Page 123 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

Congress approved the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in 1935 to encourage a
healthy relationship between private-sector workers and their employers. The NLRB.gov
Web site explains that the NLRA was designed to curtail work stoppages, strikes, and
general labor strife, which were viewed as harmful to the U.S. economy and general
well-being. The NLRA extends many rights to workers who wish to form, join, or
support unions; to workers who are already represented by unions; and to workers who
join together as a group (two or more employees) without a union seeking to modify
their wages or working conditions, which is known as “protected concerted activities.”
The NLRA also extends rights to employers, protecting commercial interests against
unfair actions committed by labor organizations, and extends rights to labor organ-
izations, protecting organizational and collective-bargaining representative interests
against unfair actions committed by employers.
The NLRB’s Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act presents a summary of
the Act in clear, easy-to-understand language. The Act outlines basic rights of employees
as follows:

● To self-organization.
● To form, join, or assist labor organizations.
● To bargain collectively for wages and working conditions through representatives
of their own choosing.
● To engage in other protected concerted activities with or without a union, which
are usually group activities (two or more employees acting together) attempting
to improve working conditions, such as wages and benefits.
● To refrain from any of these activities. (However, a union and employer may,
in a State where such agreements are permitted, enter into a lawful union-
security clause). 11

At the SHRM Annual Conference held on June 29, 2009, the message to HR profession-
als from Michael Lotito, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in San Francisco, was as follows:
“Now is the time for HR to start talking to supervisors and employers about making unions
irrelevant.” 12 There has been a clarion call to HR professionals who are credible activists
regarding making unions “irrelevant”; yet how can HR accomplish this?
In our attempt to do so, we must first make it clear that this is not an anti-union stance.
On the contrary, organized labor brings an important voice to the table by representing the
workforce that companies depend upon for daily operations and overall success. Here, the
phrase “making unions irrelevant” is interpreted by the author to mean strategically circum-
venting the battle of wills, which sometimes develops over time when labor feels as if their
experiences and concerns are not being acknowledged or valued, by actively anticipating
needs and seeking out engagement before problematic situations become unnecessarily
adversarial. A list of issues to raise with your leadership, managers, and supervisors is pro-
vided in the HR Tool entitled “Checklist: Recommendations from HR to Leaders to Make
Unions Irrelevant,” on pages 111-113. For examples on how to handle an issue concerning the

106 The H R Toolkit