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Labor Information Services (LIS) is a third party persuading consulting team that directly meets the challenges of communication within your unique employee population. Once our communication begins, consultants can initiate a dialogue on an array of topics that will ultimately reveal to your employees the facts vs. the fiction during union organizing campaigns. Areas of discussion frequently include:
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The National Labor Relations Act |
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The union organizing process |
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The facts about union promises and campaign rhetoric |
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Employee disadvantages and risks in unionization |
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The day-to-day realities of a unionized workplace |
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The adversarial relationships that evolve out of a union environment |
- What is Labor Information Services (LIS)?
- What are Third Party Persuaders?
- Why was Third Party Persuading created?
- What else does Labor Information Services (LIS) do?
- Who works for Labor Information Services (LIS)?
- Why does LIS have to file paperwork with the Department of Labor?
- Who handles the paperwork in order to be in compliance?
- How do we contact you?
1. What is Labor Information Services (LIS)? Labor Information Services is a corporation dedicated entirely to "third party persuading". We report the activities with the client company and its employees' in accordance with federal laws. Many of our consultants are bi-lingual and bring a practical, down to earth attitude to a project. In order to provide the most credible and effective communications, we provide our clients with a team of professional consultants, a number of whom are former union organizers. The size and diversity of our staff allows us to closely match them to your workforce demographics.
2. What are Third Party Persuaders? Third party persuaders provided by Labor Information Services, Inc. (LIS) are professional labor relations consultants (many of whom are bilingual) who talk directly to the voters and explain the facts about unions to clearly communicate management's position on union recognition. This service provides the employees the opportunity to ask questions and get answers from an experienced professional rather than be forced to rely on the union organizers. The persuaders meet with the individual employees establishing both rapport and credibility. They then use the National Labor Relations (ACT) along with other documents to discuss the realities of unionization thereby exposing the misinformation and misconceptions spread by union organizers.
3. Why was Third Party Persuading created? The increase of non English speaking workers throughout U.S. industries has made communications (third party persuading) to a company's workforce a major challenge. The supervisors and managers at most companies are not bi-lingual, they do not know the law (National Labor Relations Act) nor can they be expected to answer employee questions in the short time frame of a union organizing campaign. Yet historically, they have been expected to communicate management's position on many issues effecting workers's employment, most especially the issue of union organizing. The common method was to put the issues in writing and translate documents for distribution; but information was not reinforced verbally by supervisors. Group meetings were held with management representatives using an interpreter who had little or no understanding of the issues. Labor Information Services (LIS) was created in order to provide third party persuaders the opportunity to overcome this communications handicap.
4. What else does Labor Information Services (LIS) do? Since its inception, we have found that there are more situations than just language that dictated the need for the use of third party persuaders. The following are some of the reasons an organization should consider using consultants:
- Supervision not only lacks background and experience managing in a unionized environment but they lack experience in lawfully communicating what can and cannot happen as a result of unionization and how the collective bargaining process works.
- Inability to communicate to the employees in their own language.
- Ineffective or unwilling supervisors who are intimidated by communication barriers.
- The span of control is too great to be effective.
- Supervision does not reflect the racial mix of the workforce.
- Supervision does not reflect the age of the workforce.
- Professional workers such as R.N.'s want to communicate to other professionals who better understand corresponding issues (such as patient care).
5. Who works for Labor Information Services (LIS)? In order to respond to the increasing need for direct third party persuading, Labor Information Services (LIS) Provides a team of men and women who represent bi-lingual, ethnic and cultural diversity. Our language capability includes English, Spanish, Tagalong, French, Portuguese, Vietnamese as well as several dialects of Chinese. If it is determined that the use of a consultant to talk directly with voters is appropriate, LIS will match the appropriate consultant with the client.
6. Why does LIS have to file paperwork with the Department of Labor? In 1959, Congress passed the Landrum Griffith Act which required unions to file certain financial documents called LM 2's with the department of Labor. This requirement was enacted to control the wide spread financial corruption of unions, particularly (at that time) the Teamsters. In order to gain the necessary support from the Democratic house, the two houses of Congress agreed to a compromise. The act requires any non-employee company representative, who talks directly to a company's worker for the purpose of influencing or persuading them to vote against the union, to file with the Department of Labor regarding the hours and the cost of such work. Filing the proper paperwork is done in order to stay within compliance with the federal laws.
