Labor board: Grane in violation

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Grane Healthcare, alleging unfair labor practices at Cambria Care Center, formerly Laurel Crest Rehabilitation & Special Care Center.

Based on charges by the Service Employees International Union and The Laborers International Union of North America, the board alleges Grane violated labor law by refusing to bargain with the unions, as required when a company hires a majority of workers from a predecessor unionist operation.

The company bought Laurel Crest for $14.25 million and took over from Cambria County on Jan. 1.

Based on SEIU charges, the board also alleges the company violated labor law by not hiring a nurse because of prior union activism, in order to discourage other workers from similar activism.

And it alleges the company violated labor law by training licensed practical nurses to establish and maintain intravenous lines without negotiating the additional duty.

"We investigated the charges and we found what we call merit," said NLRB Regional Director Bob Chester in Pittsburgh. "Our efforts to get a settlement were not fruitful, so we have issued a complaint."

An administrative law judge from the board will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. July 21 at the Cambria County Courthouse.

The board wants to force the company to bargain with the union, provide back pay to the employee it didn't hire and rescind the unilateral intravenous changes. It's not seeking punitive damages.

The argument for union continuity is the crucial one, such that if the union loses, the other issues would seemingly be moot.

But if Grane loses, it can still muster evidence and arguments on those other issues.

The company will show it didn't hire the activist nurse because of poor references or "other issues" unrelated to her activism, Creigh said.

And by training LPNs to establish IV lines, the company is violating no agreement, because the previous county deal with SEIU didn't require collective bargaining, she said.

Learning to handle IVs would be something they'd welcome, anyway, because it makes them "more marketable," she said.

Grane isn't optimistic.

"We're not going to hold our breath," attorney Terry Creigh said.

If the company loses, it would appeal to the U.S. District Court where its chances would be better, Creigh said.

Case law has established the obligation for companies to deal with unions when the companies hire a majority from a prior union operation, Chester said.

Grane cited different case law when it argued that it had a right to spurn negotiations, but the NLRB didn't find that argument persuasive, Chester said.

Grane has no obligation to recognize the Laurel Crest unions because the law that controlled the county's relationship to those workers was different than the National Labor Relations Act that controls Grane's relationship to those workers, Creigh said.

Thus, the county wasn't really a "predecessor" under the Act, she said.

In addition, the union contracts with the county had expired by the time of the takeover, so the company technically didn't hire any unionists, let alone a majority, she said. And the county's agreement with SEIU called only for the sides to "meet and discuss," not bargain collectively.

Union officials are livid.

"Given Grane Healthcare's history of anti-union, anti-worker conduct, no one should be surprised at this company's willingness to flout the law and put profits before workers and residents," said Neil Bisno, president of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania.

The company never signaled its intention not to negotiate before the sale, Creigh said.

"We never made any representations one way or the other," she said.

As far as she knows, the workers didn't ask about it either, she said.

Chester said he's never handled a case in which a company made a similar argument to Grane's.

Apparently, the move caught the union by surprise.

"It's clear that Grane's platitudes prior to the sale were empty promises," Bisno said.