Following a yearlong worker dispute, Palermo Villa Inc. reached a settlement Tuesday, agreeing to return eight former strikers to their jobs with back pay, according to a news release.
The issue first began when Palermo’s workers went on strike last June, citing allegations of unfair labor practices and unsafe working conditions.
The Milwaukee office of the National Labor Relations Board ruled in November that Palermo’s termination of 75 workers under an immigration audit was legal and not a resistance to the workers’ creation of a union, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
However, the NLRB also said the company unlawfully fired nine workers for supporting union activity and the workers’ strike in June, according to the Sentinel.
The workers appealed the ruling to a federal NLRB branch, but it denied the appeal in April based on lack of sufficient evidence.
The settlement agreement requires Palermo Villa Inc. to offer all eight employees the right to return to their previous jobs, award a lump sum payment for back pay to all eight employees within two weeks and post a notice inside the factory explaining that Palermo’s will comply with workers’ rights to form a union, according to the news release.
Member of the Labor Codes Licensing Compliance Committee Lydia Zepeda said she is pleased conditions for the workers will improve.
“I’m delighted the workers will be reinstated but it has taken a little longer than I hoped," Zepeda said. "I’m also sad the other workers won’t receive the same offer because of immigration status.”
The University of Wisconsin-Madison currently has a $200,000 sponsorship agreement with Palermo’s, as well as an indirect licensing agreement through Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., according to according to Co-President of the Teaching Assistants' Association Charity Schmidt.
In mid-October, the TAA, Labor Licensing Policy Committee and UW-Madison’s Student Labor Action Coalition urged the university to cut ties with Palermo’s, citing unfair labor practices and illegal termination based on efforts to unionize.
Palermo’s could not be reached for comment on the settlement.
