The National Labor Relations Board has dropped its appeal of a district court judge’s decision to void the Board’s quickie election rule. For those of you unfamiliar with the rule, it would have drastically shortened the time between when a union requests an election and when the election is held. It also would have reduced an employer’s opportunity to challenge the election and effectively prevented employers from educating their employees about the negative effects of unions. The judge voided the rule because a majority of a properly constituted Board had not voted on the matter. 

Although the Board has dropped its appeal, it would be premature for employers to celebrate. Most likely, the Board is going to reissue the rule now that it has a fully constituted Board with five members, three of whom are staunchly pro-union. The Board most likely believes that this will be the fastest approach to aid unions in their efforts to organize non-union workforces. Expect to see Board action on this front in the near future and perhaps an even more overreaching set of election rules. Stay tuned.

abstract man on the secret voting

Hearty thanks to Chip Zuver for writing this post.