he Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) requires notice of a labor dispute within five days of its initiation. Therefore, as a contractor who has locked out OE 324 employees, you must notify the UIA that a labor dispute (lockout) has been initiated by the end of business, Friday, September 7th. We recommend that you get the notice of labor dispute in as quickly as possible to avoid any concern about missing the five-day limit.
A sample notice form to the UIA regarding the labor dispute is attached
In filling out the form, it is important that you list any sites/divisions where your employees are locked out. What this means is that you should list any permanent corporate locations within Michigan (i.e. addresses of offices, permanent plants, etc.). It is also suggested that each contractor attach a list of projects that are being performed in Michigan to the notification.
Since issuing the lockout notice, MITA has received reports that some OE 324 employees have quit or walked off their jobsites while work was in progress, apparently initiating a strike. It is important to highlight some strict NLRB rules that will play into the situation.
· It is important to differentiate between striking employees, lockout employees and employees who quit.
· Striking employees and lockout employees remain employees of your company. They are not treated as former employees; they are current employees. It is an unfair labor practice to treat a striking employee or lockout employee as a former employee. When the lockout is over, all contractors hope and expect that the striking/lockout employees will return to work.
· Employees who actually quit their jobs are no longer employees.
If you have any questions, please contact Mike Nystrom, Executive Vice President/Secretary, at mikenystrom@thinkmita.org, or at (517) 896-1493, or Glenn Bukoski, Vice President of Engineering Services, at glennbukoski@thinkmita.org or at (517) 256-0741.
