Kahn, Smith & Collins, P.A. is pleased to announce that  Joel Smith was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 in the fields of Entertainment Law – Motion Pictures & Television, Entertainment Law – Music, Labor Law – Unions, Labor Law, Litigation – Labor & Employment and Sports Law - (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 41,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.9 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

It is important to note that the lawyers listed in Best Lawyers have no say in deciding which practice areas they are included in. They are voted into practice areas entirely as a result of the votes they receive from their peers. The subspecialties listed after their names are based on information from a variety of sources.

Since many state bar associations have a board certification process and rules governing legal specialties, please be aware that the practice areas and subspecialties listed in our publications are based on information from the general legal community and that a listed lawyer may or may not be board certified in a specialty or subspecialty. Clients are urged to check a lawyer’s firm web page to determine whether he or she is board certified in the specialty or subspecialty.

From the Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor:

Today is Labor Day. Most countries besides the United States celebrate Labor Day on May 1st, International Workers’ Day—a date that was chosen in part to commemorate the Haymarket riot in Chicago on May 4, 1886.

We know that the first Labor Day celebration in this country occurred on September 5th, 1882, in New York City, and was organized by the Central Labor Union; but there is a debate over whose idea it was in the first place. Labor Day became a national holiday in 1894, partly because it was a convenient way for President Grover Cleveland to appease an angry workforce after he violently broke up a strike.

In 1884, railroad workers in Pullman, Illinois went on strike. The town of Pullman was built for the sole purpose of housing people connected with the Pullman Palace Car Company, from the regular workers to Pullman himself. Everyone in the town worked for the railroad, which dictated their wages as well as their rent. In 1893, the nation went into an economic depression, and workers’ wages were slashed, but they were still working 16-hour days and the company was still taking the same amount for rent out of their paychecks. So Pullman workers went on strike. Railroad workers across the nation who belonged to the American Railway Union joined the strike, refusing to switch trains with Pullman cars on them. Soon anyone who sympathized, union workers or not, joined in the cause, and riots broke out all over. Passengers and mail couldn’t make it west of Chicago.

Grover Cleveland declared that the actions of the workers were criminal, and he sent 12,000 troops to control them. Soon the strike was over, the head of the American Railway Union was sent to prison, and all Pullman workers were required to sign a form saying that they would never strike again. The strike was officially declared over on August 3rd.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, the general public was not too happy with his hard-line stance. So he rushed a Labor Day bill through Congress, and six days after the strike ended, Labor Day was declared a national holiday on the first Monday of September.

These days, only 11.9% of American workers belong to a union, and among private sector workers that number is down to 6.9%. For most Americans, Labor Day has become a time to celebrate the end of summer with a last barbecue or camping trip.

© 2011 American Public Media
480 Cedar Street, Saint Paul, MN 55101
USA

Kahn, Smith & Collins, P.A. is pleased to announce that  Keith Zimmerman was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 in the field of Labor Law – Unions (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

Keith has been in practice for over 30 years. He represents a variety of public and private employee unions.   For the past 25 years, he has represented the Baltimore Teachers Union.  Last year Keith helped the BTU negotiate its landmark contract with the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners.  Keith also recently helped his clients expand collective bargaining rights for Baltimore County employees.  He has a record of successfully litigating on behalf of unions.

Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 41,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.9 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”

It is important to note that the lawyers listed in Best Lawyers have no say in deciding which practice areas they are included in. They are voted into practice areas entirely as a result of the votes they receive from their peers. The subspecialties listed after their names are based on information from a variety of sources.

Since many state bar associations have a board certification process and rules governing legal specialties, please be aware that the practice areas and subspecialties listed in our publications are based on information from the general legal community and that a listed lawyer may or may not be board certified in a specialty or subspecialty. Clients are urged to check a lawyer’s firm web page to determine whether he or she is board certified in the specialty or subspecialty.

Arbitrator Jerome T. Barrett recently ruled in favor of the Public Safety Professionals of Cecil County, International Association of Fire Fighters(IAFF), Local 4645 in it’s action against the Board of Commissioners of Cecil County, MD.

Cecil County was found to have committed unfair labor practices when negotiating during the spring of 2011 with the County’s paramedics.  Arbitrator Barrett ruled against the County and, as a remedy, ruled that the County was bound by the a one year contract for fiscal year 2012.

A full text version of the ruling can be found here – KSC Cecil County Decision