The Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a non-profit employee advocacy group, filed an unfair labor practice charge against a warehouse company and affiliated agencies that supply the company with some of its workers. The charge alleged that the company interfered with the workers’ concerted protected activities under the National Labor Relations Act. Allegedly, the company’s general…

A grocery store chain and the National Labor Relations Board recently called it quits when they settled a drawn-out battle over a union agent distributing handbills at the grocery stores. The case raised the issue of whether a company that allows access to its property by some organizations, such as charity groups, can then lawfully…

It is a common misconception that a company can avoid inheriting union obligations simply by structuring its purchase of another company as an asset sale instead of a stock sale. Buyers are often surprised to learn that they have gained a union, and all of the problems associated with a union, through their purchase. A…

Companies are often eager to withdraw recognition of a union without realizing that severing a union relationship is easier said than done. One company recently learned this lesson the hard way when it obtained signed statements from 8 of the 15 bargaining unit members purportedly showing that the employees wanted to end union representation. The…

A hospital system had one unionized hospital with about 215 employees represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) while there were over 5,000 unrepresented employees throughout the system. The hospital and the SEIU had a collective bargaining agreement that gave union employees a preference over non-union employees in hiring and transferring to open bargaining…

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision that an Illinois auto dealership illegally discouraged workers from supporting a union. The dealership’s management met with employees to discuss a union organizing effort. The managers (truthfully) stated that bargaining with the union would “start from scratch” and pointed out that…