NLRB Ruling Makes It Easier To Organize Temporary Workers

On July 11, 2016, the National Labor Relations Board in Miller & Anderson, in another pro-union decision, overruled its own precedent and ruled that unions do not need employer consent before organizing bargaining units that combine both regular employees and temporary workers jointly employed by another entity. Prior to the decision, unions had to get consent from both joint employers in order to represent this type of "mixed" unit. As a result, it will now be easier for unions to organize regular and jointly employed temporary workers in one multiemployer bargaining unit.

The rule at issue in Miller & Anderson has been the subject of a game of political football over the years. In 2000, during the Clinton administration, the Board ruled in the Sturgis case that both "solely employed" workers (i.e, regular workers with one main employer) and "jointly employed" workers (i.e., workers employed by both the employer and a temporary staffing agency) could be represented