Labor

Working for a better workplace since 1933, Blitman & King’s nationally recognized Labor Practice is distinct in its representation of public and private sector labor unions in connection with all of the problems and issues involving relations with management and among the members. Our attorneys bring decades of experience and institutional knowledge to address labor issues.

We assist our labor clients in developing positive, creative, forward-thinking practices that bring successful results in negotiating and enforcing the terms of collective bargaining agreements.

When settlements cannot be reached, we are skilled at enforcing agreement terms through alternative dispute resolutions and through litigation. We bring unfair labor and improper practice charges before the NLRB and Public Employment Relations Boards. We also provide informed counsel with respect to compulsory interest arbitration, picketing, boycotts, handbillings and strikes.

Practice Highlights
  • Successfully litigated a high-profile plant relocation case whereby millions of dollars of back pay was collected and the union was awarded recognition at the relocated workplace. We then successfully negotiated, on favorable terms, a collective bargaining agreement at the relocated workplace.
  • In a uniquely favorable result, the court directed an employer to pay the union’s attorneys’ fees after we successfully enforced, through litigation, an arbitrator’s award in favor of the union.
  • Successfully litigated numerous cases to either stop double-breasted operations or secure favorable long-term union contracts to limit double breasting.
  • Obtained an NLRB decision barring the merger of a subsidiary’s longstanding union pension plan into the multi-national parent’s non-collectively bargained pension plan.
  • Obtained summary judgment, on behalf of a large state wide labor union, dismissing a class action that sought substantial damages for alleged violations of the duty of fair representation and ERISA in connection with pension benefits.
  • Successfully litigated NLRB Section 10(j) injunction cases. In one instance we obtained an order barring a plant relocation within the United States. In another, we obtained an order requiring recognition of the union and application of the labor contract by a successor employer at a relocated workplace.
Awards

Our

labor lawyers

have received the following recognition or awards:

  • The Best Lawyers in America
  • Who’s Who Legal Awards
  • Charter Fellows of the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
  • Former Chairs of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section
  • New York Super Lawyers
  • Former Chairs of the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section
  • Former Chairs of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Development of Law under the National Labor Relations Board
  • AV Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell