NLRB, DOL, DOJ Have New Powers To Collaborate On Antitrust

In late August, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (ATR), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that will make it easier for these agencies to collaborate on labor issues in antitrust merger investigations.

As an NLRB press release said, he MOU outlines a variety of methods for the antitrust agencies “to obtain relevant information on labor issues in merger investigations, including soliciting information from worker stakeholders and organizations, seeking production of employer information and data related to labor markets, utilizing NLRB and DOL public data sets, and contacting the NLRB and DOL for additional information under bilateral pre-existing interagency MOUs.”

Under the MOU, the NLRB and DOL also committed to “providing technical assistance during merger review, including in the resolution of labor market merger investigations, and to training appropriate personnel from the ATR and FTC on their respective statutes.” Specifically, the NLRB will provide training on the requirement to bargain in good faith, successor bargaining obligations, and unfair labor practices, among other topics. The four agencies will meet bi-annually to discuss implementation and coordination of their partnership.