This is no longer breaking news, I learned about the ruling this past Saturday night - the judge issued the ruling Friday night. For those who have not been following this labor struggle, UPMC stands for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. If you choose to follow beyond the orange thingy, I've learned more about this ruling and what a big deal it really is for the labor movement in this country.
The first thing I want to do is give some links showing news coverage of this story -
Judge: UPMC engaged in unfair labor practices; appeal planned | TribLIVE
UPMC ordered to reinstate workers who tried to unionize employees
NLRB orders UPMC to reinstate four workers - Pittsburgh Business Times
Judge rules UPMC violated labor laws; appeal vowed
A Textbook Example of a Boss’s Campaign to Destroy a Union - Working In These Times
NLRB rules in favor of, reinstates workers at UPMC
And finally there is a summary of the over 100 page ruling here, but I was only able to get the link for this PDF to open when clicked on in the Blogh posting from the Pittsburgh City Paper link directly above this paragraph.
As a matter of background information, none of this could have come about if not for the resolve of Pittsburgh's #NewSteelCurtain - the four workers who were unfairly disciplined by UPMC for their organizing activities. You can see them tell UPMC "NO!" in this video.
When this campaign started there were very few people in the region that thought taking on this pillar of the community was either possible or a good idea. UPMC is one of the major economic engines in Pittsburgh's new Eds and Meds economy, the regions largest employer and the largest land owner in Allegheny County. They are also operating as a not for profit purely public charity. At the news conference held Monday in downtown Pittsburgh, our supporters came out in force to stand next to Al, Jim, Leslie and Ron.
Unlike the previous settlement that UPMC made in February of 2013, which I wrote about here, these charges went to a hearing before the judge, both sides argued their points, and the judge heard all the arguments and issued a rather scathing ruling against UPMC's union busting behavior. From the AP article above -
Administrative Law Judge Mark Carissimi with the National Labor Relations Board ruled largely in favor of the Service Employees International Union, which is attempting to unionize some 3,500 non-clinical UPMC employees, on 21 issues, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/... ) reported.
The judge on Friday ordered UPMC to halt certain practices, including denying non-employee organizers access to its cafeteria, conducting surveillance on employees and organizers, and barring workers from wearing union insignia in non-patient care areas.
This fight isn't over by any means. We aren't going anywhere, in the words of Reverend William Barber, forward together - not one step back!