NLRB Loosens Standard for Unionizing Temp Workers

Employment Law

The National Labor Relations Board this week issued a decision enabling unions to seek joint-employer representation elections involving temporary agency workers without management consent.  In a 3 to 1 decision, the Board will allow jointly-employed temporary workers to be included in a single unit with other workers who are solely employed by the user employer, a return to the rule in M.B. Sturgis established by the Clinton NLRB in 2000.  When the Sturgis rule was overturned in 2004, the Board determined that the rule led to an unworkable system of collective bargaining.  However, the Board claims the latest decision is "more consistent with [its] statutory charge."  In a strong dissent, Republican Member Philip Miscimarra warned that "stable bargaining relationships are unlikely to result from the type of multi-employer/non-employer bargaining unit recognized by my colleagues today."