On August 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a landmark decision that promises to speed up organizing and deter employers from committing unfair labor practices once a union demands recognition.
Under the new standard announced in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, if a union demands recognition after having secured majority support in the form of authorization cards in a unit appropriate for collective bargaining, the employer must do one of the following within 14 days: either recognize and bargain with the union or file for an election. The union may also file an election petition. If the employer commits an unfair labor practice that requires setting aside the election, the employer will be ordered to bargain with the union.
Previously, the NLRB would usually order a re-run election in this situation, which essentially allowed the employer to benefit from its own misconduct. The NLRB would only issue bargaining orders in rare cases where it considered the unfair labor practices especially severe and pervasive.
The Cemex decision wasn’t the only decision the NLRB announced in August. It also has issued rulings to speed up the timing of elections and to protect individual workers who, by their lonesome, begin agitating for a union. The NLRB issued a final rule that largely rescinds the 2019 Trump-era rules and returns to the 2014 Obamaera rules, essentially speeding up election procedures at every step of the process.
These major changes promise to substantially tip scales toward workers and unions by helping to fix an issue that organizers know far too well: “Representation delayed is representation denied.”
[Note: This case was led by Caren Sensor, one of District 190’s attorneys from the firm Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld.]
By Matthew Erle, Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld