The National Labor Relations Board has been so hyperactive lately reshaping the law for the benefit of labor unions that it gets a roundup all to itself:

NLRB announces new right to use employer’s email system for union organizing [Daniel Schwartz]
Per 2-1 vote, NLRB agrees with ALJ that restaurant can’t fire workers over false posters claiming its food is unsafe [Patrick DePoy and Christopher Johlie, JD Supra; earlier on case, and IWW campaign against MikLin/Jimmy John’s]
Other recent NLRB insubordination rulings expand frontiers of right to flip off, cuss out one’s boss [Loren Lee Forrest Jr. and Frederick D. Braid, Holland & Knight, WSJ on Hooters case, earlier]
“Unions win again at NLRB with ‘ambush elections’ rule” [Kent Hoover/Business Journals, Eric Stuart and C. Thomas Davis, Ogletree Deakins, Hirsch/Workplace Prof, earlier]
“Expanding Joint Employer Status: What Does it Mean for Workers and Job Creators?” [House Education and Labor hearing, September; earlier here, here, etc.] Related, first and second batch of critical amicus letters;
Confirmation of nominee Lauren McFerran by lame-duck Senate will lock in union-friendly majority for next two years or so [Sean Higgins, Washington Examiner; Richard Rahn, Washington Times]
“Congress Must Rein In the NLRB” [Ryan Williams, Roll Call]

Filed under: labor unions, National Labor Relations Board, restaurants

2 Comments

Here’s more from Daniel Fisher on how the rulings interact with the NLRB’s new backing of gerrymandered “micro-unions”:

“When you combine ease of communications with the very small bargaining units and you combine all that with a 20-day election cycle, they have given organized labor its biggest Christmas gift since the National Labor Relations Act in 1935,” said Michael Lotito, a shareholder with Littler Mendelson in San Francisco who represents employers in labor matters.

Another little-noticed provision in today’s rules instructs the agency to devise methods for accepting electronically signed union authorization cards from employees. While not precisely equivalent to the “card check” proposal for getting rid of secret ballots in union elections that was defeated early in the Obama administration, when combined with yesterday’s ruling in Purple Communications, it will allow unions to swiftly disseminate cards to employees using a company’s own e-mail system.
- December 16, 2014 9:02 AM
- By Walter Olson
And that, Walter, is what comes of not letting employees look at porn sites.

Bob
- December 16, 2014 9:42 AM
- By boblipton