What does labor law require or prohibit when employees join a union?
Before an organizational campaign begins: Employers who understand their employees’ grievances and who address them satisfactorily may avert any union activity. In the context of nurse anesthetists, where job security and professionalism may be the biggest issues, it may be enough to create a contractual process for preserving jobs or to establish an internal dispute resolution mechanism. Before the election: When an employer begins to suspect that an organizational campaign is under way, it must immediately refrain from activities that could be interpreted as: • Threats – promising or warning of job loss or other adverse consequences should the union prevail. The employer cannot tell the employees that bargaining through a union would be fruitless. • Intimidation – creating an insecure environment without making direct threats. Polling employees as to their intentions is dangerous. In an insular department, anesthesiologists may need to be careful about what they say to anesthetists i
