NLRB GC now wants to legalize intermittent and partial strikes
Michael VanDervort
Helping employers create Extraordinary Workplaces | Labor Relations | Podcast Host | Content Creator
This advice memorandum was issued today from the NLRB office of the General Counsel. The memo indicates that General Counsel Richard Griffin has asked the National Labor Relations Board to clarify and modify the law regarding intermittent and partial strikes which have become more common recently . This change would be very problematic for employers, and continues the encroachment of the Board on long standing labor law.
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL Division of Operations-Management
MEMORANDUM OM 17-02 October 3, 2016
TO: Regional Directors, Officers-In-Charge, and Resident Officers
FROM: Beth Tursell, Acting Associate to the General Counsel
SUBJECT: Model Brief Regarding Intermittent and Partial Strikes
Employees seeking to improve their working conditions are more frequently engaging in multiple short-term strikes in disputes with employers The Board’s present test for determining whether multiple short-term strikes are protected is difficult to apply to these situations, and exposes employees to potential discipline for activities that should be considered protected under Section 7 of the Act. The General Counsel has therefore decided to ask the Board to clarify and modify the law regarding intermittent and partial strikes.
If the issue of whether an intermittent or partial strike is protected should arise in one of your cases, please use the analysis in the attached model brief to help you make a determination. If you determine that complaint is warranted under extant law, you should incorporate this model brief, as an alternative argument, into the counsel for the General Counsel’s briefs to the Administrative Law Judge and the Board. If you determine that complaint is not warranted under extant law, but might be appropriate under the analysis in the model brief, please submit the case to the Division of Advice.
If you have any questions, please contact the Division of Advice.
B.T.
Attachment: Brief Insert — Intermittent Strikes —> brief not included on website at time we published – MV
Hat tip to John Raudabaugh for pointing this out.
Human Capital Consultant
8 年You are addressing the symptoms of the real problem here, not the root cause of the issue. If the leaders of organizations treat employees with respect and as if they are the most important customers of the organization, employees wouldn't need to strike for any length of time. Formerly, I too was against unions, but after working in a number of organizations that treat employees only as a tool for making profits, and are truly abhorrent in the ways they talk about employees, I now know that unions are a necessity for the employees. As Human Resources/Human Capital professionals, we are charged with being a conduit between management and employees. If we are doing our jobs well, and if management trusts our counsel, unions aren't needed. And, if unions exist they are inactive if we are doing our jobs and if the leaders and executives are listening and learning from our work and counsel with them. So, yes unions are necessary in some organizations. As professionals, we must address the root cause of the unions' existence or leave those organizations who refuse to change to deal their issues without defending them. .
Helping employers create Extraordinary Workplaces | Labor Relations | Podcast Host | Content Creator
8 年This won't end after the election. This board has legs for a while regardless of how the election turns out
President & CEO at Strategic HR Partners
8 年I actually thought this was a joke. It is , but it isn't.