge in two to three months.

The team broke off negotiations with the union in July after the union refused to reduce the size of the band from 22 members to 15, which Rams officials said would have saved them about $1,000 per game. The team then assembled a band of 22 non-union musicians, including some Cal State Long Beach students.