U.S. labor board official wants to end mandatory anti-union meetings
Reuters
Published Apr 07, 2022 12:29PM ET
By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) - The top lawyer at the agency that enforces U.S. labor laws said on Thursday she will ask the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to prohibit businesses from requiring workers to attend meetings discouraging unionizing, which would eliminate a major tool employers use to counter union campaigns.
Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel of the NLRB, said in a memo that so-called captive audience meetings discourage employees from exercising their right to refrain from listening to anti-union messages, making them illegal under federal labor law.
“This license to coerce is an anomaly in labor law, inconsistent with the (law's) protection of employees’ free choice," wrote Abruzzo, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden.
Abruzzo said that in a future case she will ask the five-member NLRB to overturn its own precedent going back to the 1940s that says captive audience meetings are legal. The general counsel acts as a prosecutor, filing complaints against businesses that are then heard by the board.
The NLRB in past cases has said the meetings are a valid exercise of employers' free-speech rights, but Abruzzo said those decisions failed to balance those rights with the ability of workers to freely choose whether to join unions.
The memo comes amid a spate of high-profile union campaigns involving companies such as Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX), both of which have reportedly held https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/union-says-amazon-continues-interfere-with-election-alabama-warehouse-2022-02-22 captive audience meetings. Some studies have estimated that more than 90% of employers facing union elections hold mandatory anti-union meetings.
Amazon and Starbucks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said in a statement on Thursday that employers use captive audience meetings to spread disinformation and intimidate workers.
"The question of whether workers want a union should be the workers' choice – not the employers' – free of intimidation and interference," he said.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.