Glossary

This page is legal information, not legal advice. It describes what the law says. It cannot tell you what to do about your own situation.

Terms a bargaining committee runs into, and what each one means. Every entry says where the idea comes from, so the definition can be checked against the source rather than taken on trust.

Unfair labor practice

Conduct the Act makes unlawful. Section 8(a) lists five things an employer may not do, and Section 8(b) lists what a union may not do. Everyone shortens it to ULP. A charge alleging one is a case number with a C in the middle. 29 U.S.C. § 158

Direct dealing

An employer going around the union to bargain with the workers themselves, once a union represents them. The Supreme Court held in 1944 that an employer cannot negotiate directly with employees over terms the union is there to negotiate. Medo Photo Supply Corp. v. NLRB, 321 U.S. 678 (1944)

Unilateral change

Changing a term of employment that is subject to bargaining without bargaining about it first. The Supreme Court held in 1962 that doing this is a refusal to bargain, whatever the employer's motive was. NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736 (1962)

Status quo

The existing terms and conditions, which stay in place while bargaining goes on. It is the other side of unilateral change: the duty to bargain is what keeps the terms where they are until the parties agree or reach a genuine impasse. NLRB v. Katz, 369 U.S. 736 (1962)

Effects bargaining

Bargaining about the consequences of a decision rather than the decision itself. Some management decisions must be bargained over; for others, the employer may decide but must still bargain about what the decision does to the workers. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp. v. NLRB, 379 U.S. 203 (1964); First National Maintenance Corp. v. NLRB, 452 U.S. 666 (1981)

Surface bargaining

Going through the motions of bargaining with no intention of reaching an agreement. Section 8(d) requires both sides to meet and confer in good faith, while saying plainly that neither is compelled to agree or to make a concession. The line between hard bargaining and surface bargaining is drawn from the whole course of conduct, not from any one proposal. 29 U.S.C. § 158(d); NLRB v. Insurance Agents' International Union, 361 U.S. 477 (1960)

Information request

A union's demand for information it needs to bargain or to handle a grievance. Information about the bargaining unit itself is presumed relevant. Where an employer claims it cannot afford a proposal, it may have to open its books. NLRB v. Truitt Manufacturing Co., 351 U.S. 149 (1956); NLRB v. Acme Industrial Co., 385 U.S. 432 (1967)

Blocking charge

An unfair labor practice charge filed by a party to a pending election case, together with a request that the election be held up until the charge is resolved. The Board's own rule requires the party asking for the block to file an offer of proof naming its witnesses and summarising what each would say, and to make those witnesses available to the regional director. 29 C.F.R. § 103.20

Certification year

The year after a union is certified, during which the employer must bargain with it and its majority status cannot be challenged. The Supreme Court upheld the rule in 1954: a certification is good for a reasonable period, ordinarily one year, whatever happens to the union's support in the meantime. Brooks v. NLRB, 348 U.S. 96 (1954)

Successor employer

A new employer that takes over a business and keeps enough of the old workforce that the union's representative status carries over. A successor generally has to recognize and bargain with the union, but is not bound by the old contract and may set initial terms itself, unless it was plain it would keep the whole workforce. NLRB v. Burns International Security Services, 406 U.S. 272 (1972); Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U.S. 27 (1987)

Charging party

Whoever filed the charge. It can be a worker, a group of workers, a union, or an employer. This site does not publish the names of individual people who filed charges. See where this comes from.

Respondent

Whoever the charge is against, once a complaint has issued.

General Counsel

The agency's prosecutor, appointed for a four year term, with final authority over whether a charge becomes a complaint. Separate from the five member Board, which decides the cases. 29 U.S.C. § 153(d)

Bargaining unit

The group of jobs a union represents, or is asking to represent. The Board decides whether a proposed unit is an appropriate one under Section 9(b). 29 U.S.C. § 159(b)