ULPs Ensure Company Complies With NLRA

What Does the NLRB Do?

The NLRB can be a valuable ally, if used properly. But if you don't understand the role of the NLRB, you won't be able to take advantage of their help.

Here is where many locals go wrong. They expect the NLRB to step in and solve their grievance.

That's not what the NLRB does. The NLRB's role is to ensure that companies and unions comply with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

They do not get involved in grievances themselves — nor contract negotiations. They step in when the union or the company charges the other party with failing to abide by the NLRA. If a company or union strays from the provisions of the NLRA, it is committing an unfair labor practice (ULP).

How can that help Goldilocks?

The NLRA requires the company to bargain with the union elected by its employees. Refusing to give Goldilocks the information she needs to investigate a possible breech of the contract shows an unwillingness to bargain. What good is a contract if the company can block your attempts to make them stick to it?

So the NLRB issues a complaint, saying that the way they see it, Three Bears, Inc., is committing an unfair labor practice by withholding information necessary to the grievance process.

If Three Bears, Inc., and Goldilocks can't come to some agreement about this information, the complaint will go before an administrative law judge (ALJ), who will hold a hearing and issue an order.

In this case, the judge orders Three Bears, Inc. to give Goldilocks the information she requested. When they do, she can proceed with her grievance.