For over a dozen years now (thus the throw-back masthead, centered below, this morning!), we covered the various strikes, votes and lock-outs — at Merck’s West Point (Lancaster, PA) facility, where the USW represents some 2,000 workers, we were told. There have been other problems at the Riverside / Cherokee facility, as of last year, but…
The West Point facility had all gone relatively quiet, just a few years back when a new four year contract was signed (and then another three year extension was approved).
But now, as of August 1, 2022 — there is a new charge under the NLRA, that Merck management is denying at least a few union members the right of fair representation, and arguments over super-seniority provisions for certain members, in that contract:
…Continuing Case No. 04-CB-300462. . .
Charge: 8(b)(1)(A) Duty of Fair Representation…
Location: Lansdale, PA…
Region Assigned: Region 04, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania….
Now you know — but the story of this year may well be… the renewed rise — of fair bargaining power, by organized labor. Onward, smiling into the temperate mid-August sunshine, here….
नमस्ते
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