Full question:
An office hasrules about visitors which requires visitors to be escourted by an employee when present. An arbitration was to be held. Visitning Union officials were given a private room in which to prepare for the case. When a Union official emerged from the room and walked around the office unescourted, he was told by management to go back to the room and if he needed anything, he was to ask for it or ask for an employee escourt. Is this coercion against the Union under the Federal Labor Relations Act?
- Category: Unions
- Date:
- State: Georgia
Answer:
The answer will be a matter of subjective determination for the court based on all the facts and circumstances involved. It is possible that the management may justify their request as motivated by security reasons. In litigation matters, it is common not to allow opposing parties to have unsupervised movement and access while on the business' premises.
Coercion is defined by reference to the will of the speaker - does the speaker intend to perform an act for no other reason than that the listener is in favor of the union? The speaker's intent must be inferred from the circumstances as they appear to the hypothetical reasonable person. Thus, employer assertions that "serious harm" will result from unionization are generally not an unfair labor practice while assertions that the employer will "bargain from scratch" are unfair labor practices.
See also:
http://www.harvardjol.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/311-334_Specter-Nguyen.pdf
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.
