Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, recently co-sponsored legislation to reverse the decision of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to allow micro-unions.
Alexander says micro-unions, which would allow subsets of employees to create collective bargaining units within the same company, would add tension to workplaces. He made the same argument in a floor speech last year, when he stated that the damaging effects of micro-unions would cause so much tension that productivity would suffer.
“The NLRB’s decision to allow micro-unions divides workplaces and makes it harder and more expensive for employers to manage their workplace and do business,” Alexander said. “This legislation will restore balance and fairness to the workplace and reduce the conflict, lawsuits, and uncertainty that this decision causes.”
He went on to ask, “How has this worked in the real world? Here is an example: the board just approved a bargaining unit for cosmetic and fragrance employees in a Macy’s department store – not the shoe salespeople, not the ladies’ fashion employees, not the junior’s department, just cosmetic and fragrance. Imagine if every department of Macy’s decided to form a union. The employer would have dozens of different groups to negotiate with, and the different unions would be fighting each other over who got the better raises and break rooms in terms of employment.”