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Jewelry Company Agrees Not to Move, Recognizes Union
Rather than fight a judge’s order barring him from relocating to Mexico, the owner of a Los Angeles-area jewelry company has agreed to stay put and bargain with his newly unionized employees.
The settlement came just before a scheduled National Labor Relations Board hearing on a number of unfair labor practice charges against Vladimir Reil, president of Quadrtech Corp., where 118 workers recently voted to become members of IUE-CWA.
The most serious charge involved Reil’s attempt to move his company to Tijuana to thwart the union, a move he announced the day after the unit was certified. Now, in a court-enforceable order, Reil has pledged to return all equipment he had moved to Mexico, rehire workers he fired for union activities and bargain with the union in good faith.
“The company knew the NLRB was going to go all the way, and it was going to cost them,” said Jaime Martinez, director of organizing in IUE-CWA District 8. “We’re very happy about the settlement.”
The union is putting together a contract proposal and expects to begin bargaining soon, Martinzez said, adding that the proposal will include strong grievance and arbitration language.
“The workers are ready to get on with it and start negotiating. They want a contract. They want the union,” he said. “They are very united with IUE-CWA, and have been from day one.”
Under the agreement, Reil was ordered to post a notice in the workplace that explicitly lays out workers’ rights and Quadrtech’s obligations. In it, the company promises to end threats of job and benefit loss and strict enforcement of workplace rules. Reil has also agreed to pay wages workers lost when he locked them out for two days during the organizing drive.
The settlement hasn’t made problems in the workplace go away, however. Martinez said workers continue to have complaints about supervisors and working conditions. “They’re documenting everything,” he said. “Companies, they never really change until they get a union and a contract and members start filing grievances and arbitrating. We’re more than halfway there.”
Quadrtech workers, who assemble earrings in a stifling factory for minimum wage, contacted IUE last May after a supervisor refused to give an injured worker a chair. By the end of June, workers had voted for certification by IUE, now IUE-CWA.
After Reil announced his intent to move, the NLRB went to court on the workers’ behalf to try to stop him. In November, U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Moreno issued an injunction barring the move, a ruling that labor experts say was unprecedented.
The settlement means another court won’t be able to overturn Moreno’s decision, a victory for unions, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor professor and researcher at Cornell University.
“The settlement says it’s legitimate to stop an employer from moving to avoid unionization,” she said, quoted in the Los Angeles Times. “And it may give both the courts and the (NLRB) the courage to do it again.”
The settlement came just before a scheduled National Labor Relations Board hearing on a number of unfair labor practice charges against Vladimir Reil, president of Quadrtech Corp., where 118 workers recently voted to become members of IUE-CWA.
The most serious charge involved Reil’s attempt to move his company to Tijuana to thwart the union, a move he announced the day after the unit was certified. Now, in a court-enforceable order, Reil has pledged to return all equipment he had moved to Mexico, rehire workers he fired for union activities and bargain with the union in good faith.
“The company knew the NLRB was going to go all the way, and it was going to cost them,” said Jaime Martinez, director of organizing in IUE-CWA District 8. “We’re very happy about the settlement.”
The union is putting together a contract proposal and expects to begin bargaining soon, Martinzez said, adding that the proposal will include strong grievance and arbitration language.
“The workers are ready to get on with it and start negotiating. They want a contract. They want the union,” he said. “They are very united with IUE-CWA, and have been from day one.”
Under the agreement, Reil was ordered to post a notice in the workplace that explicitly lays out workers’ rights and Quadrtech’s obligations. In it, the company promises to end threats of job and benefit loss and strict enforcement of workplace rules. Reil has also agreed to pay wages workers lost when he locked them out for two days during the organizing drive.
The settlement hasn’t made problems in the workplace go away, however. Martinez said workers continue to have complaints about supervisors and working conditions. “They’re documenting everything,” he said. “Companies, they never really change until they get a union and a contract and members start filing grievances and arbitrating. We’re more than halfway there.”
Quadrtech workers, who assemble earrings in a stifling factory for minimum wage, contacted IUE last May after a supervisor refused to give an injured worker a chair. By the end of June, workers had voted for certification by IUE, now IUE-CWA.
After Reil announced his intent to move, the NLRB went to court on the workers’ behalf to try to stop him. In November, U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Moreno issued an injunction barring the move, a ruling that labor experts say was unprecedented.
The settlement means another court won’t be able to overturn Moreno’s decision, a victory for unions, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor professor and researcher at Cornell University.
“The settlement says it’s legitimate to stop an employer from moving to avoid unionization,” she said, quoted in the Los Angeles Times. “And it may give both the courts and the (NLRB) the courage to do it again.”