Sham Litigation Violates Secondary Boycott Provisions of NLRA

The takeaway from this case is pretty simple: a union that files 14 baseless lawsuits against a company developing a grocery store engages in sham litigation and violates the National Labor Relations Act’s law against pressuring a secondary (or neutral) employer to cease doing business with the primary employer because the union has a dispute…
Read More

6th Cir Says “These” RNs are Supervisors and Not in Bargaining Unit

This is good news for employers – especially those in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee. If you want to help insulate RNs (or other employees) from unionizing, allow them to give a written memorandum that causes the initiation of a step in a disciplinary policy (written warning). This qualifies as “discipline” under the National Labor…
Read More

Should Craft Units Become Separate Bargaining Units?

A craft unit is an organization of workers who perform skilled or semi-skilled labor such as electricians and carpenters. Craft units have their own unions, i.e. Carpenters Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Plumbers & Pipefitters, etc. Non-craft units generally belong to unions like the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and UNITE HERE…
Read More

What are Gissel Bargaining Orders?

When employers commit unfair labor practices that disrupt pre-election conditions to the point where the National Labor Relations Board determines a free and fair election could not be held, an parties are ordered to bypass a secret ballot election and to immediately begin negotiating a first collective bargaining agreement. There are no automatic rules in…
Read More

Union Access Rights

Union organizing campaigns are increasing both in number and complexity. Companies going through union organizing drives want to limit the union’s ability to access the company’s property both physically (being in the parking lot, break room, walking the floors) and indirectly (through bulletin boards, having employees pass out flyers to coworkers). Now is a good time to…
Read More

Unions use Non-Union Worker Centers to Do Heaving Lifting of Union Organizing

Worker centers may be the biggest thing non-union companies never heard of. They are pro-union advocates who organize rallies and protests, try to engage workers into acting collectively, and seek to get companies to discuss wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment. If it sounds a lot like unions to you, it should. Unions…
Read More