Labor union wins legal fight

By Steve Kanigher

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 | 5:06 p.m.

A labor union won the right to return to U.S. District Court in Las Vegas for arbitration to determine whether the union's card check gave it the right to bargain with Nevada flooring contractors after a federal appeals court initially rejected the arbitration request.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court last week reversed itself in connection with a 2007 labor dispute between the International Union of Painter and Allied Trades Local 159 and a group of contractors, including J&R Flooring, Freeman's Carpet Service, FCS Flooring and Flooring Solutions of Nevada.

The appeals court initially upheld U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt of Las Vegas by rejecting Local 159's arbitration request to determine whether its card check established its "majority status" to represent workers under a collective bargaining agreement with the companies. The rejection was due to the fact that a parallel case was still pending before the National Labor Relations Board.

But the board reached a decision, determining that Flooring Solutions of Nevada had refused in bad faith to bargain with the union while finding that the other companies weren't guilty of unfair labor practices. The board ordered Flooring Solutions to bargain with Local 159.

Still, the appeals court determined that the board's decision left the union without a forum to determine whether it had established majority status under the collective bargaining agreement. The appeals court decided that the district court was the proper forum to engage in arbitration on that issue as long as the outcome is consistent with the board's ruling against Flooring Solutions.