[ad_1]
Karen Michael is a special correspondent
the National Labor Relations Board Don’t Hold Back is making sweeping changes to a long-standing precedent to make unionizing in the American workplace easier and more assured, giving unions some extra reason to celebrate this Labor Day.
Last month, the NLRB issued a decision that the federal agency described as “a new framework for determining when employers are required to bargain with unions without representative elections. The new framework will give effect to employees’ right to bargain through representatives of their choice and improve the fairness and integrity of board elections.”
Previously, an employer could voluntarily recognize a union if at least 50% of workers signed authorization or petition cards. Alternatively, if at least 30% of workers in a bargaining unit sign authorization cards or a petition seeking to join a union, the union can petition the NLRB to hold a secret ballot election. If the union wins the election, the union will be certified by the NLRB and the employer will have to negotiate with the union.
People also read..
Now, the burden falls largely on the union.
According to a press release and the decision, employers must negotiate immediately with unions when requested by a union representative, or file an immediate election petition known as the “RM Petition.”
Unless an RM petition is filed, based on the resolution, the company must recognize the union if at least half of it signs the union cards or the petition, or perhaps based simply on a claim of majority support. The union is not required to seek elections.
If an RM petition is filed within two weeks by the employer, there will be a secret ballot.
NLRB developed this flowchart on Cemex’s Bargain Orders.
NLRB
But under the new rules, according to the board’s press release, “(if) an employer seeking an election commits any unfair labor practice that would require the election to be overturned, the petition will be denied, and — rather than rerun the election — the board will order the employer to recognize trade union and negotiate with it.
Previously, it was the specific and most egregious unfair labor practices during elections that required the issuance of bargaining orders.
Because everything will move quickly and it is easy to get stuck, every private sector business owner must be prepared.
As the board stated, “The revised framework represents an effort to improve employees’ right to bargain through their chosen representative, recognizing that employers have the option of enacting a legal provision that allows them to pursue board elections. When employers pursue this option, the new standard will enhance the environment fair elections by more effectively discouraging employers from committing unfair labor practices.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors stated: “The Cemex decision reaffirms that elections are not the only appropriate path to obtaining union representation, while also ensuring that when elections are held, they must take place in a fair electoral environment. Under Cemex, the employer is free to use election procedures The board of directors, but it is never free to abuse it – it’s that simple.
In the Cemex case, the board required Cemex to immediately recognize and negotiate with the union based on its new standard after finding that the company committed more than 20 instances of “objectionable and unlawful misconduct during the critical period between filing the petition and the election.”
Virginia remains a “right-to-work” state, meaning Virginia workers have the right to work without being required to join a union as a condition of employment.
This does not mean that the union will not come to your workplace. The NLRB will now issue ready bargaining orders – so employers need to be prepared.
The NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act, a 1935 federal law that gives employees working in the private sector the right to form or join unions; engage in protected and coordinated activities to address working conditions; or refrain from these activities. This only applies to private sector employers, with limited exceptions, including manufacturers, retailers, private universities and healthcare facilities. Workers who work for federal, state, or local governments are exempt from the law.
More information can be found at NLRB.gov.
17 photos of Richmond stores from our archives
The new head of the fund – William B. Thalheimer Jr. (right) into the driver’s seat yesterday after being elected 1959 president of the Richmond Area Community Fund at a meeting of the fund’s trustees. He succeeds W. Sterling King. Thalhimer, president and general manager of Thalhimers, Inc., has been a volunteer with the fund since 1934. William B. Thalhimer, Jr., came to prominence in 1959 in his role as president of the Richmond Area Community Fund. The guy on the left is W. Sterling King, a former mayor of Richmond and Thalheimer’s immediate predecessor as head of the Community Chest.
Photo of employees
This December 1950 photo of East Broad Street at Fifth Street in downtown Richmond shows crowds of holiday shoppers visiting stores such as Baker’s, Peoples Drug, Swatty’s Pants, Haverty’s Furniture and the Raylass department store.
Photo of employees
In October 1955, a U.S. mail truck rolled down Broad Street downtown across from Thalmer’s and Miller & Rhodes.
Photo of employees
This photo from February 1953 shows the old Miller & Rhoads Corner Shop and the adjacent Woolworth’s store at Fifth and East Broad streets downtown, just before they were demolished. The replacement building opened the following year still housed retailers but in a different configuration.
