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Using an Independent Monitor to Resolve Union-Organizing Disputes Outside the NLRB: The First Group Experience - Chapter 9 - AAA Handbook on Labor Arbitration & ADR, 3rd Edition

Author(s): 
William B. Gould
Page Count: 
22 pages
Published: 
May, 2016
Author Detail: 

Willliam B. Gould IV is the Charles A. Beardsley Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Stanford Law School. He served as the Independent Monitor (2008-2010) for FirstGroup, the company that created the Independent Monitor Program discussed in this article. A member of the National Academy of Arbitrators since 1970, he is a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (1994-1998) and Chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (2014- ). Prof. Gould expresses his gratitude to Andrew J. Olejnik, a senior associate at Jenner & Block LLP’s Chicago office, who served as a special assistant to Mr. Gould (2008-2010) in his capacity as the FirstGroup Independent Monitor. Mr. Olejnik assisted in the implementation and operation of the Independent Monitor Program and contributed to the preparation of this article. Prof. Gould also thanks Ben Roxborough, Stanford Law School LL.M. 2010 and Mike Scanlon, Stanford Law School, J.D. 2010, both of whom assisted in the preparation of this article.

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Originally from: AAA Handbook on Labor Arbitration and ADR - Third Edition

 

CHAPTER 9
USING AN INDEPENDENT MONITOR TO RESOLVE UNION-ORGANIZING DISPUTES OUTSIDE THE NLRB: THE FIRSTGROUP EXPERIENCE

William B. Gould IV

I. Introduction

For decades, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that enforces the NLRA, have been ineffective in protecting the rights of employees to associate freely with labor unions. This has led some unions to devise alternative strategies, such as “corporate campaigns,”  to obtain recognition as a collective bargaining representative for employees. One British company, FirstGroup plc, faced such a campaign and took an unprecedented approach in response to union complaints that its U.S. subsidiary was interfering with the right of employees to unionize. The company adopted a Freedom of Association Policy (FoA Policy) and appointed a neutral third-party expert in labor disputes to create an Independent Monitor Program (IM Program) to investigate alleged violations of that policy.