Union Elections Swell in ‘Ambush' Era

Steve Bernstein was quoted in Washington Free Beacon on June 2, 2015. The article “Union Elections Swell in ‘Ambush’ Era” discussed how the National Labor Relations Board is beginning to see a spike in union election petitions just six weeks after implementing controversial new election rules.

The result came as no surprise to Steve.

“We’ve been telling clients, like everyone else has, that this would generate an increase in union activity,” he said.

“It appears now that unions believe they can catch employers flat footed,” Steve said. “If the petition is the result of a blind-sided effort, unions come into the process with momentum and employers come in in reactionary mode.”

One practical aspect of the new rules will be emboldened petition filings, according to Bernstein. Even under the old rules, unions prevailed in about 64 percent of elections in 2013, according to the NLRB. That is because unions generally do not call for the costly process of an election until they have a majority of employees signing onto NLRB petitions. Steve predicts that will change now that employers have less time to respond.

To read the full article, please visit Washington Free Beacon.