Collective Bargaining

Ailing Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. is going toe-to-toe with its workers' unions in a courtroom clash that the company said may lead to its liquidation. Hostess is trying to persuade a federal bankruptcy judge in New York to allow it to reject existing collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters and bakers' unions. The maker of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, three years after emerging from its last bankruptcy.

The NFL Players Assn. is continuing its fight on behalf of two current and two former New Orleans Saints players suspended by the league, challenging NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's authority to sanction them. The suspensions are for the players' involvement in the Saints' bounty scandal. Linebacker and team captain Jonathan Vilma has been suspended for the entire 2012 season, defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove for eight games, defensive end Will Smith for four, and linebacker Scott Fujita three.

Ohioans voted Tuesday to overturn the state's new law limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees, a victory for organized labor and their Democratic allies in the key electoral battleground. With 25% of precincts reporting, the "no" votes for Issue 2 -- votes for repealing Senate Bill 5 -- had a 63-37% advantage. The Associated Press called the race at 9:16 pm ET. The vote marks a setback for Ohio Gov. John Kasich who, along with other newly-elected Republicans this year, sought to limit public sector workers' ability to collectively bargain.

Derek Fisher, the NBA players' union president since 2006, has been asked to resign by the executive committee. It appears that there is a behind-the-scenes power struggle between Fisher and Billy Hunter, the NBPA's longtime executive director, over a call for an audit and business review of the association's finances. The National Basketball Players' Union said in a statement Friday that its executive committee voted 8-0 on Wednesday to seek the resignation of the longtime Lakers and current Oklahoma City point guard.

A group of 17,000 Boeing Co. workers targeted by union organizers voted overwhelmingly to reject a collective bargaining proposal, officials said. Seattle-area Boeing workers in various technical and administrative jobs voted 13,142 to 2,329, or 85% to 15%, to remain independent, according to the local National Labor Relations Board office, which oversaw the balloting. The International Assn.

Pro football will resume without a collective bargaining agreement when training camps open in July, representatives of the players said Tuesday. It will be the NFL's fourth year without such an agreement, and, they said, it is unlikely that there will ever be one again. "Individual bargaining is the wave of the future in major league sports--as baseball and basketball have proved," Tom De Paso, an NFL Players Assn. attorney, said from Washington.

I believe unions should do more than negotiate for better pay and benefits. That's important, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which I lead, has won some of the best wages and benefits for food workers anywhere. But many problems faced by our 30,000 union members transcend collective bargaining. In Los Angeles, a big concern is owning your own home. It used to be a top goal for working families, especially young people just starting out. Many of our members are younger workers.

The Surf City Lifeguards Employee Assn., an organization representing about 80 seasonal lifeguards, will be recognized by the city, officials announced Friday. "In my opinion they meet all the guidelines to allow us to recognize them," William H. Osness, city personnel director, said. Richard J. Silber, a Huntington Beach attorney representing the part-time, seasonal lifeguards, called the city's recognition a landmark decision.

In the next six months, sports fans are going to be treated to negotiations on new collective bargaining agreements for players from the National Football League and the National Basketball Assn. A year after that, it'll be time for baseball's talks. Not to preempt all the fascinating developments you were looking forward to, but there are some things all owners and players can be expected to agree on: --Times are tough. --Someone is making out like a bandit. --It's not them.

On Jan. 17, 1962, President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, bringing collective bargaining rights to most federal workers for the first time. Kennedy's order might be the least known of the string of significant events that made the 1960s such crucial years in American history. At the time Kennedy acted, very few workers at any level of government had won the right to bargain collectively with their employers. Federal action helped inspire many states and localities to follow suit, allowing their own workers to organize.

Ailing Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. is going toe-to-toe with its workers' unions in a courtroom clash that the company said may lead to its liquidation. Hostess is trying to persuade a federal bankruptcy judge in New York to allow it to reject existing collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters and bakers' unions. The maker of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, three years after emerging from its last bankruptcy.

Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the previous week: + Fans in Winnipeg who waited so long for the NHL to return might get a thank-you bonus of playoff hockey. The Jets are four points out of eighth in the East and are among the league's best home teams thanks to their enthusiastic fans. When the Jets faced Washington last week, fans serenaded Alexander Ovechkin with chants of "Crosby's better. " Ovechkin didn't mind. "It's always nice when they talk about you and give you attention.

Last May, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stood a few blocks from the White House and issued a stern warning: Union members could not be counted on as the Democrats' foot soldiers anymore. "If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, then working people will not support them," he said in a speech at the National Press Club. Flash forward to today: Labor appears squarely back in the Democrats' corner for the 2012 election — pushed there in large part by Republican attacks on collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Joseph A. McCartin's Op-Ed article on Tuesday pointing out that collective bargaining for public employees has only recently become controversial prompted reader Betty W. Hosie of La Jolla to write: "McCartin missed a few points. He did not mention Franklin Roosevelt's letter in 1934 stating there should never be collective bargaining in government. In 1955, George Meany, president of AFL-CIO, agreed with him, stating that when government strikes, it strikes against the taxpayer.

On Jan. 17, 1962, President Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, bringing collective bargaining rights to most federal workers for the first time. Kennedy's order might be the least known of the string of significant events that made the 1960s such crucial years in American history. At the time Kennedy acted, very few workers at any level of government had won the right to bargain collectively with their employers. Federal action helped inspire many states and localities to follow suit, allowing their own workers to organize.

While the NHL and NHL Players Assn. squabble over last season's hockey-related revenue and future realignment, Rene Fasel watches from afar and hopes their disagreements won't spill over to include NHL players' participation in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Fasel, president of the Switzerland-based International Ice Hockey Federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee's executive board, avidly supports NHL players' competing in the Winter Games. He helped negotiate the deal that allowed NHL stars to represent their homelands for the first time at Nagano, Japan, in 1998, making it a marquee event there and in Salt Lake City; Turin, Italy; and Vancouver, Canada.

The productivity of U.S. businesses rose at a 1.2% annual rate during the summer while major bargaining contracts this year have contained the smallest wage increases on record, the government reported Monday. Private analysts said the two Labor Department reports painted a picture of an economy in which consumers are getting a price break, but it is coming at the expense of a beating inflicted on U.S. industries at the hands of foreign competition. The Labor Department said the 1.

It's Christmastime in the NBA. What did the amnesty clause bring your team? The Clippers got Chauncey Billups, adding a former All-Star guard to their improving-by-the-minute roster for the bargain-bin price of about $2 million. Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis are other waived players who could be had for little more than a cup of eggnog, at least by NBA salary standards. The NBA's new collective bargaining agreement has produced other peculiar-sounding gifts that could keep on giving into 2012.

Finally, basketball is back. NBA Commissioner David Stern announced Thursday that the owners and players ratified a new collective bargaining agreement, the final steps to ending the 161-day lockout that began July 1. That allows teams to officially open training camp Friday and for the free-agency period for the 2011-12 season to begin, at 11 a.m. PST. The NBA's regular season will begin Christmas Day, the start of a shortened, 66-game...