NLRB confirms workers’ right to organize your firm, department by department
A seemingly minor decision from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could have some major repercussions for companies nationwide.
The case involves a Macy’s store in Saugus, MA, in which a group of salespeople — 41 employees in the cosmetics and fragrances department — made efforts to unionize. The company objected, saying that if the store workers were to form a union it would have to include all the workers in the store, or at the very least all the employees in sales positions.
A three-member panel of the NLRB decided that because the 41 salespeople worked in separate departments and had virtually no overlap with the other departments in the store, the group could be regarded as a bargaining unit — and therefore eligible to form a union.
Sidney F. Lewis, V, writing in the Jones Walker law firm‘s client newsletter, provides a little perspective:
Several years ago in a case entitled Specialty Healthcare, the [NLRB] changed a decades-long standard with regard to how a union can organize employees. Prior to Specialty Healthcare, unions typically had to organize “wall-to-wall,” meaning that if they wanted to go after a particular facility, they had to organize all production and maintenance employees at the facility. Naturally, the larger the unit, the more difficult it was for the union to organize.
In Specialty Healthcare, the board ruled that a union can now organize a smaller unit of employees at the same facility as long as it is a readily identifiable group whose members share a community of interest. An employer can oppose these smaller units only by showing an overwhelming community of interest between the employees the union is going after, and other employees at the facility — a tough standard.
The recent NLRB ruling is the first of its kind in the retail arena. Here’s Lewis’ take on its significance:
This ruling bolsters the unions’ increasing efforts to organize ‘micro-units’ consisting of small, distinct groups of employees within the same facility, and no doubt makes employers more vulnerable. A small group of employees can vote a union in, perhaps creating a greater risk of other employees in the facility following suit.
In other words, your company could face union organizing efforts in several different segments of your workforce.
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