A United States District Court issued a judgment Monday invalidating the recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regulations promoting “quickie” union representation elections.  Ruling in favor of the United States Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (of which AIM is a member), the court found that the NLRB did not have the required quorum to pass the rule.

The Court did not rule on the merits of the rule changes or the NLRB’s ability to promulgate such changes.  It is likely that an appropriate quorum can be established with the NLRB’s current membership and that the new rules will be implemented once again.  Given the current pro-union NLRB majority, it is expected that action will be taken immediately to reestablish these so-called “Ambush Elections” rules.

AIM urges employers to take advantage of this window of opportunity to address the conditions that invite unions into your company and focus on making a union unnecessary.

This means:

• Training supervisors, managers and senior teams to recognize and fix problems before they become prominent features of your company’s culture.
• Creating a positive work environment that responds to issues and doesn’t ignore them.
• Dealing with those problem supervisors and managers who undercut your culture.
• Training your management team at all levels to recognize the behavioral and group changes that occur during a union drive while it is still underground.
• Fixing what you already know ails your organization.
• Training you management team, from top to bottom, in what they can and cannot say when discussing unions and employees right to organize.

AIM can provide your organization guidance and training in each of these issues.  Contact Gary MacDonald at 617.488.8348, gmacdonald@aimnet.org for details.