After Over Two Years Of Relatively-Quiet Labor Relations, The USW Local (#10-86) And Merck Are Again Going Before An ALJ At The NLRB...

For over a dozen years now (thus the throw-back masthead, 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: NLRA § 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