The days when only unionized employers needed to worry about the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are over, said attorney Charlie Plumb during his presentation at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium (AEIS) in Nashville.
Employers should be concerned about two big changes happening in the NLRB and with labor unions that Plumb believes will become even greater issues in 2012.
“Number one, I think you are going to see increased efforts by unions to organize nonunion employers,” explained Plumb, the practice group leader for labor and employment at the law firm of McAfee Taft in Oklahoma.
He cited two main reasons for the increased efforts by unions. The first is that the unions need money, which means they need more members. The second reason is that the NLRB is very pro-employee right now, making it easier for unions to organize.
“The second trend I think we are going to see in 2012 is this idea that with the more active and proactive National Labor Relations Board, they are going to get involved in workplace issues that don’t involve unions,” Plumb said.
Among the issues the NRLB is showing interest in is protected concerted activity by employees, such as voicing their concerns and frustrations to their coworkers about issues such as pay or their supervisor. Most nonunionized employers haven’t worried about this in the past. But Plumb says those days are over.
Watch Charlie Plumb’s interview at AEIS
Charles S. Plumb is a shareholder and labor and employment practice group leader at McAfee Taft in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He led the opening panel discussion at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Nashville and will speak again on the subject at the AEIS conference in Las Vegas Nov. 17-18. Plumb is also editor of the Oklahoma Employment Law Letter.