Retailers’ Association Disappointed by Ruling on Micro Unions

RILA denounces NLRB decision certifying these unions within retail industry.

July 24, 2014

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the trade association of the world’s largest and most innovative retail companies, issued a statement yesterday regarding a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that certifies micro unions within the retail industry.

“Micro unions are incompatible with the operational structure of the retail industry and the needs of American consumers,” said Kelly Kolb, vice president of government affairs, in the statement. “The conflict and complexity brought to workplaces by micro unions jeopardizes the flexibility and opportunity that make retail jobs attractive to millions of Americans, while eroding the high level of customer service consumers have come to expect from retailers.”

According to RILA, the NLRB decision “pushes bad policy at the behest of Big Labor,” and will unnecessarily fragment retail workplaces. The concept of micro unions emerged from the NLRB’s August 2011 Specialty Healthcare decision, redefining what the NLRB considered a proper bargaining unit and in the process abandoning business-wide standard in favor of one that allows union organizers to select small groups of employees within a larger workforce to form a bargaining unit.

“Now, more than ever, it is imperative that Congress act and pass pending legislation to prevent the further spread of the toxic labor practices associated with micro unions and reverse the Specialty Healthcare decision,” Kolb concluded in RILA’s statement.

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