File spoon-archives/marxism-news.archive/marxism-news_1997/marxism-news.9708, message 58


Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 18:20:18 -0600 (CST)
From: Edgar Abarca Rojano <sestrada-AT-fiscom.fcfm.buap.mx>
Subject: M-NEWS: UPS & fired Bently workers (fwd)






---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 10:56:18 -0700
From: Andrew Barbano <Barbano-AT-frontpage.reno.nv.us>
Subject: UPS & fired Bently workers




Looks like the news media are responding well.  The address to send
contributions made the Carson City paper Friday (attached), but not the AP
version in this morning's Review Journal. I am preparing a followup on
behalf of the Nevada AFL-CIO and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of
Nevada (PLAN). The Nevada labor web page will be updated tomorrow.

Please help spread the word.  Here is the address again:

O'Neil-Gomes Family Fund
Operating Engineers Union Local 3 Federal Credit Union
Account 801-760
1290 Corporate Blvd.
Reno, NV 89502

or 1720 Mountain City Highway
Elko, NV 89801

Andrew Barbano
www.nevadalabor.com




[Las Vegas Review-Journal][Donrey Newspapers]
 [Review-Journal Online] Monday, August 25, 1997

                         Feds probe firings related to UPS strike

 [Site Map] [Image]
                              Associated Press
                               MINDEN -- A federal labor board has
                         launched an investigation into the firing
                         of two Bently Nevada Corp. workers who      [Image]
                         refused to sign for United Parcel Service
                         packages during the Teamsters strike to
                         show their support for striking workers.
                               A National Labor Relations Board
                         investigator took sworn statements last
                         week from Jessica Gomes, 40, and Carlene
                         O'Neil, 56, who filed unfair labor
                         practices complaints after they were fired
                         from their senior store clerk jobs Aug. 8.

                               Don Rhoads, a supervisory attorney
                         at the NLRB office in Oakland, Calif.,
                         said investigators would talk with Bently
                         Nevada officials within the next couple of
                         weeks before the board issues a ruling.
                               At issue is whether the workers'
                         actions were protected under the National
                         Labor Relations Act of 1935, Rhoads said.
                               "The act says employees who act
                         concertedly with regard to an issue
                         dealing with wages, hours and working
                         conditions cannot be retaliated against by
                         the employers," he said.
                               "If there was (a violation), there
                         would be a settlement of the case
                         involving reinstatement and back payment."

                               Nevada union officials have rallied
                         around the women and set up a relief fund
                         for them.
                               "To the best of my knowledge, I know
                         of nobody who got fired that had nothing
                         to gain (from the Teamsters strike) but to
                         stand up for a principle," said union
                         spokesman Andrew Barbano of Reno.
                               "These women are unique in the
                         country. The UPS workers are going back to
                         work. They are not."
                               Bently officials have declined
                         comment on the case. The Minden-based
                         company manufactures high-tech protection
                         devices for rotating machinery ranging
                         from turbines to drilling rigs.
                               "It is inappropriate for us to have
                         discourse on this issue in the public
                         press," said Jim Schmid, Bently Nevada's
                         vice president of human resources.
                               Gomes and O'Neil refused to sign for
                         a UPS package when it was delivered to
                         their office on Aug. 6, three days into
                         the UPS strike. But they stressed they
                         arranged for another employee to sign for
                         it.
                               Two days later, supervisor Gene
                         Sorem fired them because of their personal
                         beliefs, they said.
                               "Bently is not union and is very
                         anti-union," Gomes said. "But we were
                         raised you just don't cross picket lines,
                         and signing for a package would have been
     =20                   like doing that. You're taking bread and
                         butter out of people's mouths if you do
                         it."
                               Gomes, a union shop steward at a
                         previous job, and O'Neil, the daughter of
                         a longshoreman, are optimistic the NLRB
                         will rule in their favor.
                               "I really think justice will
                         prevail," Gomes said. "We really think
                         they broke the law. We feel we never
                         impeded the company. We made sure that
                         someone signed for the package."
                               Gomes, the sole support for her
                         disabled husband and 9-year-old twins,
                         also has held down a part-time job as a
                         casino keno runner. O'Neil, who's single,
                         still is unemployed. Both had worked at
                         Bently at least five years.
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               =A9 1997 Las Vegas Review-Journal 08/25/97 03:00

HTML VERSION:

