Law Commons^™

Undercutting Linden Lumber: How A Union Can Achieve Majority-Status Bargaining Without An Election, Charles J. Morris

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

This article undercuts Linden Lumber — the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB’s) rule which for almost half a century has permitted — indeed encouraged — employers to condition recognition and collective bargaining on a union’s winning what has become an unfair NLRB election, thus effectively denying the alternative binding effect of majority-based union-authorization cards. Relying on the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the Board’s decision in that case, erroneous conventional wisdom has treated this rule as the statutory interpretation of that Court, which would be unchangeable without legislation. A proper contextual reading of Justice Douglas’s majority opinion, however, definitely shows that …