The power to create or obstruct employee voice

Employer demand for voice organizations is severely constrained in the US by a National Labor Relations Act section that outlaws company unions and their functional counterparts. This case study of pertinent NLRB decisions since 1993 shows no relaxation in this strict public policy. Aside from ‘no voice’ and ‘union voice’ options, three ‘voice’ organizations are available to employers: (i) self-managed work teams, (ii) disciplinary committees and (iii) teams or committees that address efficiency, work process or product quality. The first two types are allowed if employers cede control to these self-governing bodies. The third form has limited appeal because of the restrictive range of work subjects that can be addressed. The NLRB continues to prohibit more ambitious types of voice organizations. It is not surprising that substitute unions are found unlawful, but the Board has also ruled against a worker council that provided genuine expression of employee voice.

Appeal · Business · Control (management) · Economics · Employee voice · Management · Political science · Power (physics) · Preference · Public relations · Quality (philosophy) · Work (physics) · Engineering · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Regulation and Compliance Studies

• Voice in the Wilderness? The Shift From Union to Non‐Union Voice in Britain

  Rafael Sanz Gómez, Rafael Gomez et al.•Oxford handbook of participation…•2010

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• Divergent fates

  Bruce E Kaufman, Bruce Kaufman•Labor History•2015

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• Managers and Nonunion Workers in the Rubber Industry

  Open Access•Daniel Nelson•Industrial and Labor Relations…•1989

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• Reckoning with Company Unions

  Sanford M Jacoby•Industrial and Labor Relations…•1989

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