MAPI Report: 2011 NLRB Decisions Will Have Important Effects on Union Activities

In August 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a series of four important decisions that in combination substantially enhanced the ability of unions to organize employees and provided greater protection of unions’ new or established bargaining unit representative status. In each of these cases, the Board reached its result by overturning prior Board decisions, some of which had been issued only a few years earlier. 

In The NLRB’s Precedent-Overruling Decisions on Union Organizing and Bargaining Unit Representative Status: Policy Implementation or Legal Analysis? (PA-102), Les Miller, Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI) Senior Attorney, reviews the four cases: Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile; Lamons Gasket Company; UGL-UNICCO; and Stericycle, Inc.

Miller writes that with these changes unions can leverage success in organizing small bargaining units to provide a platform for far broader organizing efforts. 

In addition, once unions achieve incumbent representative status, they will have a broader shield from a challenge by an employer, rival union, or unit employees.

The report is available at www.mapi.net.