7. Who handles the paperwork in order to be in compliance? Labor Information Services, Inc. (LIS) will complete certain forms for you and will provide guidance regarding your portion. The following link is to the Dept. of Labor's report form called the LM-10. This is an example of the report that YOU must complete within 90 days after the end of YOUR fiscal year if you have engaged Labor Information Services for third party persuading. The Department of Labor will send you the forms along with a letter of instruction after LIS files our LM 20 Agreement and Activities report as part of our engagement with your company. We will complete the forms and submit them throughout the year while employed by you which will insure that both you and LIS stay in compliance with federal laws.
8. How do we contact you? For more information regarding our services please contact:
Labor Information Services, Inc. 5737 Kanan Road, Suite 611 Agoura, CA 91301 Tel: 800-721-4547 info@laborinformationservices.com
Passed by the U.S. Congress in 1959, the Landrum-Griffin Act is officially known as the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
- It resulted from hearings of the Senate committee on improper activities in the fields of labor and management, which uncovered evidence of collusion between dishonest employers and union officials, the use of violence by certain segments of labor leadership, and the diversion and misuse of labor union funds by high-ranking officials.
- The act provided for the regulation of internal union affairs, including the regulation and control of union funds. Former members of the Communist party and former convicts are prevented from holding a union office for a period of five years after resigning their Communist party membership or being released from prison.
- Union members are protected against abuses by a bill of rights that includes guarantees of freedom of speech and periodic secret elections.
- Secondary boycotting and organizational and recognition picketing (i.e., picketing of companies where a rival union is already recognized) are severely restricted by the act.
- In the field of arbitration, an amendment to the Taft-Hartley Labor Act (1947) written into this 1959 act authorized states to process cases that fall outside the province of the National Labor Relations Board.
- Organized labor has, in general, opposed the act for strengthening what they consider the anti labor provisions of the Taft-Hartley Labor Act.
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, As Amended[Revised text1 shows new or amended language in boldface type.]
Public Law 86-257, September 14, 1959, 73 Stat. 519-546, as amended by:
Public Law 89-216, September 29, 1965, 79 Stat. 888
Public Law 98-473, October 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2031, 2133, 2134
Public Law 99-217, December 26, 1985, 99 Stat. 1728
Public Law 100-182, December 7, 1987, 101 Stat. 1266, 1269
AN ACT
To provide for the reporting and disclosure of certain financial transactions and administrative practices of labor organizations and employers, to prevent abuses in the administration of trusteeships by labor organizations, to provide standards with respect to the election of officers of labor organizations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959."
Declaration of Findings, Purposes, and Policy
(29 U.S.C. 401)
SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds that, in the public interest, it continues to be the responsibility of the Federal Government to protect employees' rights to organize, choose their own representatives, bargain collectively, and otherwise engage in concerted activities for their mutual aid or protection; that the relations between employers and labor organizations and the millions of workers they represent have a substantial impact on the commerce of the Nation; and that in order to accomplish the objective of a free flow of commerce it is essential that labor organizations, employers, and their officials adhere to the highest standards of responsibility and ethical conduct in administering the affairs of their organizations, particularly as they affect labor-management relations.
(b) The Congress further finds, from recent investigations in the labor and management fields, that there have been a number of instances of breach of trust, corruption, disregard of the rights of individual employees, and other failures to observe high standards of responsibility and ethical conduct which require further and supplementary legislation that will afford necessary protection of the rights and interests of employees and the public generally as they relate to the activities of labor organizations, employers, labor relations consultants, and their officers and representatives.
(c) The Congress, therefore, further finds and declares that the enactment of this Act is necessary to eliminate or prevent improper practices on the part of labor organizations, employers, labor relations consultants, and their officers and representatives which distort and defeat the policies of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, and the Railway Labor Act, as amended, and have the tendency or necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by (1) impairing the efficiency, safety, or operation of the instrumentalities of commerce; (2) occurring in the current of commerce; (3) materially affecting, restraining, or controlling the flow of raw materials or manufactured or processed goods into or from the channels of commerce, or the prices of such materials or goods in commerce; or (4) causing diminution of employment and wages in such volume as substantially to impair or disrupt the market for goods flowing into or from the channels of commerce.
