In 2016, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
continued issuing decisions that significantly expand the
organizing opportunities for labor unions. Following up on its
groundbreaking "joint employer" decision in Browning-
Ferris Industries of California, Inc.
(BFI), subsequent Board decisions have now made
it easier for unions to organize the growing ranks of the
"contingent" workforce. The Board also issued decisions
in which it narrowly construed the definition of
"supervisor." By doing so it opened up to potential
unionization individuals who play significant roles in managing an
employer's operations. However, the Board opened up the largest
new area—by far—for potential organizing by finding
that graduate assistants at private colleges and universities are
statutory "employees," and by asserting Board
jurisdiction over schools that are chartered as public schools but
not directly operated by government entities.
