Judge Upholds Reinstatement Of Syracuse Union Supporter
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A judge has ruled that Kathy Saumier, a union supporter at a Syracuse plastics factory, was wrongly dismissed on grounds of sexual harassment and that the company that fired her committed numerous other illegal acts in fighting a unionization drive. In a ruling issued on Tuesday, an administrative law judge, Steven Davis, found that Landis Plastics discharged Ms. Saumier 15 months ago because of her pro-union activities — an unlawful reason for dismissal — and not because she had improperly harassed male co-workers, as the company had charged. Two months ago, a Federal District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering Landis, which makes food containers, to rehire Ms. Saumier pending the administrative law judge’s decision. She went back to work April 6. Ms. Saumier has been by far the union’s most outspoken supporter while the United Steelworkers of America has been trying to organize the plant. According to her testimony before a state legislative committee, she ran unionization meetings and reported widespread safety violations to Federal regulators, who fined Landis a total of $729,700 for those breaches. More : query.nytimes.com |