jennifer abruzzo

The happy times are here at the National Labor Relations Board. The agency, which has been the brightest beam of sunshine in the Biden administration’s stormy attempts to empower organized labor, passed down a decision last week that could make it meaningfully easier to organize unions—potentially the first of a wave of pro-union decisions that could be coming before the end of Biden’s term. It’s nice to have the government on our side, for once. But these rulings are only one brick in an entire wall of power that the labor movement needs to build, before all of the gains we’re celebrating now get swept away.

Last week’s NLRB decision in a case known as Cemex should go a long way towards disincentivizing companies from illegal union busting tactics. The new rule says that when the majority of a company’s employees sign union cards and ask for recognition, the company must either recognize the union, or file a petition requesting a formal election within two weeks. In a crucial change, though, “if an employer who seeks an election commits any unfair labor practice that would require setting aside the election, the petition will be dismissed, and—rather than re-running the election—the Board will order the employer to recognize and bargain with the union.”