News & Commentary July 16, 2023 building trades unions reach a compromise with Maine Gov. Mills

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/july-16-2023/

By Swap Agrawal

Swap Agrawal is a student at Harvard Law School.

In this weekend’s news and commentary, UPS begins training non-union delivery drivers as a strike looms closer, and building trades unions reach a compromise with Maine Gov. Janet Mills over offshore wind projects.

On July 14, United Parcel Service (UPS) said it will begin training non-union delivery drivers soon as the threat of a strike by their 340,000 union employees grows. In a statement on Friday, UPS announced that employees will “participate in training that would help them safely serve our customers if there is a labor disruption.” UPS said that this was a “temporary plan” and not an effort to walk away from negotiations or permanently replace union workers. However, in National Labor Relations Board v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., the Supreme Court held that employers may permanently replace striking workers despite the National Labor Relations Act’s prohibition against employer action that interferes with or impedes or diminishes in any way the right to strike. “What an insult this is to the hardworking men and women who do backbreaking work every day to make this company $100 billion a year,” a Teamsters spokesperson said. “The full-time drivers, and the part-time workers making poverty wages, deserve better from this company.” It remains to be seen whether UPS will be able to replace enough workers in the tight labor market to continue operations if a strike is called.

On July 12, the Appropriation and Financial Affairs Committee of the Maine state legislature advanced an offshore wind bill after building trades unions reached a compromise with Gov. Janet Mills. The bill, known as LD 1895, will procure 3 gigawatts of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Maine by 2040. Gov. Mills vetoed a previous version of the bill last month which would have required project labor agreements (PLA) for Maine offshore wind port and construction projects. PLAs are collective bargaining agreements commonly negotiated between construction unions and employers establishing the terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project. They generally require contractors to hire workers for the project through a union hiring hall. In a letter to lawmakers, Gov. Mills argued that because 90% of Maine’s construction workforce is nonunion, the “PLA requirement creates a chilling effect for these companies and their workers to participate in, and potentially, build this project.” Supporters of the previous bill argued that PLAs do not prevent non-union contractors from bidding.

FULL story at link above.