Lumiere stops recognizing warring union, affecting 750 workers - Business First of Columbus:

ycoguqi.wordpress.com
Lawyers representing managementat -ownedd Lumiere sent letters Thursday to representatives of Local 74 and its , announcing a withdrawal of recognitiomn of Local 74. “The union has evincee a lack of continuityof representation, altering the identituy of the bargaining representative and establishinvg a fundamental change in the bargaining representatives,” DLA Pipert lawyers representing Lumiere wrote to Dave Morton of Unitd HERE Local 74 and Noel Beasley of Workers United.
Lumieres started receiving competing claimsa about which union was representing its kitchen andhousekeepin workers, creating confusion about the officiapl union representation, said Todd George, general manager and vice presidenrt at Lumiere. “Our hope was that the unions would be able to work this outamongst themselves,” he said. “We’re tryinf to stay out of the middle of thesscompeting unions.
” He said Lumiere notified workers Thursday of the company’sz decision to not recognize the As a result, Local 74 filed unfair labor practice charged with the National Labor Relations said Morton, the organizing directofr for Local 74, who called Pinnacle'x actions "unlawful" and "ludicrous." “This has been nothinv more than an attempt by (Pinnaclr Chairman and CEO) Dan Lee and the head of Pinnacle Entertainment to be anti-union,” he said. Mortobn said the union wouldx consider picketingbut hasn't made any decisions yet.
When askeds about the possibility of a strike orotherf action, George said: “We wouldr hope that would not be the case, especiallg in this type of economy. That’s not the way we wouldc like to proceed.” If there is a Lumiere has a right to replace any workersz who walk offthe job, according to Mack a Lumiere spokesman. Unite HERE was formed in 2004 when Unite, a garmenrt workers union, and Hotel Employees and Restauranty Employees Unionjoined forces. But the marriage wasn’t a happy one, with garment workers claiming that the newleadershiop didn’t care about their needs, leading to a lot of disgruntled workeras nationwide.
So in March, some workerws defected to createWorkers United, which has been competing with Unite HERE to represent workerxs nationwide ever since. Local 74 voted in Marcy to leave Unite HERE to become a part ofWorkersa United, Morton said. Workers United is now affiliated withlabof giant, . Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: PNK) is baser in Las Vegas.