So Browning-Ferris wasn’t the only shady decision made by the NLRB last Thursday – they also ruled that employers must continue to deduct union dues from employee paychecks even after the collective bargaining agreement with management expires. The case was between SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin and Lincoln Lutheran of Racine. The Board ruled that it was unlawful for Lincoln Lutheran to stop automatically withdrawing dues from its employees’ paychecks when their contract with the union expired. According to the Board, the employer must continue to deduct the dues “until the parties have either reached a successor collective-bargaining agreement or a valid overall bargaining impasse permits unilateral action by the employer.” When asked to explain the decision, an NLRB spokesperson said the ruling was made in an effort to support the “goal of promoting collective bargaining.” This ruling reverses a more than 50-year-old precedent. The Board originally ruled to overturn the 1962 Bethlehem Steel case in 2012, but the decision was thrown out after Noel-Canning.
