NLRB Takes Steps to Level Playing Field for Workers

January 2, 2015

220px-1099_14th_Street_–_National_Labor_Relations_Board_-_signIn the biggest policy boost to Union organizing in decades, the National Labor Relations Board issued a long-awaited final rule speeding up the union election process.  This rule comes after years of legal challenges to the Obama Administrations attempts at leveling the play8ing field for Union members and for workers looking to form a Union at work.
This new rule will require companies to postpone virtually all litigation over the eligibility of employees until after workers vote on whether or not they wish to form a Union.  This will stop management from engaging in a series of stall tactics that have been used for decades to slow down and ultimately swamp union organizing drives.
Regional NLRB directors will be given the authority to rule that litigation that delays an election is unnecessary until after an election has taken place.  The regulation will eliminate a previously-required 25-day period between the time an election is ordered and the election itself.
It will also require employers to add personal email addresses and phone numbers to lists of workers eligible they are required to provide during an election.  An NLRB decision from that same week in mid-December prohibits employers from denying union supporters from the ability to use company email for organizing purposes.