On December 12, 2014, in a split decision along party lines, the
National Labor Relations Board (the Board) finalized new rules that
are unquestionably intended to assist unions' organizing
efforts by reducing the amount of time employers have to educate
their employees about the drawbacks to unionization. The rules are
scheduled to take effect on April 14, 2015, assuming that date is
not pushed back by legal challenges.
The main impact of the new rules is to deprive employers of as
much as two to three weeks to educate their employees as to the
potential negative effects of an organized workforce. Additionally,
for the first time, an employer will be required to provide the
petitioning union not just eligible voters' home addresses as
is required presently, but also their telephone numbers and email
addresses, if available. Employers will, for the first
time, also be required to post and distribute to employees a Board
notice informing employees that an election
