NYT: Labor (NLRB) Board to Reproach Restaurant in Central Park (far-reaching legal complaint)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/nyregion/boathouse-strikers-get-national-labor-relations-board-assist.html?_r=3&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: August 25, 2011

The strike at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park has lasted more than two weeks, with 60 waiters, cooks and dishwashers picketing, chanting and drumming outside day after day. But now the strikers are getting some long-awaited outside support.


Ty Cacek/The New York Times

Employees of the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park are striking over union recognition. The National Labor Relations Board is expected to issue a complaint accusing the restaurant of firing some workers for supporting the union.


The National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that oversees union matters, plans to issue a far-reaching legal complaint against the restaurant, federal officials and union leaders say. The complaint would accuse the Boathouse of illegally threatening and questioning workers, as well as firing and otherwise punishing more than 15 workers for supporting the union.

The labor board has also said, according to these officials, that it plans to seek an unusual judicial order to require the Boathouse to enter contract negotiations with the union, even though no election has been held to determine whether the restaurant’s 140 workers want to unionize.

The labor board seeks such orders only in the rare instances when it concludes that an employer’s illegal actions are so widespread and egregious that they would prevent a fair unionization vote from being held.

FULL story at link.