NLRB Proposals Would Interfere With Employees’ Right To Secret Ballot

On April 11, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Council of the General Counsel (CGC) filed a brief in a case asking the NLRB to overrule five cases and replace them with policies to alter employers’ free speech and due process rights and employees’ right to a secret ballot election in union representation elections.

The policies include:

• Prohibiting employers from discussing with employees how their relationship will change if a union enters the workplace;
• Forcing bargaining orders on employers even if the circumstances of the workplace have changed;
• Shifting the burden of proof from the General Counsel to employers to prove “coercive conduct” wasn’t disseminated among workers;
• Implementing bargaining orders that force employers to recognize and bargain with a union if they don’t have “good faith doubt” that the union doesn’t hold majority support from the workers and question the validity of signed authorization cards; and
• Prohibiting employers from holding “captive audience meetings” where they discuss unionization with their employees.

If implemented, these changes would mean major changes in employers’ ability to communicate with their employees and would interfere with employees’ right to vote on union representation through a secret ballot election. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace opposes these changes and will request that the NLRB invite interested parties to file amicus briefs in this case.