Nevada Appeal region Friday, August 22, 1997 9:07 AM Labor is coming to aid of fired Bently-Nevada women By Teya Vitu Two women fired from Bently Nevada for refusing to sign for UPS packages during the strike filed depositions Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board. Jessica Gomes, 40, and Carlene O'Neil, 54, filed unfair labor practices charges against Bently Nevada. The company fired them on Aug. 8 allegedly because of their beliefs in supporting the Teamsters strike against UPS. Gomes and O'Neil said their written termination notices did not specify why they were fired and Bently Nevada officials declined to discuss the matter. An NLRB investigator spent two hours each with Gomes and O'Neil taking detailed depositions describing the three-day episode leading to their termination. Their case has already raised support from the Teamsters Union, the Nevada AFL-CIO and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. Ironically, neither woman is a union member. The Alliance and AFL-CIO have set up a bank account for Gomes and O'Neil with the Alliance depositing the first $500. Donations may be made to the Carlene O'Neil-Jessica Gomes Family Fund, Operating Engineers Local 3 Federal Credit Union, 1290 Corporate Blvd., Reno 89502. The account number is 801-760. Andrew Barbano, a media representative for several Northern Nevada unions, questioned the legality of the Bently Nevada action, citing the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. "You cannot be fired for union activity," Barbano said. "There is a very low threshold of what union activity consists of. It is concerted activity of two people working together." The NLRB will evaluate the O'Neil-Gomes case to determine if the women's actions were protected under the act, said Don Rhoads, supervisory attorney at the NLRB office in Oakland, which is handling this case. "The act says employees who act concertedly with regard to an issue dealing with wages, hours and working conditions cannot be retaliated against by the employers," Rhoads said. He explained that "concertedly" means more than one person and the UPS package situation falls under working conditions. "If they told the employer they are not going to handle UPS work at the facility because it was struck work, that relates to wages, hours and working conditions," Rhoads said. "It is one thing they can do that is protected by the act." Rhoads said an NLRB investigator will also visit with Bently Nevada officials to find out why the women were fired. The agency will then make a regional determination if there was a violation of the law, he said. (can cut here) "If there was, there would be a settlement of the case (involving) reinstatement and back payment, if they so choose," Rhoads said. O'Neil and Gomes have differing view about reinstatement. Gomes has not decided if she wants reinstatement. "I'll have to make that decision when the time comes," Gomes said. "There are a whole lot of emotional and financial things all in a ball." The issue germinated as Gomes and O'Neil chatted during a break Aug. 5 about sundry matters including the UPS strike. Both were senior store clerks in the four-person stock room. They said that O'Neil said she hoped no UPS packages would come on the first day of the strike because she did not intend to sign for them. Gomes pledged to join O'Neil. (This is a good place to cut) "I didn't think we would get any packages at all," Gomes said. When a handful of packages did arrive, O'Neil and Gomes deferred to a third stock room employee, who signed for the packages, they said. "We never held up production," O'Neil said. Upon their termination, Gomes contacted the Teamsters Union, who wondered if Barbano would be interested in the story. Barbano is editor of U-News and he writes a labor column for the Sparks Tribune. "Boy, I'm interested in that," Barbano said. "To the best of my knowledge, I know of nobody who got fired that had nothing to gain (from the Teamsters strike) but to stand up for a principle. These women are unique in the country. The UPS workers are going back to work. They are not." Barbano called the Nevada AFL-CIO and the Progressive Leadership Alliance to gauge their interest. The Alliance is a "statewide coalition of traditionally under-represented constituencies" including the AFL-CIO, the culinary unions in Reno and Las Vegas, the Sierra Club and numerous other organizations. Gomes believes she acted correctly in standing up for the UPS strike. "I hope the NLRB finds Bently Nevada did something illegal and makes them stop this practice," Gomes said. "Personally, what I want out of this is to know that I did the right thing." EDS: HAS CUT AT 14, 19" BRKOUT Donations may be made to the Carlene O'Neil-Jessica Gomes Family Fund, Operating Engineers Local 3 Federal Credit Union, 1290 Corporate Blvd., Reno 89502. The account number is 801-760. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regional Pages: Incline Village | South Lake Tahoe | Tahoe City | Truckee | Carson City | Minden/Gardnerville ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main Pages: Home | Tour | News | Outdoors | Fun | Real Estate | Marketplace | CyberCitizen | Interactive | Comments? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright, Lake Tahoe News Network. Materials contained within this site may not be used without permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the Nevada Appeal Marketplace Go here if you are not seeing the full framed version of the Nevada Appeal Online.

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