A complaint filed by a union member against Palermo Villa Inc. in March, which could have delayed a union vote there, has been withdrawn.
Terry Cooper, a Palermo Workers Union member, alleged he was threatened and unlawfully terminated by management for engaging in protected union activity over the previous year.
The Milwaukee branch of the National Labor Relations Board investigated the case.
Richard Saks, an attorney at Hawks Quindel S.C. in Milwaukee, withdrew the case on behalf of Cooper Friday. There is an option to do so at a certain point in the process.
Generally, a party would withdraw a case in the event it was not optimistic about prevailing, Saks said.
A union vote at Palermo’s could have been delayed pending completion of the Cooper case. Now, the only prerequisite is satisfaction of the terms of a settlement of most outstanding issues the company arranged with the NLRB on July 31.
As part of the settlement, Palermo’s was required to post signs about its adherence to labor laws that affect its employees. A union vote would not likely be held until after those signs have been posted for 60 days, said Benjamin Mandelman, acting director at the NLRB in Milwaukee.
“There’s still the pending settled case and until there’s satisfactory compliance with that case, which is typically 60 days … we would not conduct the election unless the union agrees to an earlier election,” Mandelman said.
The signs were posted on August 6, a company spokesman said.
