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Union chatter in the workplace: Employers must tread carefully
2024-05-06T05:00:00Z
Each year the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) considers thousands of unfair labor practice charges, and the number of charges being filed is going up.
The NLRB reports that:
- Unfair labor practice charges filed in NLRB field offices between October 1 and March 31 increased 7 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.
- During fiscal year 2023, unfair labor practice charges were up 10 percent.
What are unfair labor practices?
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees’ right to unionize or otherwise join together to improve wages and working conditions. A company can commit an unfair labor practice when it interferes with these rights, such as when the employer:
- Threatens employees with job loss or loss of benefits if they discuss wages and working conditions,
- Threatens to close a plant or location if employees select a union to represent them,
- Questions employees about their union sympathies or activities in a way that interferes with their rights or coerces employees in the exercise of their rights,
- Promises benefits to employees to discourage their union support,
- Transfers, lays off, terminates, or assigns employees more difficult work tasks because discussed wages and working conditions, or
- Transfers, lays off, terminates, or assigns employees more difficult work tasks because they engaged in union activity.
Three things not to do
Recent cases decided by the NLRB highlight actions employers should avoid if they want to reduce their risk of violating employee rights:
- Don’t suddenly show great interest in employee concerns. In general, it’s fine to ask employees for feedback about their working conditions, but showing sudden interest in employee grievances after employees begin to unionize can raise red flags with the NLRB. It recently reprimanded a company for actions taken by a district manager who met individually with store employees rather than only the store manager and assistant manager, as usual. The district manager usually chatted with employees in passing about video games, college classes, and other employee interests, but this time she asked about grievances, talking to one employee for 20 minutes. The board found that sudden interest in employee grievances was an attempt to influence employees to vote against the union.
- Don’t hint that pay might be better without a union. Pay is a significant issue for workers, and employers need to be careful when talking about raises at unionizing locations. In a recent case decided by the NLRB, a manager indicated that pay raises might not materialize if a store location unionized. The manager failed to mention that wage increases would be subject to negotiation between the company and the union. The board concluded that the employer violated the NLRA by threatening employees with the loss of a pay raise.
- Don’t hint that conditions might get worse under a union. Telling employees their insurance coverage might get worse under a union, or that it would be unlikely they would be able to pick up shifts at other locations if they were to unionize, can bring trouble with the NLRB. The board recently found that a store manager who made comments like these violated the NLRA, as the comments were likely made to encourage employees not to vote for the union. Making negative comments about benefits not based on facts could be seen as threatening employees with the loss of benefits and hours if they were to unionize.
Key to remember: Managers need to be cautious when discussing wages and working conditions when employees are looking at unionizing.
