Battery manufacturer EnerSys Inc., which closed its Sumter manufacturing plant in November 2001, has filed a malpractice suit against its attorneys, alleging the Greenville law firm of Jackson Lewis "engineered" what EnerSys refers to as a "relentless and unlawful campaign to oust the union" from the Sumter plant.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a $7.5 million settlement, which EnerSys has agreed to pay to former employees pending unfair labor practice charges for unlawful firings, improper implementation of a "gainsharing" incentive plan, illegal withdrawal of recognition of the union, failure to give notice of the plant's closing to the union and refusal to bargain with the union over the closing.
http://www.theitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041226/BIZ/112260012/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
What is interesting about this case to me is that the two 'bad guys' in the case, the company and the union-bustin' lawyers, are at each other's throats while the workers who got the shaft watch from the sidelines and wait for settlement money. The union busting strategy that was proposed by the lawyers, and carried out by the company, was so effective that it ruined the reputations of the employees. So much so that many of them had trouble getting new jobs because they were 'company destroyers' to the community.
And this was all because one company of a little empire of companies unionized in 1995. It was apparently more about the 'insult' of having to do collective bargaining when they hadn't had to do it since the second world war that the union hurting the bottom line. A company whose legal briefs against their former lawyers reads as if they are the practically the champion of the working man after the fact, rather than a bunch of greedy bums that lost a lawsuit and are trying desperately to fix blame elsewheres.
Because the actions of the company and their legal advisors then have ended up having dire consquences now that its all over... the company is trying to say that the lawyers are responsible because they gave bum legal advice. I say that the a lot of money should be coming out of both their hides. Sure the lawyers had a sleazy idea of how to save the company money. But thats exactly what the company was obviously paying them for. The outrageous abuse or disregard for federal and state labor laws was stunning, and when the hammer fell, the employees ended up being owed some green.
Also, this reads like when its all said and done its going to end up being the rosetta stone of corporate/legal scamming guide sto busting up an established union.
