NewsBriefs
NLRB Watch. A United States District Judge has granted a temporary injunction filed by the NLRB against Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Inc. The Judge ordered Coca-Cola Bottling to recognize and bargain 
with Teamsters, Local 150 as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of their approximately 315 production, distribution and maintenance employees pending issuance of a decision by the National Labor Relations Board.
The order followed Region 20’s investigation of an unfair labor practice charge, filed by the union, alleging that the company was refusing to recognize and bargain with the union after the Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottlers Employees Union (SCCBE) had merged with Teamsters, Local 150. The order also requires the company to recognize and bargain with the union, including processing employees’ grievances, and to hold a meeting at which the District Court’s order is to be read to the employees by a responsible management official.
The Board found that Rochester Gas & Electric Corporation, an electrical utility company, unlawfully refused to bargain over the effects of discontinuing its practice of allowing employees to drive company-issued vehicles to and from work. To remedy the violation, the Board ordered the employer to bargain with the union over the effects of its decision and to pay each employee the monetary value of the vehicle benefit. The Board ordered that the amount paid to any employee must not be less than the monetary value of the vehicle benefit for a 2-week period.
The Board found that Plaza Auto Center, a seller of pre-owned vehicles, violated Section 8(a)(1) by discharging an employee based on his profane outburst in a private meeting with the employer’s owner and two sales managers about wages and working conditions. An administrative law judge previously found that the employee had engaged in protected concerted activity under the Act by questioning the employer’s policies concerning breaks, restroom facilities, and wages and that the employer violated Section 8(a)(1) by responding to the employee’s inquiries by saying that, if he disliked the policies, he did not need to work there.
The Board reversed an administrative law judge and found that Mandalay Corp, a resort and casino operator, engaged in objectionable conduct in an election among its security officers by improperly soliciting grievances and implicitly promising to remedy them. The Board found that statements by the employer’s CEO and executive vice president, a few days before the election, that a revised overtime policy was “a failed strategy . . . and it was being addressed and looked at” were objectionable, and it ordered a new election.
Chicago Web Staff Says "Union Yes." Writer-producers for Chicago's WBBM-Channel 2 Website have voted to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East, the 
same union that represents other writers in the CBS station's newsroom. The WGAE said the people who work exclusively on content for cbs2chicago.com are the first news writer-producers working solely on Internet content to join the Guild. "We are proud to be the first Web news writers and Web producers to join the Guild, but I'm sure we won’t be the last," Michael Ramsey, one of those at WBBM to vote unanimously for Guild representation. "Web writers and producers may work in a different medium than the writers the Guild traditionally represents, but our needs are essentially the same."
Apple Pushes for TV Show Rentals. Apple is reportedly near deals with News Corp. and Walt Disney Co. to provide 48-hour rentals of TV shows -- priced at 99 cents -- through iTunes 
within one day of broadcast. According to Bloomberg, Apple is hoping to secure the new agreements for ABC and Fox programs in time for the launch of a revamped $99 Apple TV set-top designed for streaming video over the Internet directly to televisions. Currently, Apple's iTunes Store offers many episodes of TV shows for download, typically priced at $1.99 each. The current generation of Apple TV units let users play movies, TV shows and music purchased through iTunes as well as photos on their televisions. Such a rental service from Apple -- which apparently would be stocked only with broadcast TV content -- would compete most directly with the proposed subscription plan from Hulu, the joint venture of Disney, News Corp. and NBC Universal.
Nurses Rally to Celebrate Suffrage. More than 2,000 nurses, union members and supporters came out for a massive rally in Sacramento on August 26 in honor of the 90th anniversary of the 
19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The rally, sponsored by the California Nurses Association (CNA), also spotlighted how Republican gubernatorial candidate, billionaire CEO Meg Whitman, hasn't exercised that right during most of her adult life. She has admitted her voting history is “atrocious.” Activists dressed in early 20th century suffrage attire, and carried signs that read, "Women Vote for Women Who Vote," a reference to Whitman, who is out to buy the California governor's seat.
CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro told crowd that Whitman is precisely the opposite of the leaders of the suffragist movement. "This woman has such contempt for working people, and you know what? It’s mutual. We’re here to celebrate the suffragettes and to expose a hypocrite who didn't bother to vote."
Whitman has spent more than $100 million of her own money on the campaign so far.
