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News Briefs

Date Posted: October 12 2007

NLRB OKs wider lawsuits vs. unions
WASHINGTON (PAI) - The Republican majority on the National Labor Relations Board pushed the door wide open for companies to file lawsuits against unions - no matter whether it's retaliatory or how little merit the lawsuits have.

In making its ruling on Sept. 29, the 3-2 NLRB vote overturned its own case history but was guided by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The board's two dissenters, Democrats Wilma Liebman and Dennis Walsh, admitted the three-man Republican majority had to follow the High Court's orders, but said it went too far - the NLRB majority basically ruled that virtually any retaliatory lawsuit against unions is legal.

"In particular," Liebman and Walsh said, "the majority errs in categorically rejecting the options left open to the board" for finding at least some lawsuits unlawful.

The NLRB decision follows a far-fetched anti-trust case taken up by notoriously anti-union BE&K Construction against virtually every building trades union in the U.S. and in California.

The three-member NLRB majority said the "right of access to a court is too important to be called an unfair labor practice solely on the ground that what is sought in court is to enjoin employees from exercising a protected right," that is, the right to collectively bargain.

Non-residential work still strong
New construction starts in August climbed 6 percent, it was reported Sept. 27 by McGraw-Hill Construction.

The increase showed construction starts making only a partial rebound after July's 11% decline, helped by strengthening for nonresidential building and non-building construction (public works and electric utilities). At the same time, the downward trend for residential building continued.

Through the first eight months of 2007, total construction on an unadjusted basis came in at $424.9 billion, down 11% from the corresponding period of 2006.

But exclude residential building, and new construction starts in this year's January-August period were up 5% over last year.

"Through the first eight months of 2007, the construction start series has hovered around a level that is 7% to 8% below last year's average pace," stated Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction. "The downturn for residential building has shaped this year's pattern for overall construction activity, and with multifamily housing now joining single family housing in decline, the correction for residential building is still very much in progress.

"In contrast, nonresidential building and public works remain on track to register moderate growth for 2007 as a whole. The credit crunch is clearly having a negative impact on the residential sector right now, but to this point in 2007 it appears that nonresidential building has experienced only modest dampening."

Geographically, total construction in the January-August period of 2007 showed this pattern relative to last year - the West, down 15%; the Midwest, down 12%; the South Atlantic, down 10%; the Northeast, down 9%; and the South Central, down 6%.