16 April 2024
Although many nonunion employers do not see the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as impacting them, they are often surprised when an unfair labor practice charge (ULP) is issued against them. These employers think the NLRB only protects union activity, but that’s not the case. The NLRB protects all workers’ rights in the workplace and is the de facto union for nonunion workers. Although in the past, ULPs have been fairly rare, they are rising today as...
26 March 2024
In the midst of the NCAA March Madness, a distraction is taking place. A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled last month that members of the Dartmouth men's basketball team are employees of the school. This ruling will allow the basketball team to organize under the NLRB rules, and they decided to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
12 March 2024
Last Friday a federal judge struck down the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulations expanding its control over the job terms and conditions it uses to determine whether two employers are in fact one for the purposes of labor law application. The Joint Employer rule was supposed to take effect Monday (March 11th) from a previous court stay, but the Texas federal judge hearing the case vacated that decision and held the regulations were too far reaching in their scope for a federal...
27 February 2024
Should workers violating a company dress code policy be protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if they are wearing or displaying political slogans on their uniforms protesting for an issue unrelated to their work?
20 February 2024
In the category of what’s good for the goose is good for the gander we have the pro-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently finding the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union engaged in a myriad of unfair labor practices with its own unionized staff who are members of FAIR. (Yes, unions have unions.)
13 February 2024
Cemex Construction is challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “radical change” which would allow the NLRB to bypass an organizing election and order bargaining if it finds the employer engaged in an unfair labor practice during the campaign. It also extended the rules for requiring union election if the union demands recognition. Before this decision, an employer was not required to recognize a union and the union was the one that had to demand an election....
30 January 2024
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported union membership continued to decline in 2023. The BLS reported that private sector union membership increased by 191,000 members during the year. Union representation was 11.2% of workers in 2023 down from 11.3% in 2022.
2 January 2024
As we closed out 2023, unions continued to win recognition elections at a rate of almost 75%. In 2023 this percentage is from 1,316 certification elections run nationally. This included an overall win rate in September, 2023 of 91%. This win rate was for recognition certification elections – also called RC elections.
2 January 2024
On December 26, 2023, representation case procedures changed under a rule published in August 2023 by the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). Essentially, the rule is reimplementing the 2014 Obama era “Quickie Election” rules.
19 December 2023
Labor contracts of large employers can significantly impact smaller related employers through a series of economic forces. One primary mechanism is the influence of wage and benefit standards set by major corporations within a specific industry. When large companies establish high standards in their labor contracts, it creates a benchmark that smaller employers often feel compelled to meet to attract and retain skilled and experienced workers.
28 November 2023
Shaun Fain, UAW President, is not only taking a victory lap around the recent contract settlements with the Detroit Three, but he has also repeatedly vowed to organize the other non-union auto manufacturers and their suppliers so that in 2028 he will be bargaining against the Big Five or Six.
21 November 2023
What the National Labor Relations Board seeks to give unions, the Courts taketh away. Since the beginning of the Biden era, the NLRB has issued ruling after ruling challenging employers’ policies as anti-union. Many policies that have been acceptable for years are now being cast as anti-union and in turn, an unfair labor practice.
31 October 2023
Last Wednesday Ford Motor Company reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers. Though it remains to be seen what else was agreed to, the tentative deal increases wages 25% over the life of the contract. Top wage jobs will see cumulative wages rise 30% to over $40/hr. Starting wages will increase 68% to over $28/hr. Stellantis agreed to a similar deal last Saturday that mirrors the Ford deal.
17 October 2023
As the UAW strike enters its 5th week, Shawn Fain, UAW President, continues to call on more plants to strike and continues to increase pressure on the Detroit Three. Last week, Fain called on Ford’s Kentucky plant’s 8700 union workers to walk off the job having received Ford’s latest proposal at a meeting that Fain took just ten minutes to leave saying, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant.”
3 October 2023
In a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is claiming a program that solicits employee feedback created a union because the company discussed the issues with the employees (T-Mobile v. NLRB, Nos. 22-1310 and 23-1002).