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captive audience meetings
US Labor Board Bans Captive Audience Meetings to Ensure 'Truly Free' Worker Choice
"Today's decision better protects workers' freedom to make their own choices in exercising their rights," said the chair of the National Labor Relations Board.
Nov 13, 2024
In a decision that advocates say will likely be reversed during the second administration of Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday ruled that employers cannot force workers to attend anti-union speeches.
The NLRB's 3-1 decision in Amazon.com Services, LLCmeans that workers will no longer have to take part in so-called "captive audience meetings," which employers often use as a union-busting tool and a form of coercion. The agency explained that such meetings violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act "because they have a reasonable tendency to interfere with and coerce employees."
"However, the board made clear that an employer may lawfully hold meetings with workers to express its views on unionization so long as workers are provided reasonable advance notice of: the subject of any such meeting, that attendance is voluntary with no adverse consequences for failure to attend, and that no attendance records of the meeting will be kept," the NLRB added.
NLRB Chairperson Lauren McFerran, a Democrat, said in a statement that "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," McFerran added. "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."
In April 2022, the NLRB's general counsel office issued a memo asserting that captive audience meetings are illegal. At least 11 states have banned such meetings. Other states are in various stages of considering or enacting bans or restrictions on them.
Workers' rights advocates hailed Wednesday's decision, although labor journalist Hamilton Nolan quipped on social media that employees should "enjoy this brief shining period before the Trump NLRB reverses this decision."
However, More Perfect Union producer Jordan Zakarin argued that Democrats can protect this "monumental win for labor" for "the next few years" if "they finally confirm" President Joe Biden's nomination of Joshua Ditelberg—a Republican lawyer who has represented companies including Amazon, Airbnb, and UnitedHealth—to fill the fifth NLRB seat.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI)—a Washington, D.C.-based, pro-union think tank—U.S. employers spend an estimated $433 million per year on union-busting consultants.
"This reality makes it harder for workers to fight for their collective bargaining rights because they do not know the extent of their companies' investments in union-busting, a figure that could empower them at the negotiating table when employers claim they can't afford to increase pay and benefits," EPI said last year.
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In 'Fiery' Speech, Walz Blasts Trump and Vance as Enemies of the Working Class
The vice presidential candidate touted his record of signing pro-worker legislation as the governor of Minnesota, and attacked Donald Trump for waging "war on working people."
Aug 14, 2024
Making his first solo campaign stop since being named as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate last week, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz selected unionized government workers as his audience on Tuesday—sending the message that he is "more than an ally."
The Democratic vice presidential candidate "understands us because he is one of us—a union brother who spent years as a public service worker in his community," said Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). "He embodies the very best of public service—leading with empathy, looking after everyone and leaving behind no one."
Walz, who was a dues-paying member of the National Education Association during his years as a high school teacher, told AFSCME members at the union's 46th international convention in Los Angeles about his strong record of fighting for workers' rights as governor of Minnesota, and said they can count on solidarity from both him and Harris.
"We know that when unions are strong, America is strong," Walz said. "That's why Vice President Harris and I have both joined workers on the picket line."
Walz last year signed into law a legislative package including paid family and medical leave, a prohibition on non-compete clauses, a ban on anti-union captive audience meetings, and a provision allowing teachers to bargain over educator-to-student ratios, among other pro-worker measures.
The governor's comments about captive audience meetings, which employers mandate that workers attend in order to listen to one-sided claims and arguments against unionization, won applause from observers on social media.
With the pro-worker policies passed by his state's Democratic legislature and signed by him in place, said Walz, "Minnesota is one of the best states for workers in the nation. That's our vision for the entire country."
Watch the whole speech below:
Walz also took aim at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), saying they have "waged war on working people."
Vance opposed the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would expand the rights of workers to unionize their workplaces, and voted to strike down an update to the National Labor Relations Board's joint-employer rule, which aimed to give workers more power at companies that use third-party contractors.
Walz's speech came a day after Trump praised Tesla's billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, for firing striking workers in a conversation the two held on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.
Trump's comment that Musk was "the greatest cutter" led the United Auto Workers to file federal charges against both men on Tuesday, with the union saying the remarks amounted to worker intimidation.
"The only thing those two guys know about working people is how to work to take advantage of them," Walz said on Tuesday of Trump and Vance, adding that Trump was a "scab" for supporting so-called "right to work" laws, which allow employees at unionized companies to opt out of paying dues to the union while still benefiting from collective bargaining.
Unlike Trump, said Walz, he and Harris "know exactly who built this country."
"It was nurses, it was teachers, and it was state and local government employees that built this nation," he said. "People in this room built the middle class."
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