Union Organizing Made Easier

Micro-units upheld. In 2016, several federal appellate courts upheld the National Labor Relations Board's 2011 Specialty Healthcare decision, which departed from Board precedent to sanction union elections among small "micro"- units within a company. Employers and business groups have consistently opposed the decision, arguing that organizers could cherry-pick small segments of employees to target in a union organizing campaign. Employers have argued that the balkanization of the workforce and the collective-bargaining process that Specialty Healthcare's "overwhelming-community-of-interest" standard engenders is contrary to the letter and spirit of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).