Awhile back we had posted an entry to our newsletter regarding the fact that in Europe the unions could put a snag in a corporation's plans to relocate their operations if they had grounds to feel that the move was not in the best interests of the employees. At the time I had talked with several labor attorneys as to whether we could have the same situation here in the United States. Their general consenus at the time was that employees in the European Union had more rights then they do in the US, and so it was unlikely that it would happen here.
Fastforward to the current economic market and along comes a federal court decision regaring the planned relocation of Pratt & Whitney from Connecticut to Georgia. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a federal judge's ruling that said the subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. failed to make every reasonable effort to avoid shutting two engine repair plants in the state. The ruling essentially stated that the planned move violated the union contract and therefore the corporation can not complete the move.
Strategy:If you are planning a relocation of your operations it is imperative that you dot all the "i's" and cross all the "t's" and make sure that all the stakeholders are involved in the planning process. You still are required to follow the terms of the WARN Act where applicable, but everyone has to be on board for the reasons regarding the move.
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