The Sophisticated Employer Blog

Labor Law Series

You may be shocked as a Michigan business, operating in the home of the United Autoworkers and of the Teamsters, that unions are increasingly less relevant. That does not mean, however, that if you are currently union free you can suddenly relax!

Historically unionization required 30% of your employees to sign union authorization cards or a petition to force a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board to determine if a union should represent your employees.

But hold the presses! Since August 2023, the Biden, pro-union National Labor Relations Board, has ruled that even if your company “wins” an NLRB election (to remain union free), the NLRB can still overturn the results and order your company to start bargaining immediately with the “losing” union!

On June 17,2024 the Biden NLRB issues its first post-CEMEX decision, Red Rock Casino, 373 NLRB No. 67, ordering Red Rock to bargain with the Union – even though the company won the election by almost 100 votes!

How can this happen in America?  What can you do?  How should you prepare?  We’ll discuss that in Part 2.  You’ll need to read this!