USW Hails Consent Order Achieved By NLRB Following Decade-Plus Struggle at Kentucky River Medical Center

Company Ordered to Bargain in Good Faith; Make $300,000 Back-pay Settlement

Contact: Wayne Ranick (412) 562-2444, wranick@usw.org

(Pittsburgh) – The United Steelworkers (USW) today lauded the proposed consent order entered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Kentucky River Medical Center in Jackson, Ky. The USW has been working for 13 years to negotiate a first contract with Jackson Hospital Corporation facility.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the hospital in civil contempt for a number of reasons including failing and refusing to bargain in good faith; refusing to reinstate three employees to their former jobs; unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of employment for represented employees; refusing to provide information to the union; and, indefinitely suspending a bargaining team member because of union activities.

“This case is a perfect example why the new rules proposed yesterday by the NLRB are absolutely necessary,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “The representation process is in dire need of ways to streamline and speed up unionization. The current system in place allows corporations like Kentucky River to deny employees basic rights for 13 years by successfully using delaying tactics.” 

The court order clearly details the corporation’s requirement to bargain in good faith. Kentucky River Medical must agree to bargain in sessions of at least seven hours for a minimum of 54 hours per calendar month for up to a year, or until a settlement is reached. For the first 162 hours of renewed bargaining the corporation is responsible for compensating bargaining unit employees for work hours lost spent in negotiations.

In addition, the corporation must deposit $75,000 in an interest-bearing account as a fine that can be returned upon full compliance of the steps outlined by the court to require the Kentucky River to bargain in good faith.

“This is a great victory for our union and its members,” said USW District 8 Director Ernest “Billy” Thompson. “We kept fighting when, because of the process, it would have been easy to quit any number of times.  We now look forward to working with our members and negotiating their first union contract, which they elected to bargain for 13 years ago.”

Three USW members will receive full reinstatement to their former jobs or similar positions, without loss of seniority or any other rights. The suspension received by the bargaining unit member will be removed from that employee’s file and cannot ever be used against her in any way. Finally, the three employees will be made whole for wages and benefits lost, together with interest, because of hospital’s “contumacious conduct.” Such amount has been determined to be in excess of $300,000.

The USW is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. It represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, health care and the service sector.

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