7/6/2023 0 Comments Worktime meetings pre k![]() ![]() ![]() Under the original Joy Silk doctrine, if a union produced signed authorization cards from a majority of a bargaining unit it was targeting for representation, no secret ballot election was required, and the employer had to recognize and bargain with the union unless the employer established it had a “good-faith doubt” as to the union’s majority status necessitating an election. The Joy Silk doctrine takes its name from Joy Silk Mills, Inc., an NLRB case from 1949. ![]() Employers should update their employee relations strategies and prepare, now for a legal landscape in which they may no longer be able to present their views on unionization to employees during working time or demand elections prior to unionization. Given the current makeup of the NLRB, her arguments may be successful in overturning 127 years of settled precedent. She has already made good on her promise by filing a brief with the NLRB, and arguing for these changes in a pending case. In two recent memorandums, she promised to revive the “Joy Silk” doctrine-under which the NLRB can require an employer to recognize and bargain with a union without holding an election-in Memo GC 21-04, and to argue that mandatory employee meetings about labor topics are per se illegal, Memo GC 22-04. ![]() Despite many other changes, and through Democratic and Republican presidencies, these fundamental principles of labor law have remained constant.Ĭurrent NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo intends to end this consistency. Two of those fundamental principles-supported by a combined 127 years of case law-are that employees (almost) always have the right to vote by secret ballot on the question of whether to unionize, and that employers have the right to speak to employees about their opinions on unionization during required worktime meetings. Despite the inherent malleability brought on by the political process, many fundamental principles have stood the test of time. Each new presidential administration brings with it different National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) appointees and different labor law priorities, which, unsurprisingly, often lead to changes. Labor law has long been somewhat prone to uncertainty and inconsistency. Uncertainty looms as NLRB General Counsel seeks to upend a combined 127 years of settled labor law to help unions organize workplaces ![]()
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