The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reached out to Phil Wilson for clarification on the announced changes to the NLRB union election rules changes coming soon. Phil clarified one of the contentious aspects of the rule that the changes will rectify: knowing who is in the unit prior to the vote. From the SHRM article:
Identifying who is a supervisor isn’t always easy. A “lead position” might be a supervisor excluded from the act’s coverage at one company, while a lead position at another company might be judged a worker covered by the act, noted Phillip Wilson, president and general counsel with the Labor Relations Institute in Broken Arrow, Okla.
“The current process is rushed” and results in bargaining units where it’s unclear prior to the election who might be unionized and who might not be, he added.
This is problematic partly because employees consequently aren’t fully informed about who their fellow unionized workers would be prior to the election. If they knew that ahead of time, Wilson said, their vote might change.
The changes also allow five days (vs. two days allowed currently) to compile an accurate voter list. The rule is due to be posted in the Federal Register on December 18th, and will take effect 120 days from that date.
