Total Articles: 11
Another Pro-Union Decision by the NLRB: Unions Now Allowed to Organize Select Employee Groups Instead of Companywide
In the latest move by the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) making it easier for unions to organize, the Board ruled on December 30, 2011, that unions may now target select groups of employees instead of organizing larger groups of employees with general common interests company- or facility-wide. In a case involving Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Inc., the Board affirmed a Regional Director’s order directing an election for a union-selected unit consisting only of nuclear safety technicians at a shipyard that builds nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. In other words, the Board allowed the union to carve out only the technicians the union wanted to organize, ignoring the other technicians at the facility even though they shared some community of interests with the nuclear safety technicians.
Unanimous Board Finds No Justification to Exclude Job Classification from Broader Unit
In a rare unanimous decision in the final days of the three-member NLRB panel comprised of Chairman Mark Pearce and Members Craig Becker and Brian Hayes, the Board applied the new standard for determining the propriety of putative bargaining units set forth in Specialty Healthcare and concluded that a union’s petitioned-for bargaining unit was improper because it was inappropriately fragmented. Odwalla, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 132.
House Passes Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act While Board Approves Resolution to Change Election Rule
As expected, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094) by a vote of 235-188, largely along party lines. This bill would effectively undo the criteria used to determine an appropriate bargaining unit established by the National Labor Relations Board’s Specialty Healthcare decision, and prevent the National Labor Relations Board from proceeding with many of its proposed changes to representation election procedures. This measure was approved the same day the NLRB held a public meeting to consider and vote on a resolution approving a handful of proposed election rule changes.
House Approves Rule for Vote on Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act
The House of Representatives has set the stage for future debate and vote on the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094), a bill that would effectively undo the criteria used to determine an appropriate bargaining unit established by the National Labor Relations Board’s recent Specialty Healthcare decision, and serve as a preemptive strike against the National Labor Relations Board’s proposed changes to representation election procedures. On Friday, the House voted 239 - 167 in favor of a rule (pdf) that will, among other limitations, provide for one hour of general debate on the measure and consideration of four proffered amendments to the legislation.
Senate Bill Would Nullify Specialty Healthcare Decision
On Thursday Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) introduced the Representation Fairness Restoration Act (S. 1843), a bill that would effectively revoke the National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision in Specialty Healthcare, and establish criteria for determining an appropriate bargaining unit. In Specialty Healthcare, the Board determined a petitioned-for unit will be deemed appropriate so long as that unit consists of a clearly identifiable group of employees. If an employer contends that the unit should include additional employees, it is incumbent upon the employer to show that the employees in a larger unit share an "overwhelming" community of interest with those in the petitioned-for unit. Many have argued that this decision will result in much smaller “micro” bargaining units that are easier to organize and more difficult for employers to administratively manage.
House Committee Advances Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act
On Wednesday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted 23-16 along party lines to send the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094) (pdf) to the House floor. The vote followed a lengthy markup session of the legislation that would, among other changes, effectively undo the criteria used to determine an appropriate bargaining unit established by the National Labor Relations Board’s recent Specialty Healthcare decision, and prevent the National Labor Relations Board from pursuing its proposed changes to representation election procedures.
New NLRB Standard Favors Smaller Bargaining Units
Overruling 20 years of precedence, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has established a new standard for determining an appropriate bargaining unit in non-acute healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes). The impact of this decision likely will reach beyond the healthcare industry, however, because the Board also held that an employer who challenges a union's proposed bargaining unit as improperly excluding employees must show that the excluded employees share an "overwhelming" community of interest with the petitioned-for employees. The Board's decision may make it easier for unions to organize smaller units of employees, such as one department or even one job classification. According to dissenting Member Hayes, the decision "fundamentally changes the standard for determining whether a petitioned-for unit is appropriate in any industry subject to the Board's jurisdiction." See Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB No. 83 (August 26, 2011).
NLRB Clears Way for "Made to Order" Union Bargaining Units
National Labor Relations Board Chairman Wilma Liebman has ended her tenure at the agency with a spate of portentous decisions. Most prominent among them perhaps is Specialty Healthcare, 357 NLRB No. 83 (Aug. 26, 2011), one of several cases in which the Board had invited briefing by interested members of the public. Revisiting a non-controversial decades-old bargaining unit standard unique to non-acute care health-related facilities, the Board majority seized the occasion to fashion a new rule, ultimately affecting all employers, in which it would approve for union representation “any petitioned-for unit readily identifiable as a group of employees who share a community of interest,” unless the employer or other opposing party could demonstrate an “overwhelming” community of interest in a larger unit.
Retail Industry: Multi-Location Retail Store Not "Appropriate" For Bargaining.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently held that a proposed bargaining unit of 32 Connecticut stores of Sleepy's Inc. was not an appropriate multi-location bargaining unit. The decision, by board members Leibman and Schaumber, provides insight into how a retailer's operations can impact the scope of a bargaining unit should organizing efforts take place.
Rival Unions Challenge IAM at US Airways (pdf).
The recent ruling by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that US
Airways and America West constitute a single transportation system
for representation purposes has intensified union rivalries.
NLRB restores prior law on Union representation of Agency temps (pdf).
In another important decision for employers who jointly
employ temporary workers provided by a personnel
staffing agency, a 3-2 Board majority has held that the
employer and agency must both consent before an election
can be conducted in a unit comprising the employers
regular employees and any jointly employed temps.
