By Nelson Cary on Posted in Department of LaborTwo of my colleagues, Ben Shepler and Mike Griffaton, wrote yesterday about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) reversal of a position it took in February 2013. At issue is the right of non-employee union representatives to participate in an OSHA-conducted workplace safety inspection. The prior administration extended that right to unions, even if the employer was… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in ElectionsEarlier this year, the NLRB released data on union wins in election petitions filed during FY 2015 (i.e., from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015). The results: unions won 66% of all election petitions filed. In representation petition activity, where the union is trying to gain representation rights for the first time, unions won 69%… 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 and Liz Cramer on Posted in Management,Union OrganizingA federal appellate court recently reigned-in the NLRB’s attempt to limit an employer’s response to union activity. The case, Intertape Polymer Corp., previously covered on this blog, arose in the context of a union organizing drive. As discussed in our prior post, the NLRB decided that the employer engaged in unlawful employee surveillance, confiscation of… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Courts,UnionsThe First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of the people “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Courts have concluded that when a person petitions the Government in good faith, the First Amendment prohibits any sanction for that conduct. Applied in the labor law context, therefore, employer conduct that… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingEmployees are permitted to join unions. Independent contractors are not. Thus, whether a particular working relationship involves an “employee” or an “independent contractor” is extremely important. Recently, the NLRB has made it easier to establish employee status and correspondingly more difficult to establish independent contractor status. The case involved delivery drivers for Federal Express Home… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Susan Connelly of PTI Labor Research, Guest Blogger* PTI Labor Research analyzed union representation petitions that were filed within the first half of the year. States with the most petitions filed (pdf) included: New York, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Each of these top five states are “Non-Right to Work,” where it is legal to… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingOn the heels of the much anticipated decision involving the Macy’s department store chain, discussed on this blog last week, the NLRB on Monday released its opinion in a similar case involving Neiman Marcus. Unlike the outcome in the Macy’s case, however, the NLRB found the bargaining unit that the union sought to represent was not… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Nelson Cary and Christina Otero* The United Steelworkers union lost an election at a tape manufacturing facility, with 97 votes for and 142 votes against the union. During the campaign, however, the employer confiscated union literature from the employees’ break room and engaged in surveillance of employees’ union activities. For these transgressions, a majority… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBBy Nelson Cary and James Pauley III A healthcare employer with six different locations recently found itself in hot water after banning employees from wearing stickers with the word “BUSTED” in bright red lettering; the NLRB found that the prohibition violated the NLRA. The employer banned the stickers in patient care areas in four of its… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingUnion elections are supposed to be conducted in an atmosphere free of threats and coercion. This allows employees to make a free and informed choice about whether they want a Union to represent them for purposes of collective bargaining. Given these principles, therefore, even a labor professional might be surprised at a recent decision from the NLRB.… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Just before the NLRB hearing about the UAW objections to the VW election was to start, the UAW withdrew its objections to its 712-626 defeat in the February 2014 election. Thus, the UAW ended its legal battle to overturn the election results. The UAW stated that pursing its objections would take months… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union OrganizingBy: Nelson D. Cary, Michael J. Shoenfelt Yesterday, the NLRB’s regional director for Region 13(Chicago), Peter Ohr, issued a 24-page ruling in which he held that college football players at Northwestern University were employees entitled to the right to organize. Ohr reasoned that the players met the standard for an employee under the NLRA and… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer On March 10, 2014, the NLRB Acting Regional Director issued an order allowing two groups of VW workers opposed to the UAW and an another organization to intervene in a hearing on the UAW’s effort to have its election defeat set aside. After the UAW’s 712-626 defeat at Volkswagen, the UAW filed objections… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Seeking to set aside its loss, the UAW filed formal objections to the VW election with the NLRB. The UAW alleges interference with the NLRB election process by third parties. The UAW requests that the NLRB set aside its 712-626 loss in the February 14 election and conduct another secret-ballot election. The UAW has until… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer By a vote of 712 to 626, the VW workers in Chattanooga rejected UAW representation. The defeat leaves the UAW in a precarious state. The UAW was hoping to use a victory at VW as momentum for its campaigns at Nissan in Canton, Mississippi, and at Mercedes Benz in Vance, Alabama. Instead, the UAW finds… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Al Kinzer Voting begins at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 12, and the polls close at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, February 14. By 11:00 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Chattanooga will know whether the UAW has been certified as the exclusive union representing the Volkswagen workers at its Chattanooga plant. VW has done a lot for… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingWith no fanfare, the DOL has changed the anticipated date for the final rule regarding persuader activity. The DOL has been working on this rule for several years and published a proposed rule in 2011. Previously, the DOL had indicated it would publish the final rule in November 2013. Mercifully for employers, November came and went with… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBYesterday, this blog covered an advice memorandum released by the NLRB’s General Counsel finding that Wal-Mart didn’t violate the law in responding to mass demonstrations and picketing by union-sponsored groups. Today, we look at another case relating to union activity directed at Wal-Mart, but this time alleging that the union violated the NLRA. In 2012, the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBUnion members have a right to claim what is known as “objector” status. If they do, a union is obligated to recalculate the dues that those seeking objector status have to pay. The union must reduce the dues by a proportional amount that is equal to money the union spends on activities not related to collective bargaining,… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Union OrganizingBy Nelson Cary and Ashley Manfull Recently, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals reigned in a union-friendly NLRB decision involving comments made during a union organizing drive. In Flagstaff Medical Center, Inc., the NLRB held, among other things, that Flagstaff’s President violated the NLRA during a meeting with food services employees during a union… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRB,Union MembershipLast week, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon released his annual Summary of Operations (pdf). The memorandum summarizes the activities of the General Counsel’s office, which is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice charges and the handling of representation cases. Representation cases are requests from a union, employee, or employer… Continue Reading
