May 16, 2016
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel
New York, NY – A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order May 10 barring the Communications Workers of America from picketing six hotels where Verizon is housing out-of-state management personnel and strikebreakers.
Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued the order in response to a petition by National Labor Relations Board regional director James G. Paulsen, who said the picketing was an illegal “secondary boycott.” Verizon filed an unfair-labor-practice charge against the CWA, saying that the hotels were neutral parties and that the union was unlawfully trying to coerce the hotels to stop doing business with the company. A hearing before an NLRB administrative law judge is scheduled for June 9. Read more