1) AFL-CIOa) American Federation of Laborers: Organized to collectively bargain for craft unionsb) Congress of Industrial Organizations: Spun off from AFL to bargain collectively for industrial

groups, such as manufacturing unions2) The Norris-LaGuardia Act

a) First piece of legislation that prevented the one-sided judicial rule in favor of employers. The act prevented ex parte conduct and yellow dog contracts

b) Also prevented the courts from enjoining unions legitimate coercive conduct3) Wagner Act – National Labor Relations Act

a) Created section 7 and section 8 rightsi) Section 7: Rights of employees

(1) Freedom to form, join, or assist labor unions(2) Freedom to bargain collectively(3) Right to engage in concerted activities for the purposes of collective bargaining or

mutual aid and protectionii) Section 8: Duty of employer to bargain collectively

(1) Impose affirmative duties to deal in good faith with unions(2) Obligated to bargain with designated union(3) The bargaining units are designated by NLRB and chosen by majority employees

b) Created NLRB4) Taft-Hartley Act – National Labor Management Relations Act

a) After NLRA, there was concern that unions had too much power and TH act was passedb) Effective changes

i) Section 7(1) Added the right for employees to refrain from organization and concerted activities and

protected them from doing so.ii) Section 8

(1) Added §8(c) allowing employers to express their opinions unions so long as there are no threats of reprisal or wrongfully promise benefits

iii) Provided alternatives to striking(1) Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services(2) Presidential Intervention

5) Landrum-Griffin Act – Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Acta) Requires periodic reporting by unions, creates bill of rightsb) States can handle cases not taken by the NLRB

6) Scope of “Affecting Commerce”a) Jones & Laughlin Steel, approved interpretation by NLRB that congress had given the board

broad power under the commerce clauseb) NLRA states, NLRB is empowered “to prevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor

practice affecting commerce”c) Affecting Commerce Includes:

i) Receipt of out-of-state goods

ii) The furnishing of goods destined to be directly or indirectly to go out of stateiii) Engaging in commerce that affect interstate good (i.e. transportation, communications)

7) Discretionary Jurisdiction of NLRBa) NLRB does not have to protect everyone. They have set up jurisdictional standards, usually by

the size of the organization and the industry8) Who’s Included or Excluded

a) Included: Most employees that are directly involved with the organizationb) Excluded:

i) Supervisors: You can a supervisor by the conduct of their actions, such as hiring, firing, discipline, reviews, etc.(1) If this is sporadic than they may not be a supervisor

ii) Managers: Usually can tell because they determine and administer policiesiii) Independent Contractors: unless they are predominantly controlled by employeriv) Domestic Servantsv) Agriculture Employees: Pickers not covered (canners Covered)vi) Employees of Fed and Statevii) Employees of RLA

c) Included due to legal actioni) Nursing supervisors who supervise for direction of patient careii) GTA’s who spend 80% of their time teachingiii) Undocumented aliens

9) §8(a)1 – Unfair Labor Practices by Employersa) An employer cannot interfere with, restrain or coerce an individual from engaging in protected

labor practicesb) Solicitation and Distribution

i) Non employees(1) Lechmere Case: Employers can prohibit nonemployee solicitation or distribution on

property provided there are “alternative means of communication”(2) Broad No-Solicitation: Valid if applied to all nonemployees, charities not included

ii) Employee Solicitation(1) Work-Time: ok to limit(2) Nonworking time: violation

(a) Both employees must be off(b) Can be valid if employer has proper justification

iii) Employee distribution(1) During Work Time: ok to limit(2) During Nonworking time:

(a) Working areas: ok to limit (no litter)(b) Nonworking areas: violation unless there is a good reason

(3) Privileged No-Solicitation Rule: Allows employers to limit activities of employees S&D due to the nature of business(a) Retail: limited to sales floor

(b) Hospital: Can be everywhere, but usually patient care areasc) Wearing Union buttons:

i) Cannot prohibit unless:(1) You have a nondiscriminatory no-button rule:

(a) Justified to maintain noncontroversial relationship with general public (watch out if you allow USA Flags or other pins)

d) Use of Email: can prohibit unless you allow employees to use it for other personal usese) Employees Completely Off-duty

i) Can be kept from facility as long as(1) They are limited from access to the interior areas only(2) Applies to everyone(3) For any purpose

ii) Unless justified can’t deny them from parking lotsf) Can’t discriminate against one union in favor for another

10) Nu-Tone - May Dep’t Store Comparisona) Under §8(c) provision unions can freely engage in speech or distribution of literature while

denying the union the right to solicit during working hours, but not during both working and nonworking time. There must be a balance and opportunity to rebut

