Posts Categorized: Legislation and Politics

With the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) using recent cases to reverse key worker protections or push  anti-worker policies, it’s time for unions to rethink their NLRB strategy.

In one recent case, the NLRB virtually eliminated the rights of organizers to talk to workers at snackbars and other areas open to the general public. In another, the NLRB ruled that off-duty employees who work for contractors have the right to access only those workplaces where they “regularly” and “exclusively” work.

In a third case, the NLRB made it easier for companies to block access for union representatives, requiring that the union provide proof the company allowed other outside organizations to engage in the same type of activities for the same purposes. For example, to show that the company unlawfully excluded boycotters, the union must prove that the company allowed other organizations to ask customers entering stores to boycott the company. A recent NLRB ruling also made it much harder to petition for elections in “micro units” such as small departments of a company.

The International’s Legal Department is here to help locals carefully consider whether to pursue unfair labor practice charges with the current NLRB. In today’s environment, unions must be mindful of recent rulings where the NLRB has actively sought to undermine worker protections and proceed with caution before bringing any new charges.

Similarly, unions should consider withdrawing or settling cases currently pending before the NLRB, an administrative law judge or a NLRB Regional Office for the same reasons.

If you have any questions, contact George Wiszynski in the International’s Legal Department at gwiszynski@ufcw.org.

The NLRB ruled this summer that companies may exclude organizers from cafeterias or snack bars, as long as they do not do so in a discriminating manner. Most importantly, the NLRB maintained protections for organizers that prevent companies from excluding them if they are acting like other customers.

So, if companies allow customers to sit at tables and talk to each other or to workers who sit nearby, companies must also allow organizers to similarly sit at tables and talk to workers. To preserve this right, organizers should be careful not to distribute literature or union paraphernalia or to hop from table to table. If they do, this NLRB will rule that companies may kick them out.

In this decision, two union representatives met with about six workers at two tables in a hospital cafeteria for more than one hour. They ate and talked about an organizing campaign and a settlement of an NLRB case. While they spoke, other workers stopped by.

The NLRB emphasized that the representatives laid literature and union pins on the table while they talked. Additionally, literature was passed out to other workers while they talked.

A manager told the representatives that they had to leave, explaining that the cafeteria was only for patients, patients’ families and visitors, and hospital employees. The NLRB ruled that the hospital could lawfully order the organizers to leave because customers did not put stacks of papers or trinkets on the table or pass out documents.

This case shows the importance of organizers acting like other customers when speaking with workers. If they do, even after this case, companies would be unlawfully discriminating if they ask the organizers to leave.

The name of the case is UPMC, 368 NLRB No. 2 (June 14, 2019). If you have any questions about this ruling, please contact George Wiszynski in the Legal Department at gwiszynski@ufcw.org.