What We Do

Labor Negotiations | Contract Administration | General Consulting
Administrative Agency Representation | Trust Representation

Labor Negotiations
Labor negotiations is our primary area of expertise. For most of our clients, we serve as chief spokesperson in negotiations and provide all of the necessary underlying support to fulfill that role. We recognize that each company is different and we adapt our role to best serve that company. We handle all aspects of negotiations for clients so they can focus their time and resources on substantive bargaining issues and running their business. Whether the negotiations involve single employer, multi-employer, or multi-union bargaining units, our roles can include:

- Serving as lead negotiator
- Assisting in developing strategy, deciding on proposals, costing proposals
- Handling all of the logistics (preparing proposals, scheduling and meeting locations, preparing a new labor agreement at the conclusion)

Our staff has in depth knowledge concerning many of the unions throughout the Pacific Northwest. We have negotiated labor agreements for our clients with the following labor unions:

Bakery and Confectionary Workers
Carpenters
CWA
HERE
IBEW
International Association of Machinists
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Operating Engineers
PACE
Painters
Service Employees (SEIU)
Sign and Pictorial Painters (Paintmakers)
United Food and Commercial Workers
Various Police Officer Guilds

Contract Administration
Once negotiations are concluded, our role and services continue. We assist clients in understanding and properly implementing the labor agreement and we serve as the client’s representative in addressing and resolving grievances that arise under the labor agreement. We provide services throughout the duration of the labor agreement, including:

- Advise and/or represent client at all steps of grievance procedure
- Grievance meetings/Joint Conference Boards
- Arbitration- full representation

General Consulting
Our general consulting services are probably the most utilized of the services we offer to clients. A manager or HR professional at one of our clients can pick up the phone and speak with one of our staff attorneys about any issue (no matter how big or small) at any time – and there is no extra charge. Depending on how complicated the problem, we strive to give immediate and practical advice. Because we specialize in only this area of the law and represent so many different companies, we have real expertise and an ability to understand how to help you work through the issue in a practical way.

We provide phone/email consultations on all areas of labor and employment law, such as:

- Labor agreement interpretation questions
- Discipline/discharge issues
- Family Leave/ ADA issues
- Discrimination/harassment issues
- Wage & hour questions
- Policy handbook review
- Workplace investigations
- Training
- Business sales/acquisitions impacts/union concerns

Administrative Agency Representation
We represent clients with regard to complaints or charges filed with various government agencies, such as:

- NLRB
- EEOC/Human Rights Commission
- Department of Labor & Industries-Washington
- Bureau of Labor and Industries-Oregon (BOLI)
- Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)

Trust Representation
We serve as employer trustees on many of the region’s Taft-Hartley health and welfare and pension trusts. This allows us to have an in-depth understanding of what is happening on these funds – which is invaluable to our members when it comes time for negotiations. It also provides an advantage when we need to assist a member who has a conflict or problem with one of the trusts.