By Douglas H. Duerr
AMBUSH
ELECTION
RULE:
What Should You
Be Doing Now?
N
2015 Issue 3 |
THE
SCORE
18
ow that the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB)
new rule shortening the time from petition to union
election has become effective, many employers are
focusing on what they should be doing to prepare. Why? It is
no secret that the new rule is intended to make it far easier for
unions to win elections, leaving the playing field unbalanced in
the eyes of many. While no one can know for sure, it is widely
anticipated that unions will seize on this and other changes by
the NLRB to make organizing easier to not only stop the slide
in the percentage of unionized employees in the private sector,
but to reverse the trend. While some employers may hope that
this will pass without impacting them, others recognize that
there is now an increased risk to their business model and are
looking for inexpensive, yet effective steps to take to reduce
that risk. While we wait to see whether unions are successful in
reversing their slide, the best way to prepare for the new risk is
to start thinking now about: 1) how to avoid giving employees
reason to turn to third parties, such as a union; 2) how to
recognize when a union may be organizing your employees;
and 3) what to do when the petition is filed.
First, the best way to win an election, even under the
new rules, is to take steps that are likely to demonstrate
that employees have no need to turn to a union (i.e., avoid
organizing
altogether.)
This requires
attention to
good employee
relations. For example,
do you offer competitive wages for the area and type of work?
Do you make sure that you, your managers, and supervisors
treat employees with dig