Work crew
In January 1975, shoppers passed in front of “the clock” at the Miller & Rhodes department store in downtown Richmond. This iconic four-faced clock was installed in the department store in the mid-1920s; It can be seen today at the Valentine Richmond History Center.
Masaaki Okada
In May 1936, the Charles Stores Company store opened on East Broad Street between First and Fossie Streets. This store had 23 departments, and some of the specials for the grand opening included women’s dresses and white shoes for $1 and men’s shirts for 50 cents. A car park now occupies the site. 1936-07-05: New location for Charles Stores at 13-17 East Broad Street. Lease negotiations were handled by Gordon E. Strause’s office.
Staff photo
In March 1967, Miller & Rhoads opened a new “Collectors’ Corner” between the Tea Room and Ladies’ Room on the fifth floor of its downtown East Broad Street store. The new section included antiques, copies of old furniture, china, silver and antiques.
James Netherwood
On December 23, 1968, Stanley S. Kidwell Jr. and his three children — from left, 5-year-old Rana, 7-year-old Megan and 8-year-old Wendy — stuffed animals bouncing in the snow at the Miller & Rroads window display downtown. Under the direction of Addison Lewis, Miller & Rhoads’ Christmas window shows have become one of the most anticipated parts of the season in Richmond.
B. A. Gormus Jr.
This June 1950 photo shows Harper’s Department Store at 201 E. Broad St. The store opened in 1933 as The Linen Mart. After closing in 2006, the store was sold to developers who found its contents to be a bit of a time capsule, with items dating back decades — including a $10 men’s leather jacket and a boy’s three-piece wool suit with a dress shirt. $4.99. The contents were purchased by two local collectors. The building remains vacant. Harper Company 201 E. Broad, TD Mag.
Staff photo
This May 1957 photo shows the Woolworths at Fifth and Broad Streets in downtown Richmond. The million dollar building opened in September 1954 and houses several divisions of the nearby Miller & Rroads company, which had a former store on the site in the late 1800s. An ad for Woolworth’s Easter sale offered handbags for $1, records for 99 cents, and cowhide and plastic belts for 39 to 98 cents.
Times-Dispatch
Thalhimers added a new entrance to its downtown store the same year as the 1929 stock market crash.
RTD crew
In August 1954, J. Harold Dunn set up his own Dunn Brothers mini-circus — “the biggest little show on Earth,” as he declared himself — at Miller & Rhoades in downtown Richmond. Admission was 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for children 12 and under. Several years ago, the newspaper reported that the 475,000-piece circus took five men 48 hours to set up on a 60-by-28-foot table — and seven hours to collapse.
Times-Dispatch
In February 1951, this window display, using the pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Richmond News-Leader as the background, was set up in the Grace Street window of Miller & Rhoads in connection with the approaching Easter and new spring decorations. Addison Lewis was the store’s window display manager for 52 years, a period during which the displays became extremely popular.
Times-Dispatch
In August 1951, saleswoman Eunice Hester tried to help Robert Matthews select a perfume for his lady at the Miller & Rhoads department store in Richmond. The caption accompanying the posted photo refers to “the dilemma of the man stuck in the task of selecting perfume.”
Times Dispatch
In December 1968, the first licenses since 1916 for the legal sale of mixed alcoholic beverages by brewhouse were issued in Richmond. Here, Cornelius T. Rogers mixed a drink at John Marshall’s Captain’s Grill hotel restaurant while bartender Richard Kelly looked on.
Joe Colonori
In November 1978, African American women gathered for a beauty clinic at Thalhammer’s in Richmond’s Eastgate Mall. The clinic, sponsored by the fashion show, brought in beauty professionals including Pearl Hester (standing at right) to demonstrate makeup techniques.
Times-Dispatch
In October 1955, celebrity chef James Beard visited the new Thalheimer gourmet store and conducted cooking demonstrations. Byrd enjoyed eating ham on Mondays, but he broke with tradition when carving his Smithfield Virginia ham: he preferred the European method of cutting it crosswise into long, thin slices that began near the end of the leg and ran nearly parallel to the bone. The annual James Beard Foundation Awards will be announced today and Monday. The foundation, which was established after Beard’s death in 1985, issued its first awards in 1991.
Staff photo
Karen Michael is an attorney, president of Richmond-based Karen Michael PLC, and author of Stay Hired. It can be accessed at Stayhired@stayhired.net.
[ad_2]
Source link
