Labor Board's Decision Reversal on Pa. Convention Center a "Head-Scratcher," Say Experts

Rick Grimaldi was quoted in the Philadelphia Business Journal on April 20, 2015. The article “Labor Board’s Decision Reversal on Pa. Convention Center a "Head-Scratcher," Say Experts” discussed how a hearing examiner’s move to deny his prior decision on unfair labor charges against the Pennsylvania Convention Center has left experts scratching their heads since no new evidence has surfaced since the February decision.

Rick was quoted on his take of the Labor Board’s decision reversal.

“It is highly irregular … for them to reverse a decision, particularly when it appears there’s been no new evidence,” Rick said.

Rick said he’s surprised by the decision because “nothing’s changed” since the National Labor Relations Board’s decision last year or Marino’s February decision.

One scenario that could have changed since last year is the NLRB’s focus on the joint employer status, which magnified last year when it decided that fast food chain McDonald’s is a joint employer of the workers at its franchisees’ restaurants, Rick said.

Even if the PLRB has decided that it does have jurisdiction over the case, the fact hasn’t changed that four of the six unions have signed the new customer satisfaction agreement, Rick said.

Marino’s decision to deny his prior decision gives the Carpenters and Teamsters more hope in its uphill battle, Rick said.

“They were dead in the water, and now they have life,” he said. “However tenuous, they have a heartbeat, so I think it certainly benefits them.”

The two unions were at a legal standstill after Marino’s decision last year, Rick said. Their only option up until this point was to use public relations campaigns against the Convention Center, which they did by launching their own website and taking to social media.

It will be months until this case unwinds, but the hearing will happen relatively soon “given the high visibility of the issue,” Rick said.

To read the full article, please visit Philadelphia Business Journal.