National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Practice
Congress established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. § 151, et seq., the primary law that governs relations between unions, employees and employers in the private sector. The NLRB guarantees employees the right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers. The NLRA, which generally applies to all employers involved in interstate commerce, implements the national labor policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining industrial peace.
The NLRB has two primary functions:
- To prevent and remedy unfair labor practices, whether committed by labor organizations or employers; and
- To establish whether or not certain groups of employees desire labor organization representation for collective-bargaining purposes, and if so, which union.
The attorneys at Lubin & Enoch, PC have extensive experience representing Private Sector Unions and working people in investigations, proceedings and litigation stemming from such NLRB proceedings.
Collective Bargaining Disputes
While our attorneys generally do not believe it is necessary (or in most cases wise) for the unions attorneys to be physically present at the negotiation table, we have extensive experience in drafting and reviewing proposed contact language. What is more important, Lubin & Enoch, PC is keenly aware of the fact that a contract negotiation involving a labor organization with no bargaining leverage is not really a negotiation at all.
Thus, we routinely provide strategic counseling to labor organizations about the various non-traditional methods by which labor organizations can create much needed bargaining leverage vis-a-vis their employers. For example, our union clients routinely get involved in legal matters involving Wage and Hour Disputes, Public Utility Regulation and Election Law with the primary or secondary aim of achieving bargaining leverage vis-a-vis recalcitrant employers.
Lubin & Enoch, PC advises and defends unions and workers confronted with subcontracting and layoffs and we routinely assist unions accused of picket line offenses.
Grievance Disputes
Under the NLRA, disputes growing out of grievances or out of the interpretation or application of agreements covering rates of pay, rules and working conditions are most often resolved through the grievance/arbitration process. The attorneys of Lubin & Enoch, PC have conducted hundreds of labor arbitrations involving issues of contract interpretation and/or employee discipline and we are regarded as some of the preeminent attorneys in the United States involving such matters. We also have extensive experience enforcing such arbitration awards in state and federal court as well as defending claims by workers that the union breached its duty of fair representation to them.
Lubin & Enoch, PC provides regular training at no cost to our clients’ shop stewards and business representatives regarding grievance handling.
Representative Clients
Lubin & Enoch, PC has represented dozens of private sector unions in matters arising under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (“NLRA”), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 151, et seq. and/or the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (“LMRDA”), 29 U.S.C. § 401, et seq. For example, our attorneys have represented labor unions in the following industries:
- Broadcasting (e.g., television stations, sports production);
- Construction (e.g., commercial, residential, energy distribution);
- Energy (e.g., electric generation and transmission, natural gas, petroleum, security personnel at nuclear power plant);
- Entertainment (e.g., movie production, musicians, professional football, theater workers);
- Food (e.g., baking, farming, grocery stores, soft drink production, water companies);
- Healthcare (e.g., nurses, private ambulance drivers, home health care);
- Leisure and hospitality (e.g., hotel employees, trade show employees);
- Manufacturing;
- Service (e.g., attorneys, secretaries, private security, janitors);
- Telecommunications; and
- Transportation (e.g., moving, trucking, maintenance).