Awareness Is Key

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What Should You Do Now? Here’s Your 8-Step Action Plan

It is more important than ever for employers  to be proactive. Therefore, you should consider taking the following  steps to strengthen your employee relations program:

1. Create positive relationships with employees.  Human Resources and front-line managers should commit to developing a  positive culture. Seek input from and listen to employees about their  needs in the workplace and promptly respond to their concerns. Implement  a regular process to confirm your wages and benefits are competitive.  Use a robust communication process to remind employees of the “hidden  value” of their benefits package.
2. Share your philosophy with employees. Lawfully  educate employees on your employee relations philosophy. In doing this,  understand that the legality of mandatory meetings to discuss  unionization is now in jeopardy and that a decision rendering such  meetings unlawful could be applied retroactively.
3. Ensure that employees understand the significance of authorization cards. Consider providing a lawful overview of their legal rights regarding  union authorization cards (and the enhanced impact they may now have in  light of these latest developments) before the onset of organizing  activity.
4. Train supervisors and managers.  While the NLRB is rapidly shrinking the rights available to employers  for lawfully responding to union activity, they technically retain  statutory “free speech rights” to help employees make informed  decisions. It is therefore more important now than ever for your  statutory supervisors to understand what can be said lawfully, the  importance of avoiding ULPs, and the role they play in maintaining your  employee relations infrastructure.
5. Develop a consistent process for responding to and handling union recognition demands. There  are now a multitude of legal and factual matters to consider when  responding to a demand for recognition. A direct and consistent process  for handling such demands can ensure your responses are lawful and  sufficiently protect the rights of employees to decide the issue of  union representation free from undue influence and based on relevant  facts.
6. Identify your statutory supervisors and strategically evaluate other bargaining unit issues. Front-line supervisors are critical to the employee relations success  of any organization. Act now to properly identify them as needed and  consider modifying the scope of their authority to support your  position. Analyze other potential bargaining issues that may arise,  given the unique aspects of your workplace. For example, are your  operations vulnerable to “micro-unit” organizing under recent shifts in  NLRB doctrine? Do you have viable multi-location, functional  integration, joint employer, or independent contractor issues under  current legal standards? Act now to develop arguments bolstering your  position.
7. Recognize that a “one size fits all” approach may not be best. Rather, employers are encouraged to collaborate with their internal  stakeholders and labor counsel to tailor an appropriate compliance  strategy around the unique aspects of their workplace cultures.
8. Collaborate with your labor counsel. The time is  right for you to call on your trusted labor counsel and evaluate whether  your organization needs to adapt policies and practices to match the  new reality that is about to unfold.