Labor Officials Cite Nordstrom for Violations : Workplace: The retailer allegedly paid workers to attend anti-union rallies. The company will settle the charges by the National Labor Relations Board.
Federal labor officials on Wednesday supported charges that the Nordstrom department store chain engaged in unlawful efforts to eliminate union representation, including paying employees to attend anti-union rallies.
A company official said the Seattle-based chain would move quickly to settle the most recent charges by the National Labor Relations Board in what has become a lengthy and messy workplace dispute.
“Rather than go through the process of a formal complaint, we are just going to go ahead and settle this stuff,” said Nordstrom spokesman David Marriott. “We would characterize these as minor issues and random and scattered incidents.”
Larry McCargar, a NLRB official in Seattle, said Nordstrom must settle the charges in 10 days or they will be added to the agency’s unfair labor practices complaint, which includes charges that the company tried to bypass the union and negotiate directly with employees. Nordstrom also faces a class-action lawsuit seeking back pay for workers.
The most recent charges stem primarily from an employee effort to oust the union at several stores. Two separate petitions to decertify the union, however, have been thrown out pending the resolution of the NLRB complaint.
“We would not entertain reinstatement of those petitions,” said McCargar. “We would insist on a new petition with signatures that have been gathered without improper assistance.”
An NLRB investigation in Seattle found there was merit to several union charges that Nordstrom unlawfully supported the decertification effort. Some of the charges include:
* Anti-union employees were allowed to organize and attend rallies and lobby fellow workers on company time. Nordstrom provided transportation to decertification rallies and permitted anti-union workers to use company telephones and other supplies. Meanwhile, pro-union workers were not allowed to lobby other employees in stores.
* Employees were promised larger commissions and better conditions if they voted the union out.
* The hours of one employee were reduced because of his pro-union stance. Other employees were threatened with reprisals if they filed grievances or complaints.
* The company failed to provide information on employee profit-sharing plans and the racial backgrounds of supervisory personnel for collective bargaining purposes.
But NLRB officials in Seattle found that several union charges were without merit, including claims that pro-union employees were forced to work split shifts and had their compensation reduced. Union officials say they will take the charges that were dismissed in Seattle to an NLRB appeals board in Washington in hopes of gaining the agency’s support on those claims.
“I think it strengthens the union’s public relations campaign,” said Joe Peterson, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1001 in Seattle. “The company has for over a year had as its No. 1 goal to eliminate the union.”
Besides tarnishing Nordstrom’s reputation for exemplary employee relations, the labor dispute has been a costly one for the department store company. Earlier this year, the company set up a $15-million fund to settle claims from employees for back pay and revised its time-keeping procedures. The union, however, has contended $15 million is inadequate to settle the claims.
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries ruled that Nordstrom violated minimum wage laws by pressuring employees to work extra hours without pay.
