The National Labor Relations Board just decided that employers
have the right to cease union dues collections once the relevant
collective bargaining agreement expires, again restoring balance to
the labor relations landscape. Yesterday’s decision in
Valley Hospital Medical Center, Inc., which returns to a
legal standard that had stood for decades before being overturned
in 2015, will provide employers more options during the negotiation
process.
Shifting Sands Shift Once Again
The origins of this doctrine lay in a 1962 decision from the
NLRB that first gave employers the power to stop transferring union
dues directly from employee paychecks once the CBA had expired
(Bethlehem Steel). But during a several-year spree that
saw the union-friendly Board installed by President Obama overturn
many longstanding rules, the NLRB issued the controversial
Lincoln Lutheran of Racine decision that scrapped
Bethlehem Steel.
