Settlement of 20-Year-Old Anti-Union Hiring Cases Shows Need for Employee Choice

by James Parks, Oct 16, 2009

In a case that clearly illustrates the need for real labor law reform, four construction unions have reached a settlement with Fluor Daniel over the company’s practice of discriminating against union organizers who apply for work. It took nearly 20 years for the cases to be resolved and some of the original workers in the cases have died. 

Fluor, one of the nation’s largest engineering and construction companies, will pay $12 million in back pay and interest to 167 union members who were denied jobs. Each member will receive between $8,000 and $217,000.

The settlement ends several cases before the National Labor Relations Board, brought by three of the unions—Boilermakers, Electrical Workers and Plumbers and Pipe Fitters. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters is also a party to the litigation. Some of the cases date back to the early 1990s.      

In a joint statement, the presidents of the four unions said:

This settlement is unprecedented for this type of case. It is the largest in terms of back pay, and it is the longest. The combined cases took nearly 20 years to litigate through the Labor Board and the appeals process. Today marks a huge victory for the union construction trades and for the individuals who were treated unfairly by Fluor Daniel.

More than a dozen of the workers who faced discrimination have died, demonstrating the need for labor law reform, the presidents said, beginning with passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The legal right of workers to organize is routinely abused. It should never take two decades for workers to receive justice under the law.

Texas-based Fluor Daniel is a Fortune 500 company, which employs more than 41,000 international employees and maintains offices in over 25 countries.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)