Definitions
(29 U.S.C. 402)
SEC. 3. For the purposes of titles I, II, III, IV, V (except section 505), and VI of this Act-
(a) "Commerce" means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, transmission, or communication among the several States or between any State and any place outside thereof.
(b) "State" includes any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Wake Island, the Canal Zone, and Outer Continental Shelf lands defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331-1343).
(c) "Industry affecting commerce" means any activity, business, or industry in commerce or in which a labor dispute would hinder or obstruct commerce or the free flow of commerce and includes any activity or industry "affecting commerce" within the meaning of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended, or the Railway Labor Act, as amended.
(d) "Person" includes one or more individuals, labor organizations, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in cases under Title 11 of the United States Code, 2 or receivers.
(e) "Employer" means any employer or any group or association of employers engaged in an industry affecting commerce (1) which is, with respect to employees engaged in an industry affecting commerce, an employer within the meaning of any law of the United States relating to the employment of any employees or (2) which may deal with any labor organization concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work, and includes any person acting directly or indirectly as an employer or as an agent of an employer in relation to an employee but does not include the United States or any corporation wholly owned by the Government of the United States or any State or political subdivision thereof.
(f) "Employee" means any individual employed by an employer, and includes any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice or because of exclusion or expulsion from a labor organization in any manner or for any reason inconsistent with the requirements of this Act.
(g) "Labor dispute" includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure, or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee.
(h) "Trusteeship" means any receivership, trusteeship, or other method of supervision or control whereby a labor organization suspends the autonomy otherwise available to a subordinate body under its constitution or bylaws.
(i) "Labor organization" means a labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce and includes any organization of any kind, any agency, or employee representation committee, group, association, or plan so engaged in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours, or other terms or conditions of employment, and any conference, general committee, joint or system board, or joint council so engaged which is subordinate to a national or international labor organization, other than a State or local central body.
(j) A labor organization shall be deemed to be engaged in an industry affecting commerce if it -
(1) is the certified representative of employees under the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, or the Railway Labor Act, as amended; or
(2) although not certified, is a national or international labor organization or a local labor organization recognized or acting as the representative of employees of an employer or employers engaged in an industry affecting commerce; or
(3) has chartered a local labor organization or subsidiary body which is representing or actively seeking to represent employees of employers within the meaning of paragraph (1) or (2); or
(4) has been chartered by a labor organization representing or actively seeking to represent employees within the meaning of paragraph (1) or (2) as the local or subordinate body through which such employees may enjoy membership or become affiliated with such labor organization; or
(5) is a conference, general committee, joint or system board, or joint council, subordinate to a national or international labor organization, which includes a labor organization engaged in an industry affecting commerce within the meaning of any of the preceding paragraphs of this subsection, other than a State or local central body.
(k) "Secret ballot" means the expression by ballot, voting machine, or otherwise, but in no event by proxy, of a choice with respect to any election or vote taken upon any matter, which is cast in such a manner that the person expressing such choice cannot be identified with the choice expressed.
(1) "Trust in which a labor organization is interested" means a trust or other fund or organization (1) which was created or established by a labor organization, or one or more of the trustees or one or more members of the governing body of which is selected or appointed by a labor organization, and (2) a primary purpose of which is to provide benefits for the members of such labor organization or their beneficiaries.
(m) "Labor relations consultant" means any person who, for compensation, advises or represents an employer, employer organization, or labor organization concerning employee organizing, concerted activities, or collective bargaining activities.
(n) "Officer" means any constitutional officer, any person authorized to perform the functions of president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, or other executive functions of a labor organization, and any member of its executive board or similar governing body.
(o) "Member" or "member in good standing", when used in reference to a labor organization, includes any person who has fulfilled the requirements for membership in such organization, and who neither has voluntarily withdrawn from membership nor has been expelled or suspended from membership after appropriate proceedings consistent with lawful provisions of the constitution and bylaws of such organization.
(p) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Labor.
(q) "Officer, agent, shop steward, or other representative", when used with respect to a labor organization, includes elected officials and key administrative personnel, whether elected or appointed (such as business agents, heads of departments or major units, and organizers who exercise substantial independent authority), but does not include salaried nonsupervisory professional staff, stenographic, and service personnel.
(r) "District court of the United States" means a United States district court and a United States court of any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
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