AFL-CIO Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Manchin Scuttles Biden’s Nominee For Labor Relations Board

Lauren McFerran’s term expires on Monday. If she isn’t confirmed and Biden doesn’t nominate anyone else, Republicans will have the majority on the board after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin is leaving Capitol Hill next month, but his vote still counts and can be decisive in a closely divided Senate.

Manchin, a Democrat-turned-Independent, was the deciding vote Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board.

By a vote of 49-50, the Senate rejected the renomination of NLRB chair Lauren McFerran.

McFerran’s term expires on Monday. If she isn’t confirmed and Biden doesn’t nominate anyone else, Republicans will have the majority on the board after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opposed McFerran’s nomination. Unions, including the AFL-CIO, supported her.

The NLRB, created in 1935, ensures workers’ right to organize and seek better working conditions.

This isn’t the first time Manchin has thwarted one of Biden’s nominees. He opposed confirming Julie Su to be Secretary of Labor. Su has been serving as acting secretary since last year.

He blocked the nomination last year of Laura Daniel-Davis to oversee oil and gas leasing at the Department of the Interior. And in 2021, he opposed the nomination of Neera Tanden to be director of the Office of Management and Budget.

In recent months, he’s also voted against confirming several of Biden’s judicial nominees.

Manchin is retiring next month after 14 years in the Senate. Gov. Jim Justice will succeed him.

Greenbrier Employees Told They May Lose Health Insurance

The letter alleged that the Greenbrier has continued to deduct money from employee paychecks for health insurance, but that money hasn’t gone to the Health Fund. Now the health care company says if a payment is not made, it will stop providing coverage to all the Greenbrier’s employees.

Greenbrier Hotel employees were notified Monday that they may be losing their health care coverage next week due to nonpayment- even though they have been paying for it out of their checks.

According to a letter sent by a firm representing the health care company, the Greenbrier, owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family, is four months delinquent in its contributions to the Health Fund. The firm is Schulte, Roth and Zabel’s division based out of New York.

“[The Greenbrier Owes] approximately $2.4 million in delinquent contributions with an additional $1.2 million in contributions currently, or soon to be,” the letter from Schulte, Roth and Zabel said.

The letter was addressed to the hotel, multiple labor unions, and the company’s CFO – who is also Justice’s son in law.

It alleged that the Greenbrier has continued to deduct money from employee paychecks for health insurance, but that money hasn’t gone to the Health Fund. Now the health care company says if a payment is not made, it will stop providing coverage to all the Greenbrier’s employees.

“If payment is not timely made, the Health Fund will suspend health and welfare coverage to all of the Greenbrier’s covered employees,” the letter said.

Peter Bostic, Chairperson of the Greenbrier Council of Labor Unions, says unions are pursuing every legal option available to seek a resolution for the Greenbrier employees.

“Greenbrier delinquency has put our members’ healthcare benefits in severe jeopardy and is morally and legally wrong. Our members have met their obligation by working hard every day and paying their portion to the Greenbrier,” Bostic said in a statement.

The Greenbrier is scheduled to be sold on the Greenbrier County courthouse steps next week to settle a delinquent loan.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to the Greenbrier Hotel Corporation, The CFO and Treasurer Adam C. Long, and the Firm Schulte, Roth and Zabel about this story. None of those entities has responded.

October 2, 1924: Labor Leader Miles Stanley Is Born

Miles Stanley was born in Dunbar on October 2, 1924. Before his untimely death at age 49, he would become one of West Virginia’s most important labor leaders.

Stanley served in the army artillery during World War II. He then went to work in a steel factory and, in 1947, became president of his local union. After rising quickly through the labor ranks, he was elected president of the newly created West Virginia Federation of Labor AFL-CIO in 1957. In this influential position, he urged the Appalachian region to develop a more skilled workforce. And, for his emphasis on human rights in the workplace, he was named as an adviser to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. In the mid-‘60s, he moved to Washington, D. C., for several years to serve as a personal assistant to national AFL-CIO president George Meany. However, in 1967, he returned to West Virginia, where he continued to build the state’s AFL-CIO into a major political force.

