Court docket Finds San Francisco Custodians Illegally Fired for Picketing
Last week, the U.S. Ninth Court of Appeals overturned the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) 2014 labor dispute ruling. The court ruled that administrators in San Francisco were illegally dismissed by their employer in 2014 for picket lines in an office building, MSN reports.
In the fall of 2014, caretakers from Preferred Building Services asked Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 87 for help clearing their concerns about low wages, poor working conditions and alleged sexual harassment from their manager – Rafael Ortiz, owner of Ortiz. clear out janitorial services.
The President of SEIU Local 87 suggested that the guards picket outside their employer’s building, which the workers did on October 29, 2014 and November 19, 2014. In response, Ortiz fired four of the pickets. The custodian employer, Preferred Building Services, terminated its contracts with Ortiz Janitorial Services and the building’s management company, Harvest Properties, 30 days later, and many of the remaining custodians were laid off.
SEIU Local 87 filed a lawsuit with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that Preferred and Ortiz had committed unfair labor practices and fired custodian employees for picket and union activities. The NLRB sided with the employer and ordered the complaint to be dismissed in its entirety. The union filed a petition for review with the U.S. Ninth Court of Appeals.
The court ruled 3-0 that the employees were illegally dismissed and sided with the union. The judicial commission said the pickets acted lawfully and were entitled to seek assistance from tenants.
