Union Bailout Update

by | Sep 22, 2015 | News

Reversing precedent in place since 1962 (sound familiar?), the National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that companies must continue to deduct dues from employees paychecks after the contract has expired. Those following the Lincoln Lutheran case were not surprised. The board also “piled on” to the Speciality Healthcare micro-unit ruling in DPI Secuprint, Inc., ruling that a petitioned-for unit can exclude a functionally-integrated department of employees from the unit and still be found appropriate, even where the excluded employees work in the same space and form part of the same workflow as unit employees. You should read the details if micro-unit attacks are a concern. A micro-unit attack was responsible for Target Corp’s first organizing defeat, when a group of pharmacy employees in Brooklyn, New York, recently voted to form a union. When the Ambush Rule passed earlier this spring, the door was opened for the use of electronic signatures in showing of interest, despite the greater opportunity for fraud and abuse inherent in such a system. In a recent memo, the NLRB General Counsel signaled to unions that it would not likely investigate any charges of fraud. According to the memo,

As is now the case with handwritten signatures, an electronic signature submitted in support of a showing of interest that meets the requirements set forth herein will be presumed to be valid absent sufficient probative evidence warranting an investigation of possible fraud. Mere speculation or assertions of fraud are not now, and will not in the future, be sufficient to cause the Agency to investigate.

The definition of protected concerted activity continues to expand faster than spray foam insulation. In this latest case, an employee who was disciplined for a rule infraction, and was upset over the episode, posted his discipline notice in his cubicle so that it was visible to other employees. When the employer threatened suspension, he removed the notice but filed an unfair labor practice charge, which the board upheld. Although unions are hoping to turn the recent joint employer decision into an organizing windfall, legislators are attempting to intervene in the joint employer debacle by introducing a bill designed to protect franchisors from the NLRB’s joint employer decision. Called the Protecting Local Business Opportunity Act, the bill would roll back the ruling and return to “actual, direct and immediate” control over an employee as the test for joint employer status.

INK Newsletter

APPROACHABILITY MINUTE

GET OUR RETENTION TOOLKIT

PUBLICATIONS

Archives

Categories