What I've Been Reading This Week: Labor Law Edition

Following former National Labor Relations Board Member Mark Gaston Pearce withdrawing last week from being reappointed to his old position, I wanted to highlight that pivotal development for readers.  With that being said, there have been quite a few other labor law related developments that are worth highlighting this week, such that I want to dedicate this post to that very topic.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Craft Breweries & Unions: The Next Frontier?

Saddle up to the bar for a minute, partner.  Alex Press at In These Times wrote an article last Friday that recognized a recent rally by workers at Anchor Brewing Company that are seeking to unionize.  Following a rally in the Mission District in San Francisco, the crowd split up to canvas the neighboring area to bring awareness to their unionization effort.  This rally came on the heels of Anchor Brewing Company receiving notice of the unionization effort by employees.  Notably, these workers are seeking to be among the first unionized craft breweries in the country.  This is one to keep an eye on.

Former National Labor Relations Board Member Pearce Withdraws His Renomination

Last Wednesday, former National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") Member Mark Gaston Pearce announced he would not seek renomination to the NLRB, following the end of his term ended last August.  NLRB Member Pearce, nominated by President Barack Obama, had played an instrumental role in many employee and labor friendly decisions from the NRLB, including the infamous Browning-Ferris joint employer decision.  When his term expired, he was renominated.  (Traditionally, the NLRB is comprised of three members from the sitting President's party with the other two members coming from the other party).  However, after his renomination sat idle in the Senate, NLRB Member Pearce stated that he was withdrawing his renomination to "remove myself from the center of a political tug of war that has spanned five months."  At this point, Republicans in the Senate have shown little inclination to move quickly on any new nominee to the NLRB.  For the time being, the NLRB has four Members, with a 3 - 1 employer friendly majority.

The NLRB & Documenting Employee Misconduct

Michael Ryan over at Labor & Employment Law Perspectives uses a recent case out of Alabama that involved the NLRB to help illustrate the point that employers would be wise to diligently document employee misconduct or be faced with an uphill battle if that employee contests a ‘negative’ employment action such as a suspension, termination, etc.  as always, every situation is different, but Michael provides some good pointers here.

BuzzFeed News Employees Intend to Form a Union

Following BuzzFeed's layoffs last month of nearly 15% of its workforce, employee's at the company's news division announced on Tuesday that they planned to form a union.  In the announcement, the organizing committee stated they had been organizing for several months and sought to unionize to bring attention to alleged unfair pay disparities, mismanaged pivots and layoffs, weak benefits, skyrocketing health insurance costs, diversity, and other related grievances.  As Jaclyn Peiser at The New York Times writes, there have been rumblings of unionization at BuzzFeed going back to 2015.  Whether this recent unionization talk amounts to anything remains to be seen.

Amazon's HQ2 New York Location Under Attack From Labor Leaders

As many readers have likely heard, Amazon announced two locations for its new HQ2 location, with one being located in Long Island City in New York.  After the announcement was made, many in the Long Island City community began to rail against the company believing that Amazon moving into their neighborhood would harm the community and its character.  Recently, labor unions have joined the fray, with the Teamsters Joint Council 16 and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union voicing their concern with the Long Island City HQ2 location as well as with Amazon itself.  Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire writes that the unions have expressed disapproval over the way they believe Amazon treats its workers and argue that the company has a history of anti-union behavior.  I question whether this "protest" of the Long Island City HQ2 results in Amazon pulling out of its planned location in New York.  In the interim, however, the unions' growing frustration with Amazon is starting to garner (unwanted) attention for the company.

(Special note:  I found the above article earlier this week and thought it worth highlighting.  Well, yesterday afternoon The New York Times reported that Amazon was withdrawing its plans to build the HQ2 location in Long Island City, reportedly due in part to the union backlash the company had received.  Although the GeekWire article is not necessarily timely at this point...it goes to show the effect that can come about when a union and its supporters get vocal.)

NLRB to Consider if National Labor Relations Act Covers Charter Schools

Last month, the NLRB granted a request for review by the United Federation of Teachers, Local 2, AFT, AFL-CIO.  In doing so, the NLRB will decide whether prior precedent, which held that the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") covers charter schools, should be modified or overruled.  If the NLRB declines to exercise jurisdiction over charter schools (as many expect will happen), these unionized employees would fall outside the protection of the NLRA.  Notably NLRB Member Lauren McFerran (the "lone" employee/union friendly NLRB Member) wrote a sharp dissent in which she argued that a change in the composition of the NLRB was not grounds for overturning precedent.  Nevertheless, I think a 3-1 decision will likely be issued that finds the NLRB does not have jurisdiction over charter schools...thus taking these employees outside the scope of the NLRA.  Stay tuned.