Articles Discussing Labor Union Organizing.

NLRB general counsel memo provides guidance on recent decision expanding use of bargaining orders. Footnotes to the memo address how unions can demand bargaining, what kind of misconduct will trigger a bargaining order, and how employers can challenge union-proposed election units.

Executive Summary: For nearly 90 years, whether employees desired union representation was determined through a secret ballot election administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board). Though the National Labor Relations Act (Act) permits the use of other means to establish a union’s majority support, the Board and courts have long recognized the “method that best protects employees’ freedom of choice and best ensures majority rule is a Board-conducted, secret ballot election.” After legislative efforts to replace secret ballot elections with “card check” recognition failed (see, e.g., the Employee Free Choice Act and the Protecting the Right to Organize Act), the unelected NLRB has effectively done so on its own.

The National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule revising representation election procedures that will take effect on December 26, 2023. When implemented, the final rule will return to the “Quickie” or “Ambush” election rules originally adopted in 2014.

The National Labor Relations Board (Board) continued its efforts to facilitate union organizing this week and upended significant aspects of prior precedent by: (1) issuing a Final Rule amending (and expediting) election procedures; and (2) making it easier for unions to circumvent those election procedures through a demand for recognition.

On August 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) adopted a new standard for union representation that requires an employer to recognize and bargain with a union that has demonstrated majority status unless the employer challenges the union’s support through an employer-initiated NLRB election, and does so without committing

On August 24, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a new final rule for union elections that revives the prior “ambush election” rules. The new rule compresses the time period between the time a representation petition is filed and the actual election. The impact of the rule is

Welcome and thank you for joining us for this special edition of We Get Work, live from Jackson Lewis’ Corporate Counsel Conference, CCC2023, at the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach resort in Orange County, California. What follows are high level conversations on conference programs and why they were important topics to present now.

With a White House and NLRB that are more pro-labor than most recent past administrations, a “labor renaissance” will be the overarching theme of 2023. Jackson Lewis principals Laura A. Pierson-Scheinberg and Felice B. Ekelman discuss what employers could or should do, especially since the “renaissance” is less governmental and more groundswell.

On January 19, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the national union membership rate declined from 10.3 percent in 2021 to 10.1 percent in 2022.

The union membership rate among private sector workers fell to 6.0% in 2022, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) news release. This is down from 6.1% in 2021 and continues the overall decline since private sector union membership peaked in the mid-1950s.

While organizing activity increased in

As urged by unions, in American Steel Construction the NLRB overturned the unit determination standard of PCC Structurals and returned to its prior Specialty Healthcare approach. As long as a union’s petitioned-for bargaining unit consists of a clearly identifiable group of employees who share a community of interest,

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has proposed rescinding portions of its 2020 union representation procedures on blocking charges, voluntary recognition bar, and construction industry collective bargaining relationships.

As we’ve previously reported, union organizing is on the upswing and the NLRB is beginning to issue decisions that reverse Trump-era precedents that were generally more favorable to employers.  This is the first in what we plan to be regular […]

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Historically, unions have had success organizing the core manual laborers in the construction industry. The formation of the first union of architects at a private-sector architecture firm in the country suggests that union activity could spread to other types of workers.

Executive Summary: Recently, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “the Board”) issued a press release detailing an increase in labor activity this year. Compared to this time last year, the Board has seen an exponential rise in representation petitions and unfair labor practice charges. This increase in labor activity coincides with the Biden Administration’s push to limit employers’ right of free speech and revive automatic recognition. As the labor landscape shifts, employers must shift their focus to preparation and training. Now, more than ever, executives and managers must know their rights and responsibilities under the National Labor Relations Act (“the Act”).