Miles Stanley died suddenly of a heart attack on May 3, 1974. The state’s AFL-CIO building in Charleston is named in his honor.

West Virginia's Top Court Clears 'Right-to-Work' Law

West Virginia’s highest court ruled Friday that a judge made a mistake blocking the state’s “right-to-work” law from taking effect after it was passed last year while the court challenge against it continued.

The Supreme Court, divided 3-2, concluded the unions opposing the law “failed to show a likelihood of success” in challenging its constitutionality.

They didn’t identify any federal or state appellate court that struck down such a law based on similar challenges in more than 70 years, Justice Menis Ketchum wrote. He noted that similar laws have been enacted in 27 other states.

The state AFL-CIO and other unions argued the law constitutes illegally taking union assets since they still have to represent all employees in a union shop, including those that the law would allow to stop paying union dues. They also asserted that it violated their rights to freedom of association and their liberty interests.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey granted the preliminary injunction, saying enforcement could cause irreparable harm to unions and workers until the legal questions are resolved.

The law doesn’t affect existing contracts, only future agreements the union and employers have not yet negotiated or accepted, Ketchum wrote. “The unions therefore have no protected property right that the Legislature has taken,” he wrote.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Allen Loughry wrote that issuing the injunction “was not merely imprudent, but profoundly legally incorrect.” The Taft-Hartley Act expressly allows states to prohibit compulsory union membership or dues remittance, and the U.S. Supreme Court “has essentially spoken on all critical aspects of this issue,” he wrote.

The law was passed in early 2016 by the Legislature’s majority Republicans. They contended it would attract businesses and give workers freedom by prohibiting companies from requiring employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Democrats argued the measure solely aimed to undermine unions for political reasons, allowing workers to benefit from union representation without paying dues. Democrats also argued the economic benefits were unproven and wages would drop.

Justice Robin Jean Davis dissented in an opinion that wasn’t available from the court Friday. Justice Margaret Workman agreed in part and dissented in part in an opinion that also was not immediately available.

W.Va. Labor Unions Will Sue Over Right-to-Work Law

Several labor unions say they intend to sue West Virginia over a recently enacted Right-to-Work law.

Lawmakers approved the bill in February after Governor Tomblin vetoed it. Senate Bill 1 took effect last week.

The bill makes it illegal for unions to require nonmembers to pay union dues or fees.

Unions argue the fees cover the cost of contract negotiations that these nonunion members benefit from, but several members of the Republican-led Legislature argued the measure would help create jobs.

The state’s largest labor union, the AFL-CIO, and several other labor organizations, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the United Mine Workers of America, notified the Attorney General’s office by letter Monday that they intend to sue the state over the law.

“First and foremost, we believe it’s unconstitutional per the West Virginia state Constitution because it clearly prohibits the illegal taking of property without due process and compensate and that’s essentially what the Right-to-Work bill will do,” Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Josh Sword said Monday.

“It will require union or force unions to represent people that don’t pay anything into the union.”

West Virginia’s Right-to-Work law was based on a similar billed approved in Indiana. Last month, a federal court ruled Wisconsin’s version of the law was unconstitutional.

According to West Virginia code, anyone who intends to sue the state must send notification 30 days in advance and file the suit in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

Workers from Oklahoma, Virginia Argue Against Right-to-Work in W.Va.

One of the hot-button issues in the 2016 legislative session is whether or not West Virginia will adopt Right-to-Work laws limiting union power.

Right-to-Work legislation would prohibit unions from requiring dues from workers who do not wish to be part of the union.

At a press conference Wednesday, AFL-CIO President, Kenny Perdue, argued the legislation lowers wages and worker protection, and does nothing to help West Virginia as a whole.

“It will be harmful to families,” Perdue said. “The rhetoric of the other side is so strong, but we believe the rhetoric is an untruth and is a making a huge move to destroy the lives of so many people in this state.”

Union workers from Oklahoma and Virginia also spoke about the negative effects of Right-to-Work in their states, urging West Virginians to reject the legislation.

Republican lawmaker say a right-to-work law will promote job growth in West Virginia and could increase average wages.