11) Free Speech Provisiona) §8(c) allows employer to express opinion so long as there is no threat of reprise or wrongful

promise of benefitsb) The NLRB will look to the Coercive Nature of Speech to determine if it is a ULPc) Employers can discuss how they intend to deal with a union, but they cannot issue statements

that predict adverse effects of organizing especially if those effects are in their control12) Interrogation:

a) Interrogation of employees about union membership or matters is valid if it is proved it did not interfere or coerce.

b) Polling Employees: Generally it is a violation of §8(a)1 unless:i) Struksnes Test:

(1) Poll is to validate legitimacy of labor org(2) The employees are made aware of this(3) The poll is by secret ballet(4) There is no threat of reprise(5) Employer has not engaged in any ULP’s creating a coercive atmosphere

ii) If verified, the employer must except unioniii) Employer must be careful about discharges for 6 monthsiv) Cannot poll during an election, because there is no point

c) Non-Polling Interrogation: Valid based on the totality of circumstances and will be a ULP if coercion is detected

13) Economic Coercion during Organizing Campaignsa) Employer cannot give out benefits during organizing campaigns unless this is something would

have regularly done and if so, they cannot not deny them either

14) Violence and intimidation: illegal obvious §8(a)1 violation15) Espionage and Surveillance

a) Not the employer: No violationb) If there is an impression of: then possible violationc) Cameras used to monitor union activity: violationd) Checking email: must tell them not to put messages about union. If specifically looking for union

then violation16) Employer responsibility for Antiunion Subordinate Conduct

a) Supervisor: generally held responsible for acts of a supervisor unless:i) You tell everyone sup. does not have authorityii) The actions of sup. are sporadic

b) Non-supervisor: responsible of employees act as agentsi) Employees clothed to represent authorityii) Employer condones or affirms such activity

c) Non-employees based on relationship17) §8(a)2 – Employer Domination or Assistance of Unions

a) Cannot dominate or assist in the formation or administration of unions or contribute economically.

b) Test:i) Is there a labor org?ii) Is there unlawful domination?

c) Remedy: Disband old labor org.18) §8(a)3 – Employer Discrimination

a) Employer cannot discriminate or retaliate against employees for the purpose of encouraging or discouraging union membership

b) 5 factors to prove a violationi) Employee is engaged in a protected activityii) Employer has knowledge or belief of protected activityiii) Actual Discriminationiv) Intent to encourage / discourage membershipv) Actual encouragement or discouragement of membership

c) Condonation doctrine: if you condone employees behavior before he joined a union and later fired him. Violation, unless employer can prove he would have fired employee regardless

d) Union Salts:i) No anti-salting campaignsii) Cannot fire a salt because the lied on application as it is not relevant to hireiii) Refusal to consider after finding out even though you hire no one is violation

19) Discrimination to Encourage Union Membershipa) Union Security Agreements: okay to have an agreement between employer and union about

conditions placed on employmenti) Closed Shop: illegal – requires employer to hire only union members

ii) Union Shop: illegal but still around – does not require employer to hire union members but requires employees to become a member in a certain amount of time

iii) Agency shop: allows nonunion members but requires payment of dues(1) This creates FCM’s

(a) Can only use their money for activities germane to collective bargainingiv) Agreement is enforced by requirement to maintain good standing and pay duesv) Can be terminated for nonpayment of dues

b) Union Hiring Hallsi) Okay for employer to receive all employees from hiring hall referrals

(1) Employer cannot use union status as a factor in hiringii) Preferential Hiring

(1) Preferential hiring of locals over travels is okay(2) No violation of Shop Stewards if during layoffs. Theory is that you want someone to

know what is going oniii) Employer can reject any applicant

20) Employers response to protected concerted activitya) Employer can punish union officers if they strike and there is a no-strike provision

i) Universallyii) Randomlyiii) In proportion to guilt

b) Replacement of strikersi) Economic strikes (modification of contract not ULP) employer can hire permanent

replacementsii) ULP Strike: cannot hire permanent replacementsiii) Must maintain appropriate seniorities

21) §7 Rights – Employee have 5 rightsa) Self organizeb) Form, join, assist labor orgsc) Bargain collectivelyd) Engage in concerted activities

i) Employee Action(1) Employees actions must be with or the authority of other employees(2) Cannot be just for themselves(3) Individual action is concerted when it occurs from logical outgrowth(4) For the purpose of collective bargaining

ii) For other mutual aid or protection(1) Protected:

(a) Fear of harmful work conditions(b) Abnormal working conditions(c) Having someone present for investigation interviews (Weingarten)

(2) ULP Strikes:(a) No strike clause then okay

(b) If no-strike clause then and there is a strike, to be covered:(i) There must be a ULP(ii) It must be serious(iii) ULP caused work stoppage

(3) Sympathy strike okay in absence of no-strike clause(4) Unprotected

(a) Slowdown strikes(b) Wildcat strikes(c) Violence or threat of(d) Economic or Sympathy strikes during cooling off period(e) No-strike clause strikes

e) Refrain from activities