Hunton & Williams client Sodexo Inc. announced last week that it has settled its civil RICO lawsuit against the Service Employees International Union, marking the end of the SEIU’s contentious two year corporate campaign against the company.  Sodexo had alleged that the union conduct constituted extortion under RICO. Earlier this summer, the U.S. District Court

Fairly or not, America’s commercial banks have been vilified by many as the cause of the nation’s financial meltdown. The CEOs of America’s most venerable financial institutions have been called to Washington and excoriated by an angry Congress, and on talk shows across the nation their salaries have been contrasted with those of hourly-paid financial workers. The new administration has called for tighter regulation of the financial sector and even appointed a “pay czar” to review the compensation structures of banks that have received bailout funds. While most of the attention over the banking crisis is focused on whether, and to what extent, the industry is in need of reform, far less attention has been placed on the veritable “perfect storm” the current political and economic climate has created for unions eager to make inroads into an industry that has been largely untouched by big labor.

Continue Reading Why Is Organized Labor Suddenly Taking an Interest in America’s Big Banks?