Here We Go Again: NLRB Foreshadows A Potential Return To Micro-Units

The ability to form smaller bargaining units by breaking up larger aspects of an employer's organization-sometimes called "micro-units"-is generally seen as an effort to enhance the ability of unions to gain entry into an employer by making it easier to organize. Those opposed to the practice, including both employers and trade groups, contend that carving out a small portion of an employer's workforce into a bargaining unit fractures the workplace and thereby undermines both productivity and workers' rights.

Whether a "micro-unit" is permissible under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA")-like so much else in labor law during the last several years-depends on timing. Longstanding rules of bargaining unit make-up have changed drastically with the change of administrations.