By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in Elections,NLRBThe 2014 Election Rule is here to stay— at least for the next two months. On Friday, the NLRB extended the time for filing responses to the Request for Information until March 19, 2018. As we previously reported, the 2014 Election Rule, also known as the “ambush” or “quickie” election rule, speeds up the representation… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union Organizing,UnionsAs previously covered by this blog, the U.S. Justice Department has thus far indicted two former UAW officials and two former Chrysler officials in an embezzlement scandal involving the joint UAW-Chrysler training center. Now two classes of Chrysler workers have filed civil lawsuits against both the UAW and Chrysler’s parent, FCA US LLC based on… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn the heels of the NLRB’s recent decision changing the approach to determining whether a proposed bargaining unit is appropriate, the NLRB General Counsel issued a memorandum explaining how regional offices around the country should apply that decision to pending election cases. As we discussed on this blog last week, the NLRB’s recent decision in PCC… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in Elections,RulemakingOn Wednesday, the NLRB announced that it would ask for public input on the 2014 Election Rule, sometimes known as the “ambush” or “quickie” election rule. The 2014 Election Rule speeds up the representation election procedure, allowing union votes to occur in much less time than was previously the case. For example, as we previously reported,… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingAfter two days of voting in a secret-ballot NLRB election, production and maintenance workers at the Moraine, Ohio Fuyao glass plant rejected the UAW. The final vote tally was 886 “No” votes to 441 “Yes” votes. This is the third major defeat of the UAW among auto manufacturing and auto supplier companies in as many… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingOn October 25, Fuyao Glass America, the UAW and the NLRB reached an election agreement for an NLRB-supervised, secret-ballot election at the Fuyao plant in Moraine, Ohio. Approximately 1,500 Fuyao production and maintenance workers will vote on whether to designate the UAW as their collective bargaining agent. The election is set for Wednesday, November 8… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingBecause the team I was pulling for in the NCAA tournament exited last week, I was only loosely paying attention to the game last night. As I cruised Twitter, this tweet from Acting NLRB Chair Miscimarra (R) caught my eye: Divided NLRB permits election where NLRB notice gives some voters 3 days’ notice they are in… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,RulemakingWith the dust still settling from our national election this week, I’ve been digesting what it means for the NLRB. So, here are some initial thoughts. Two of the five NLRB positions are vacant now. But, the details on the appointment process are messy. The NLRB members President Obama selected have staggered terms that will… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingThe NLRB’s so-called “ambush” election rule turned one year old last month. To commemorate the birthday, I decided to turn to Susan Connelly, the Executive Director at PTI Labor Research, and prior contributor to this blog, to ask what she is seeing in the election data. Nelson: Looking back at the first year of the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Management,NLRB,Union OrganizingLast week I looked back at the five most important labor law developments in 2015. This week I look forward to the top 5 most important issues labor professionals should find a place for on their “to do” list this year: Prepare for the DOL persuader regulations. Going on five years now, the DOL has… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingThe last several years have seen significant decisions benefiting unions announced around Labor Day. This year was no different. There was the more easily satisfied joint employer test and a decision allowing dues checkoff provisions in a union contract to survive the expiration of that contract. (More on that development coming soon!) Add to these a new guidance memorandum (pdf) from… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,Rulemaking,Union OrganizingAnother federal court, this one in Washington, D.C., has come down on the side of the NLRB’s new election rule. Deciding a case the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several other employer organizations filed, and to which one employer was added, the court found that the NLRB did not act “arbitrarily or capriciously” in issuing… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and George Stevens on Posted in Courts,Elections,Union OrganizingUpdating our post from yesterday, the Texas business groups who lost their challenge to the NLRB’s “ambush” election rule wasted no time filing a Notice of Appeal (pdf) of that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. While it is certainly possible that the appeals court could reverse the decision, any… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,NLRB,Union OrganizingOn the heels of the Texas court’s ruling earlier this week, and with more than a month of experience with the NLRB’s new election rule behind us, I thought it would be interesting to find out what the data actually shows is happening under the new rule. So, yesterday I turned to Susan Connelly of… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and George Stevens on Posted in Elections,NLRB,Union OrganizingA federal judge in Texas dealt a serious blow to opponents of the NLRB’s new “ambush” election rule yesterday afternoon, tossing out a lawsuit from business groups challenging the rule. Opponents of the rule have now lost in both court and in Congress. There is only one remaining court case challenging the rule in the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and George Stevens on Posted in Courts,NLRB,RulemakingOn Thursday, the NLRB won its first courtroom victory in connection with its “ambush” or “quickie” election rule, which went into effect earlier this month. It was not, however, in one of the two cases that have been pending for some time, and that we have previously discussed on this blog. Instead, the NLRB’s victory… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Greg Scheiderer on Posted in Elections,NLRB,RulemakingEarlier this week, Region 8 of the NLRB held a training session in Cleveland, Ohio, on the upcoming changes to the procedures for representation cases that will go into effect on April 14, 2015. This training session was one of more than 35 sessions the NLRB is hosting for practitioners across the country. Additionally, NLRB… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Rulemaking,Union OrganizingAs forecast two weeks ago on this blog, President Obama yesterday vetoed the Congressional Review Act resolution that would have prevented the NLRB from proceeding with the implementation of its ambush/quickie election rules adopted earlier this year. In his “memorandum of disapproval,” the President referred to the rules as “common-sense, modest” changes. He also noted that employees… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and George Stevens on Posted in Elections,NLRB,Union OrganizingRegular readers of this blog are already aware of the uproar over the NLRB’s release of its “quickie” or “ambush” union election rule and the litigation it has spawned in both D.C. and Texas federal courts. The rule will bring a major overhaul to the manner and timeframe in which union elections are held. As litigation has… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,RulemakingUpdating our previous post, a second group filed suit (pdf) against the NLRB last week, challenging its ambush election rule. This time, the challenge comes from The Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas Inc., who are joined by the same organization’s Central Texas Chapter and the National Federation of Independent Business/Texas. They have asked the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBLooking at the developments in the labor law field during 2014, a few stand out as worthy enough to find a place on a labor professional’s “to do” list for 2015. Here are the five that I would suggest should be on the list of every management representative: Prepare for the quickie election. The changes to… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingAs we predicted here, several business trade groups filed suit earlier this week challenging the NLRB’s new “ambush election” rule. The rule, also discussed here, was issued in a 3-2 party line decision on December 12, 2014 and is due to take effect April 14, 2015. Its primary effect is to streamline the union election… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingThe NLRB has, after much anticipation, issued its “ambush election” or “quickie election” final rule. A summary of the major provision in the rules can be found here. The rulemaking, which followed a long and tortured procedural path, is a major overhaul of the procedures used to conduct secret ballot, union elections. These elections are an important… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBIn a major decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the recess appointments President Obama made to the NLRB in January 2012 were unconstitutional. The case related to the appointments of three members of the NLRB on January 4, 2012, during a period of time in which the U.S. Senate was in an intra-session… Continue Reading
