The Amazon unionization vote at a Bessemer, Alabama facility sucked up most of the media (and labor relations) attention in the last several weeks. The unprecedented public access to the vote count was reminiscent of watching the 1994 low-speed police chase of OJ Simpson’s Bronco on national television. Aware of the challenges of getting appropriate participation from the voting unit using a mail-ballot process, the company did everything it could to ensure voters felt safe, and that it was easy to cast their ballots. Police were asked to patrol the large parking areas to prevent intimidation, and the company requested the USPS install a mail box (which was surrounded by a tent to protect anonymity) so that voters could easily vote, and so there was less chance ballots would get lost in the mail if posted at random across the city via personal mail boxes or city-wide USPS mail receptacles.
Those interested in the final tally watched via Zoom as less than 16% of the Amazon employees voted to join the union. To no one’s surprise, following the typical union playbook the RWDSU filed a host of objections to the election, asking the NLRB to schedule a hearing to determine whether the results should be tossed out.
It remains to be seen what the new administration will do after this first experiment with transparency.
As a counterpoint, the NLRB paused a mail ballot election at the end of last month. Rush University Medical Center requested a stay to the election when the NLRB regional director, Paul Hitterman, alluded to but did not analyse the arguments made by the hospital to hold an in-person election. The hospital contends that it meets the bar for in-person elections according to the board’s guidance in Aspirus Keweenaw.
Also in the “no surprise” department was the new administration’s announcement to ignore and move to repeal union financial disclosure rules enacted by the prior administration. The rule, part of the DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards effort to reign in union malfeasance, established new reporting mandates for many unions regarding their strike funds, apprenticeship programs, and other trusts.
Other moves by the NLRB are aimed at expanding the board’s “enforcement” efforts. New Spanish-language websites and social media accounts, and an expectation for increased funding, point to a more aggressive NLRB trolling for business.
Case in point, acting board General Counsel Peter Ohr released a memorandum announcing “vigorous reinforcement” of protected concerted activity. As Ohr states in his memorandum: “I look forward to robustly enforcing the Act’s provisions that protect employee Section 7 rights with full knowledge that recent decisions issued by the current Board have restricted those protections.”
A unanimous 3-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit appeals court encouraged the NLRB to use a recent T-Mobile case to clarify when employee-sponsored organizations are illegal “company unions,” claiming board decisions have been inconsistent in recent years.
If you want to get some tips from the Michigan Department of Labor on how to organize a union, you can join this live Q&A session on April 26th, 5-6:30 MI time!
