—
The federal labor board wants the Cambria Care Center in Ebensburg to bargain with its unions and rehire what it sees as wrongly fired workers – and do so quickly.
Not content to wait a year or more for a decision through the formal National Labor Relations Board process, the regional board is seeking an injunction against the nursing home through U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
“This is a mechanism – a temporary injunction – that lasts only until the board can rule,” said Patricia Scott Daum, an attorney for the NLRB’s Region 6 in Pittsburgh.
“The purpose is to preserve the board’s ability to remedy the violations,” she said Monday.
There’s no set timetable for U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson to decide on an injunction.
The case for now has been sent to Alternative Dispute Resolution which, as its name implies, seeks to remedy a situation through less high-profile means.
But Pittsburgh-based Grane Healthcare, which owns the renamed Laurel Crest center, has not indicated that it intends to ease its stance against the unions.
It has been fighting union members since it took over the home Jan. 1.
Grane’s position is that a government is not an “employer” under federal labor law – so no unions existed when it bought Laurel Crest from Cambria County at the start of the year.
Grane attorney John A. McCleary Jr. of Pittsburgh did not return a call for comment Monday.
In the petition for injunctive relief, the NLRB is asking:
• That the Cambria Care Center rehire a handful of workers not picked up when Grane took over.
In the motion, the NLRB singles out Sherry Hagerich and Mark Mulhearn for reinstatement. Hagerich was president of the Laborers International local and Mulhearn was the business manager.
“These are two key positions,” Daum said Monday. “It has to do with the union’s ability to be effective.”
• That the court order Grane and the nursing home to immediately recognize and bargain with the union.
• “That the District Court order that the United States Marshals be authorized to take such actions deemed necessary to enforce the prohibitions set forth in the District Court’s opinion and order.”
On July 1, NLRB regional Director Robert W. Chester ruled that grievances by Laborers International and the Service Employees International Union had merit. They claimed the company had not bargained with them.
Three weeks later, at the Cambria County Courthouse, Grane appeared before Administrative Law Judge David Goldman of Washington, D.C., for a hearing on the matter.
Goldman has yet to issue a report and recommendation.
And even after he does, Daum said, the matter must be decided by the NLRB in Washington.
If the union wins that decision, it could force Grane to come to terms by taking enforcement to a federal appeals court, most likely the 3rd U.S. Circuit in Philadelphia, Daum said.
About 250 of the center’s 385 employees were represented by one of the two unions last fall.
The Laborers International represents about 200 maintenance, dietary and housekeeping workers, along with nurse’s aides.
SEIU represents about 50 LPNs and RNs.
Local News
Board seeks temporary injunction at care home
- Local News
-
-
Proposed bill would expand use of traffic-light cameras
Some call it the hand of “big brother,” others are convinced cameras at signal lights would be effective in curbing red-light runners and ultimately saving lives.
-
Minister's trial date set
An issue has been resolved over the report from an examination of a girl allegedly taken by her mother to a Bedford motel to have sex with a traveling minister, clearing the way for a trial.
-
AP: Almost half of new veterans seek disability
America’s newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
-
Geistown beginning crime watch program
Residents will patrol Geistown streets in the coming weeks as part of a community watch program.
-
Persons of the Week: Nanty Glo vets will remember fallen comrades
Michael Kurtz, Tom Kasecky and Steve Kasecky will be among members of the Loy A. Douglass Post 3489 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nanty Glo who will be honoring fallen veterans today, Memorial Day.
-
AG candidates face potential conflicts of interest
Both candidates for Pennsylvania attorney general have family ties that could pose a conflict of interest for the one who is elected as the state’s next chief legal officer.
-
Lawmakers: Capitol rallies unpersuasive
Nancy Richey stepped to the podium with a microphone at the Capitol rotunda with the hope that the right people would hear her message.
-
Richland closer to new chief
The search for Richland’s next police chief is winding down.
-
In brief: Thunderstorm downs trees, knocks out power
A late Sunday afternoon thunderstorm brought high winds, hard rain and hail to the Cambria-Somerset region.
- District Deaths May 28, 2012
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
