During the Biden Administration, the National Labor Relations Board has pushed the boundaries of its authority. The Board expanded the definition of “joint employer” in an attempt to expose employers to additional liability and increased lawsuits over labor disputes, and promulgated new regulations that allowed “ambush” union organizing elections to take place with little warning to employers. The Board issued rulings allowing the creation of “micro-unions” and explicitly permitting racist, sexist and profane language in the workplace.
Meanwhile, in Congress, legislation has been introduced that would expand the power of the NLRB and codify dozens of legal changes sought by organized labor. NRF has told Congress that the bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), contains “radical proposals that have been rejected by the courts, the agencies charged with administering them and/or Congress.” NRF has worked extensively to ensure that the sweeping measure is defeated.
Faced with years of declining membership in strongholds such as manufacturing, union leaders have targeted traditionally non-union industries. Among them is retail, where only about 5% of employees are union members. Both the micro-union ruling and the ambush election regulations sought to make unionizing retail workers easier, the first by allowing unions to concentrate on smaller groups and the second by giving retailers less time to respond. The micro-union ruling also had the potential to make it difficult for retailers to move workers between stores or departments or cross-train them for different jobs. The expanded joint employer definition exposed companies to more lawsuits over labor disputes, potentially laying the groundwork for unionization attempts.
NRF is a member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, which was formed to oppose anti-business and anti-worker labor laws, regulations and rulings that threaten job creation and economic growth. NRF supports workplace rules that promote workplace flexibility and economic growth, while opposing onerous policies that intrude on business operations, undermine employees’ privacy rights, and lead to unnecessary costs for retailers. NRF worked with the White House and Congress and in the courts to oppose the joint employer, ambush election and micro-union measures.
