By Nelson Cary and Alex Ehler on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingAmazon has defeated the largest labor drive in the company’s history. Today, the NLRB completed a vote count in an election involving employees at Amazon’s facility in Bessemer, Alabama, which employs nearly 6,000 people. Of these nearly 6,000 people, 3,041 mailed in their ballots indicating whether they wished to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingThe International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers filed an NLRB election petition to represent 87 tool and die maintenance technicians at Nissan’s Smyrna, Tennessee auto plant. At the Smyrna facility, Nissan employs approximately 4,300 production and maintenance workers. The IAM union is trying to slice a very small group out of the whole. The… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in ElectionsAfter the COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary suspension of both in-person and mail ballot labor union elections, the NLRB permitted elections to resume in early April. On Tuesday, July 6, the General Counsel issued guidance addressing suggested safety protocols for conducting manual elections. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, the General Counsel acknowledged the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingIt’s back to business for the NLRB, at least when it comes to representation elections. The NLRB announced today that it would not extend its temporary suspension of elections past this Friday, April 3, 2020. The NLRB will resume conducting elections on Monday. The NLRB had temporarily suspended NLRB elections on March 19, 2020 due… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Amanda Kuehner on Posted in Negotiations,Union OrganizingOn Tuesday last week, the NLRB ordered a New York local business owner to reopen his doors and rehire the workers he terminated after he shut down his truck repair shop to prevent union organization at both his truck repair shop, RAV, and his concrete retail business, Concrete Express. This infrequently used order, known as… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in NLRB,RulemakingOn August 12, 2019, the NLRB published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register regarding election procedures that the NLRB majority contends is essential to preserving employees’ right to free choice of representation. The proposed rule contain three changes to current NLRB election regulations: First, it replaces the current blocking charge policy with… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingOn April 9, 2019, the UAW filed a third election petition with the NLRB to represent workers at Volkswagen’s manufacturing facility in Chattanooga. With this new petition, the UAW seeks to represent about 1,700 production and maintenance workers at the VW facility. In 2014, the UAW lost an election to represent the same VW group… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union Organizing,UnionsIn a one-sentence order, the United States Court of Appeals in D.C. may have set the stage for Volkswagen to overturn a UAW election win. After the new Republican majority on the NLRB reversed the Obama Board’s micro-unit decision, the NLRB then moved to have the Volkswagen case sent back to it for further review.… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Department of Labor,NLRB,Union OrganizingWhat a last couple of weeks on the labor law front. Here is a quick round up of significant developments, just to make sure you are caught up: Puzder Out, Acosta Up Next President Trump’s first DOL secretary nominee, Andrew Puzder, withdrew himself from contention earlier this week. Press reports suggest that there was insufficient support… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union Organizing,UnionsEarlier this month, Volkswagen appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in an effort to overturn the NLRB’s decision upholding the UAW’s election win to represent about 165 skilled maintenance workers within VW’s Chattanooga plant. VW contends that the UAW should not be permitted to represent a small segment of the production… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union Organizing,UnionsThe NRLB recently gave the UAW an expected victory. As readers of this blog will recall, the UAW is seeking to represent about 165 skilled maintenance workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga. VW contended that the UAW should not be permitted to represent a micro-unit of 165 skilled maintenance workers in a manufacturing facility… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union Organizing,UnionsVolkswagen has refused to bargain with the UAW as the representative of 165 skilled maintenance workers at VW’s Chattanooga facility. Consequently, the UAW has filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. VW’s refusal to bargain with the UAW is the only means for VW to challenge the recent election. On December 14, the NLRB… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union Organizing,UnionsThe UAW won the election to represent 165 skilled maintenance workers at VW’s Chattanooga facility. There were 108 “yes” votes in favor of UAW representation and 44 “no” votes against the UAW. VW appealed the NRLB Regional Director’s decision approving an election for a micro-unit of skilled maintenance workers. Now, VW must decide whether to… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn December 1, VW announced that it is appealing the NLRB Regional Director’s decision to hold a union election for 165 skilled maintenance workers. While VW’s appeal proceeds, however, the election will still be held on December 3 and 4. During the NLRB election, the 165 maintenance workers will vote on whether they want the… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn November 18, 2015, the NLRB’s Atlanta Regional Director approved the UAW’s election petition for a small unit of skilled maintenance workers at VW Chattanooga and ordered a two-day election for December 3 and 4. During October, the UAW had petitioned the NLRB to represent a unit of 165 skilled maintenance workers at the VW plant.… Continue Reading
By Allen Kinzer on Posted in Elections,Union OrganizingOn October 23, the UAW filed an NLRB election petition to represent about 165 skilled maintenance workers at VW’s Chattanooga plant. This petition for a union vote comes 20 months after the UAW lost a union election to represent all of the production and maintenance workers at the VW facility. Following the 2014 election loss,… 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 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 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 Allen Kinzer on Posted in Union OrganizingIt’s certainly unconventional for the U.S. labor movement, but the UAW scored a victory at VW in Chattanooga. VW has agreed to meet with the UAW bi-weekly to discuss work issues, after an accounting firm certified that the UAW represented over 45% of the workers in Chattanooga. The UAW, however, is not the exclusive representative… Continue Reading
