In 2012, the National Labor Relations Board issued the Alan Ritchey decision that changed the landscape of disciplining employees while negotiating with a union for an initial collective bargaining agreement. Until Alan Ritchey, companies that lost a union election were free to continue operating as non-union until a union contract was signed. Under Alan Ritchey,…

Anyone who reads my Roetzel Recap: Labor Relations or has listened to me give one of dozens of speeches on how the National Labor Relations Act applies to non-union companies and how the National Labor Relations Board is targeting non-union companies will already know this. But, until no company’s handbook violates the Act, it is…

Intertape Polymer Corporation won a union election 142 – 97. However, because of its seemingly innocuous conduct during the union organizing drive, the National Labor Relations Board nullified the victory and ordered a re-run election. At least the Board didn’t order a Gissel bargaining order, which sidesteps an election and orders the parties to immediately…

The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has made it a top priority to force purchasing companies to recognize the labor unions in place at the selling company. While there are legal ways to craft the buy/sell agreement to avoid becoming a “successor employer,” the NLRB is actively seeking to catch companies that…

Hydro Automotive is a typical auto parts manufacturer: it has a union and its collective bargaining agreement provides benefits to retirees. As health and welfare costs continue to increase, the company announced in late 2010 that, beginning in 2011 it would no longer provide retiree health benefits to all employees who retired on or after…

The United Auto Workers sold its members on a dues increase under the guise that additional money was needed to replenish its strike fund after the fund loaned money to pay for the union’s operating expenses. After all, the UAW needs a fat strike fund heading into labor negotiations with the Big Three in 2015.…