Having argued for the need to address through federal court injunctions alleged employer misconduct that can “nip union organizing conduct in the bud” (see NLRB to Weigh Injunctions Routinely for Unlawful Discharges in Organizing Campaigns, Plans Acting GC) — in particular, firing employee organizers and activists — the General Counsel now wants to
Labor
Changing the NLRA to a Punitive Statute – Without EFCA
Adding to the troubles employers are beginning to face with the new National Labor Relations Board is a report that the agency’s General Counsel (GC) has some new ideas to ratchet up employers’ costs of litigation, and even settlement. The GC, the Board’s chief prosecutor, professes fears that victims of alleged discrimination on account of…
NLRB to Reconsider Decertification Bar Rule
Jackson Lewis has filed a “friend-of–the-court” brief on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urging the National Labor Relations Board to adhere to its three-year-old decision in Dana Corporation, 351 NLRB 434 (2007) (originally known as Dana/Metaldyne). That decision allows employees to test immediately through a decertification petition and Board-conducted election their…
NLRB Electronic Posting Decision Assumes Too Much
In J&R Flooring, Inc., dba J. Picini Flooring, 356 NLRB No. 9 (Oct. 22, 2010), the “full” four-member National Labor Relations Board held, “[E]mployers and unions that are found to have violated the Act should be required to distribute remedial notices electronically, such as by e-mail and/or posting on an intranet or the internet, …
Is Less Time from Petition to Election a Good Idea?
It was only a matter of time before Big Labor started to get from the Labor Board what it has been after all along. Failing to achieve compulsory unionism through enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act, unions appear to be relying on the NLRB appointees they supported to achieve the same goals administratively.…
Cuba and the United States
Cuba is going to lay off 500,000 state workers between now and March 2011. According to the Cuban Workers Federation, the only union in the country, the cause of the job displacement is clear: "Our state can’t keep maintaining…bloated payrolls."
Similarly, the public sector unions in the United States representing a significant number of…
What’s the Deal with Marijuana and Unions?
Membership in unions is on the decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of unionized workers dropped by 771,000 in 2009, largely reflecting the overall drop in employment due to the recession. With hopes for the passing of the Employee Free Choice Act on the wane, unions have to look elsewhere…
Board Begins Review of Cases in Light of New Process Steel Remands
The National Labor Relations Board was told by the U.S. Supreme Court in June that it had lacked authority to issue hundreds of decisions and orders from January 2008 through April 2010 with only two members in office. At the time of the High Court’s ruling in New Process Steel, L.P. v NLRB, 130 …
“Full House” (For Now) at the Labor Board
The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed both Mark Gaston Pearce and Brian Hayes to serve as members of the National Labor Relations Board. This brings the membership at the Board from four to five for the first time since 2007.
Mr. Pearce has already been serving as a member of the NLRB since April …
Lafe Solomon Appointed to Acting General Counsel at the NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced on June 20, 2010, that Lafe Solomon was tapped to serve as the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel. The General Counsel, as “gatekeeper” of cases at the NLRB, is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice cases.
Mr. Solomon began his career with the NLRB 38 …