Company says it will stop pressuring injured workers
Under pressure from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Oregon Steel agreed to stop pressuring injured workers to give up rights guaranteed them under workers’ compensation, according to Terry Bonds, District 12 director of the United Steelworkers of America.
The agreement is a setback for Oregon Steel in Pueblo, CO, which had been pressuring injured employees who have workers’ compensation cases to give up their rights to back pay as unfair labor practice strikers in return for settling their injury claims, Bonds says. Earlier, the Denver-based NLRB recommended issuance of a complaint against the company, absent settlement, for illegally bypassing the union and pressuring individual employees to give up their rights as former strikers in order to obtain payment for their workplace injuries.
Under similar threat of the issuance of a complaint by the NLRB, the company agreed to provide the union with information regarding all employees it has attempted to treat in this way, Bonds says. The NLRB’s action was based on unfair labor practice charges filed by the union.
Oregon Steel did not return phone calls seeking comment.
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