In The News

Metals Service Center Institute:

There have been several pieces of news this month regarding the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

On November 3, the NLRB issued a draft regulation that would rescind changes the Trump administration had made to procedures for union representation elections. The proposed rule would:

• Bring back the “blocking charge” policy, which halts union representation or decertification elections if the union alleges the employer committed unfair labor practices until those charges are resolved;
• Eliminate the 45-day window that allows workers to challenge union representation via a secret ballot election if the employer voluntarily recognizes the union based on signed authorization cards; and
• Rescind amendments that required unions in the construction industry to maintain proof of majority support if they want an exclusive collective bargaining relationship that is resistant to challenge.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), which MSCI is a member of, opposes this proposal and will file comments on the proposal. Interested in commenting? Click here to learn how.

In related news: top two Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Rep. Rick Allen (R-Ga), sent a letter to the NLRB urging it to return to in-person, secret ballot union representation elections. The letter raises concerns that mail-ballot elections result in lower voter participation rates, higher risk to workers’ rights to freely vote on union representation, and technical concerns and difficulties.

The two lawmakers said, “It is critical for the NLRB to return to manual onsite secret-ballot elections, which have the highest levels of voter participation… The decision to form a union affects nearly all aspects of an employee’s work life, and the Board should not use election methods that decrease voter participation or increase the risk of coercion.”

Finally, on October 31, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced her intention to “protect employees, to the greatest extent possible, from intrusive or abusive electronic monitoring and automated management practices.” Specifically, Abruzzo said she will urge the NLRB to adopt a new framework that finds an employer has presumptively violated the NLRA when an employer’s surveillance and management practices, viewed as a whole, interfere with or prevent a reasonable employee from engaging in activity protected by the NLRA.

Read more here.

As a reminder, the NLRB also is pursuing an expansive joint employer standard that will require indirect or unexercised control over terms and conditions of employment to trigger joint employer status for employers. This proposal is a radical expansion of the standard. The CDW will file comments opposing the rule and encourages individual companies to do the same.