Labor/Management Relations

From our inception as a practice, we have aggressively represented our clients in a wide variety of union matters. We have experienced attorneys in each U.S. office who represent multinational, national, regional and local private and public employers in the full spectrum of labor law issues, including  includes matters arising under the National Labor Relations Act. One of the leaders of our Labor/Management Relations practice group is the former chief counsel to a member of the NLRB and has appeared as an advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court. The chair of our Railway Labor Act Practice, which represents airlines, railroads and related carriers, is resident in our Washington, DC office. One of our partners has also participated in more than 50 major league baseball salary arbitration proceedings.

In addition to representing clients in union negotiations and related matters, we also counsel our non-union clients on how to retain their status, and we routinely represent employers who are facing union-organizing campaigns and unfair labor practice proceedings. We participate in collective bargaining and are well-versed in the issues that arise in the bargaining process. We advise clients on contract interpretation issues and we represent clients in arbitration proceedings under their collective bargaining agreements, as well as in interest arbitration.

When necessary, we actively work with our clients in planning for and dealing with work stoppages on a local and national level. This includes training management; obtaining injunctive relief against mass picketing, violence, or illegal or wildcat strikes; preventing disruption of our clients’ business relationships through secondary boycott charges and related damage suits; counseling on replacement of strikers; and handling post-strike litigation.