Group says NLRB should uphold traditional standard for determining appropriate bargaining units to protect job creation and workers’ right to vote and advancement opportunities.

Washington, D.C. – The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), composed of more than 400 major business and trade organizations, released the following statement today after submitting an amicus brief to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in American Steel Construction, Inc. (Case 07–RC–269162). The group called on the NLRB to reaffirm the traditional standard used to determine the appropriateness of a petitioned-for bargaining unit in a union representation election. The traditional standard, applied in PCC Structurals (2017) and Boeing (2019), protects against disenfranchisement of workers’ right to vote on union representation in the workplace.

The following statement is attributable to CDW Chair Kristen Swearingen:

“The NLRB is considering whether or not to reinstate an Obama-era standard that allowed unions to create ‘micro-unions’ to effectively gerrymander representation elections in favor of unions.

“As clearly demonstrated in our amicus brief, the NLRB should reaffirm its standards for determining appropriate petitioned-for collective bargaining units as established in the NLRB cases of PCC Structurals and Boeing, which would prevent union organizers from disenfranchising workers who do not want union representation.

“Micro-unions would hurt job creation and economic growth. They greatly limit an employer’s ability to cross train employees and meet ever-changing customer and client demands via flexible staffing as employees would not be able perform work assigned to another unit. Employees in micro-unions also suffer from reduced job opportunities, such as workforce development, promotions and transfers.

“The NLRB should support the rights of all workers, not just pro-union ones, and maintain a level playing field in union elections by reaffirming the traditional standard for determining appropriate petitioned-for collective bargaining units instead of stacking the deck in favor of unions during union elections and limiting job creation and advancement.”

 

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About The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace

CDW is a broad-based coalition of hundreds of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of employers and millions of employees in various industries across the country concerned with a long-standing effort by some in the labor movement to make radical changes to the National Labor Relations Act without regard to the severely negative impact they would have on employees, employers, and the economy. CDW was originally formed in 2005 in opposition to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) – a bill similar to the PRO Act – that would have stripped employees of the right to secret ballots in union representation elections and allowed arbitrators to set contract terms regardless of the consequence to workers or businesses.

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