What You Need to Know About Potential Changes in the National Labor Relations Board

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April 23, 2022 • 29 mins

Today’s special guest is Ryan Lyle from IRI Consultants. Ryan has extensive experience in union representation and they have invited him today to talk about current developments for employers on the National Labor Relations Board. Jared shares his own experience and key takeaways from a recent successful union election. Ryan also discusses topics that will help employers better understand the latest trends happening within the union and shares how he believes workforces will be unionized in the future.

Highlights:

What is the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)?
The NLRB has two main areas of responsibility: run union representation elections and administer unfair labor practice charges.
Ryan provides an overview of how a union election works in the U.S.
He shares what happens in a worst-case scenario when an employer gets surprised by a petition for an election.
Ryan also talks about the mandatory meetings that cover the educational aspects of having a union.
Jared shares the process they went through and some of the lessons they learned from the recent union election they had in Nevada.
To persuade the employees to vote against the union, Jared talks about captive audience meetings and explains why they were critical in their communications.
In August 2021, then newly-appointed general counsel of the board, Jennifer Russo released a public memo. Ryan continues to share what it was.
Ryan disagrees that captive audience meetings are implicit or implied threats. He explains why.
He shares there is now an emphasis on the NLRB making rule changes based on case law and administration. Ryan provides some examples.
One of the ways that a union can organize in a workplace is to get authorization cards signed. Ryan shares what the changes will be if the new law passes.
Brett and Jared share their thoughts on the potential, significant changes explained by Ryan.
Brett summarizes the key takeaways from today’s discussion: assess the risk early, don’t make assumptions, and be proactive in your communications.