Labor Board Tightens Limits on What Employers Can Say During Unionization Efforts

National Labor Relations Board returns to case-specific analysis, requiring employer predictions about unionization impacts to be based on objective facts.

A Starbucks worker boards the Starbucks union bus after workers stood on the picket line with striking actors and writers in solidarity outside Netflix studios in Los Angeles on July 28, 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision on Nov. 8 overturning a 40-year-old precedent that had allowed employers wide latitude in discussing how unionization might affect individual relationships between employees and management. The case involved Starbucks Corporation and Workers United, affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

The NLRB reversed the 1985 Tri-Cast, Inc. decision, which had generally deemed employer statements about the impact of unionization on individual employee relationships as lawful.