NLRB Limits Application Of "Micro-Unit" Strategy

In a blow to national union organization efforts, the National Labor Relations Board just clarified the test for determining whether "micro-units" of employees within a larger workforce can organize on their own. In its September 9 Boeing Company decision, the NLRB addressed a union's efforts to utilize a "micro-unit" strategy to target a petitioned-for unit that made up of only two job classifications from a significantly larger, integrated workforce. In reversing a Regional Director's decision to allow a representation election with this smaller subset of employees, the NLRB clarified its traditional community-of-interest standard for evaluating the appropriateness of petition for bargaining units.