Created in 1935 with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is responsible for enforcing US Labor Law, primarily the aforementioned NLRA. With the Board’s recent Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLCdecision, it bears interest what the board has been up to since 2019.
Presidential Administrations
According to Docket Alarm’s analytics, the last two years of the Trump Administration saw a steady decline in NLRB cases. A simple linear model examining monthly cases over time shows that this period saw an average of 25 fewer cases per month, with the most cases, 1977, opened in May 2019 and the least, 1167, in January 2021. Since then, the Biden administration’s NLRB has shown an increased willingness to open cases. A simple linear model shows the agency opening, on average, 17 additional cases each month, reaching a peak of 2144 cases in March of this year. The last several months have seen a decline, though it is unclear if this is the start of a larger trend or simple random variance.
Parties
Far and away the party involved in the most NLRB charges is the United States Postal Service. While the USPS only accounts for 15% of the total cases since 2019, their cases explain 58% of the monthly variance.
The third most appearing party is the United Parcel Service, who recently agreed to a five-year contract with the Teamsters, following months of tense negotiations and the potential for a nation-wide strike. Cases against UPS peaked in March 2023.
As far as corporations go, Starbucks is the top participant in NLRB proceedings.
Nature of Cases
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of cases are listed as involving an unfair labor practice. Of these, the primary alleged law violations are sections 8(a) and 8(b) of the NLRA. Section 8(a) covers practices which are considered unfair labor practices on the part of the employer, while section 8(b) covers unfair labor practices on the part of workers/unions.
Since 2019, there have been 3.66 times as many 8(a) cases as 8(b) cases. Among the 8(b) cases, far and away the most common clauses cited are 8(b)(1),(2),(3), (5), and/or (6). These clauses concern workers’ general rights to freely associate as well as prohibiting unions from forcing employers to discriminate against non-union employees, from refusing to bargain with an employer’s chosen representative, from charging prospective members exorbitant fees, and from forcing employers to pay for services not rendered.
8(b) Parties
While far smaller in scope, a few names do float to the top of Section 8(b) cases. Most charged is Cohen, Weiss, & Simon, LLP, followed by the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Postal Workers Union.