Biden admin bans employers from discussing unionization with ‘captive audience’ employees
The Biden administration’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued an opinion on Wednesday that bars businesses from expressing their views on unionization to a “captive audience” of employees.
The ruling came in response to a series of labor complaints issued against Amazon over mandatory meetings during which representatives of the company allegedly urged employees to reject unionization. According to the board, such meetings violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which was passed in 1935 to protect workers’ ability to organize.
“Ensuring that workers can make a truly free choice about whether they want union representation is one of the fundamental goals of the National Labor Relations Act. Captive audience meetings—which give employers near-unfettered freedom to force their message about unionization on workers under threat of discipline or discharge—undermine this important goal,” NLRB Chairman Lauren McFerran said in a Wednesday press release. “Today’s decision better protects workers’ freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights under the Act, while ensuring that employers can convey their views about unionization in a noncoercive manner.”
Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizer Christian Smalls speaks to the media as ALU members celebrate official victory after hearing results regarding the vote to unionize outside the NLRB offices in Brooklyn, New York, on April 1, 2022. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
The NLRB, an independent federal agency with leaders who were appointed by President Biden, articulated multiple reasons for why they believe “captive audience” meetings violate the law.
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Among them was that these meetings violate employee rights under Section 7 of the NLRA. Section 7 protects employees’ ability to engage in, or not engage in, “concerted efforts” for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The ruling did leave employers the right to engage in voluntary meetings that express their views on unionization.
United Auto Workers members and others gather for a rally after marching in the Detroit Labor Day Parade on Sept. 4, 2023 in Detroit. (Getty)
In a dissenting opinion, the NLRB’s only Republican member, Marvin Kaplan, wrote that the board’s ruling banning “captive audience” meetings was “flagrantly unconstitutional.”
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“The majority’s attempt to ban so-called ‘captive-audience speeches’ harkens back to an earlier era when the Board sought to impose on employers a policy of strict neutrality regarding unionization,” Kaplan also wrote.
Boeing machinists union members picket outside a Boeing factory on Sept. 13, 2024 in Renton, Washington. The union voted overwhelmingly to reject the airplane maker’s contract offer and strike. (Getty)
Meanwhile, an Amazon spokesperson echoed Kaplan’s points in a statement to Courthouse News Service.
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“This decision ignores over 75 years of precedent, contradicts the express language of the NLRA, and violates the First Amendment – it’s wrong on the facts and the law, and we intend to appeal,” said Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis. “Meetings like this are held by many companies because the decision about whether or not to join a union is an important one – and employees deserve to understand the facts so they can make an informed choice.”
Neither the NLRB nor Amazon responded to inquiries from Fox News Digital in time for publication.
