Coalition counters push for online union representation voting

Sources: Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Washington, D.C.; CP staff A new Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) report, “Online Voting in Union Representation Elections: The Latest Attempt to Eliminate Workers’ Right to Secret Ballots,” highlights the perils of the National Labor Relations Board implementing electronic means for collective bargaining unit members to cast ballots in organizing campaigns. It calls…

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Foundation backs US Brick employees’ quest to decertify Teamsters local

Sources: National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation Inc., Springfield, Va.; CP staff The National Right to Work Foundation is assisting employees at US Brick Holdings’ Mooresville, Ind. clay brick and mine operation in their pursuit of a National Labor Relations Board-administered vote to decertify Teamsters Local 135, Indianapolis, as collective bargaining representative for the site’s 33-member unit.  

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NLRB director delays US Brick unit vote to decertify Teamsters local

Sources: National Labor Relations Board; CP staff The National Labor Relations Board Region 25 office has dismissed a US Brick Holdings LLC employee’s petition for a vote among 30-plus production or fleet team members—all based at a Mooresville, Ind. plant and mine—to maintain or decertify Teamsters Local 135 as their collective bargaining representative. The petition was submitted five weeks after…

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Cemex elections highlight unions’ dubious case for mail-in balloting

Members of prospective bargaining units at essential Alabama and Florida businesses are scheduled to vote this month on union representation. Despite safety team success in containing Covid-19 infection and spread throughout the target employers’ operations, National Labor Relations Board regional offices are allowing workers in both elections to cast ballots by mail versus the standard in-person, manual method. The former…

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Rebar crew organizing opportunity eludes territorial Iron Workers

Sources: National Labor Relations Board; CP staff

A National Labor Relations Board official has dismissed an International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Philadelphia Council petition to conduct a representation election for a proposed bargaining unit under Ohio-based rebar placement specialist R&R Steel LLC.

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Argos driver hands NLRB a vehicle to affirm sound cell phone policy

A top ready mixed producer’s alleged unfair practices case has spawned a decision demonstrating the National Labor Relations Board’s return to decades-old, court-tested standards and National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) interpretations. It triggered a welcome rebuke of agency actions under the Obama administration, many of them skewed to Big Labor or injecting ambiguity in routine union grievance and employer response reviews.

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NLRB affirms legality of Argos zero tolerance cell phone policy

Sources: CP staff; National Labor Relations Board

The National Labor Relations Board has determined that a ready mixed concrete producer can restrict employees’ possession of cell phones in heavy-duty trucks, disclosure of compensation and other business matters, and use of company e-mail for nonwork purposes without violating their National Labor Relations Act-defined organizing rights. 

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NLRB prepares to take the ‘ambush’ out of union election rule

Sources: National Labor Relations Board; CP staff

A detailed Federal Register notice outlines modifications to the National Labor Relations Board’s Representation–Case Procedures rule, which saw 25 amendments in 2014-2015 as a part of a significant policy shift under President Barack Obama. Changes effective April 2020 sunset certain provisions enabling what opponents dubbed “ambush elections” by narrowing the window between a union petition for bargaining unit representation and rank & file voting from a 38- to 28-day average.

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Labor Board revisits bargaining relationships in construction

Sources: National Labor Relations Board; CP staff

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has released near-term National Labor Relations Board rulemaking priorities, led by the agency’s current assessment of representation case procedures; standards for blocking charges, voluntary recognition, and the formation of National Labor Relations Act Section 9(a) bargaining relationships in the construction industry; and, standards for access to an employer’s private property.

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NLRB ponders terms of bargaining relationships in construction

Sources: National Labor Relations Board; CP staff

The NLRB is weighing construction industry bargaining relationship provisions as defined in National Labor Relations Act Sections 8(f) and 9(a), and invites interested parties to file briefs through October 26 on whether it should revisit policy dating to the Casale Industries (1993) and Staunton Fuel & Materials (2001) cases.

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