All Shore Heating & Air Conditioning is UNION FREE!!

Twenty months after being served with a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) petition for representation and Thirteen months after losing the subsequent election, All Shore Heating & Air Conditioning of Marlton, NJ is union-free! The Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers, Local 19 (“Local 19”) disclaimed interest and abandoned the bargaining unit on November 13, 2019.

Local 19 and All Shore

All Shore was “salted” with union organizers and received a petition from the NLRB in March 2018. “Salting” is when a union sends paid union organizers to illicitly apply for work with a contractor and attempt to get hired.  “Salts” apply for jobs, but not to actually work for the company.  Their only objective is unionizing that company, and they use many tactics simultaneously.  First, as an employee, they are now an automatic union vote.  Second, they work to sow discord in the employee ranks most often by spreading rumors and lies.  Third, “salts” engage in activities protected under the law such as picketing and other protests, but just as often, they engage in behavior that is at best questionably legal.  This includes engaging in secondary boycotts, unlawful slowdowns, blue flu call-ins, and distributing libelous and slanderous statements about the company.

These salts successfully organized All Shore and SMART Local 19 was certified as the representative of All Shore’s employees October 1, 2018 after a lengthy legal battle.  It wasn’t long until employees began to complain. The union’s lies were revealed, and its promises remained unfulfilled after a year of good faith bargaining by the company.

On October 25, 2019, the employees filed a decertification petition with the NLRB asking it to hold an election to remove the union as the representative of All Shore’s employees thus making the company union-free again!.  The union polled the workers and realized it no longer had the support of the workforce.  It disclaimed interest in the bargaining unit, and it walked away from the workers.  It chose this action instead of facing what was sure to be a landslide loss at the ballot box.

National Labor Relations Advocates’ Three (3) Step Bargaining Strategy

National Labor Relations Advocates (“NLRA”) and its three (3) step bargaining strategy set the stage for All Shore to become union-free.  NLRA ensures no union ever forces or bullies a company into unacceptable contract terms and it protects the company.  The company doesn’t agree to a bad deal, and employees gain critical time to feel buyer’s remorse over their choice.

Step One – Agree to Bargain

A union that wins an NLRB election only wins the right to bargain collectively over terms and conditions of employment.  It does not win automatic increases, nor does it win automatic power.

The first reaction to many companies after a union loss is to refuse to bargain with the union.  The union has just executed a hostile takeover of the company workforce, but refusing to bargain is the wrong move.  Here’s why.

United States law requires that both parties must bargain.   Refusing to bargain is a plain violation of the law.

Step Two – Bargain in Good Faith

The law also requires both the union and the company to bargain in good faith.  Good faith has many requirements.  Generally, the parties must meet at reasonable times and intervals with an intent to reach an agreement.  The parties must make proposals and counter-proposals and respond to the same from the other, but cannot engage in “surface bargaining”.  Parties are guilty of surface bargaining when their actions frustrate bargaining or prevent the reaching of an agreement.

Step Three – Bargain Hard

The United States Supreme Court in H.K. Porter Co. v. NLRB, 391 U.S. 99, 104 (1970) held: “It must be stressed that the duty to bargain collectively with a union does not carry a duty to reach agreement.”  The U.S. Court of Appeals held “just as surely as an employer may increase benefits in bargaining, he may take them away.”

This is the final piece on the employer’s bargaining arsenal.  These cases have been the law of the land for almost forty years, and they protect a company from a bad union contract.  Translated, these cases say a company may legally refuse to agree to any terms of a collective bargaining proposal that are not in its best interest!

This was the formula that allowed All Shore to return to the union-free status it enjoyed throughout its history, and as a result, employees regained control of their working lives.  Karen Rose, Labor Relations Advocate and James Allen, Managing Partner for National Labor Relations Advocates met with Local 19, bargained in good faith, and held to the best interests of the company.  The inevitable frustration over the union’s broken, empty promises set the stage for decertification of the union.

All Shore’s Union Free Victory & NLRA’s Role

True Villain

The real culprit in Local 19’s fall from grace with the employees was the union.  It was the union’s incompetent, impersonal representation of those employees that caused its downfall.  The union’s intransigence in bargaining and insistence that All Shore accept the terms of Master Agreement for which it had no input were fatal choices for the union.

No More Expensive Lawyers to Become Union Free!

All Shore retained NLRA shortly after the lengthy litigation that followed its election loss to the union. Exhausted by the high legal fees and desiring to maintain the company’s ability to stay competitive, All Shore terminated its relationship with the law firm and contacted NLRA. The last line of NLRA’s mission statement sums it up “We believe all employers should have access to vigorous, high-quality labor relations representation.” Even better NLRA provided this representation at a fraction of the cost of a traditional law firm. All Shore was back in the fight!

NLRA’s Union Free Strategy for All Shore

NLRA responded with its Three-Step Bargaining Strategy.  It met with the union several times, bargained in good faith, and it refused to make any agreements that were not in the company’s best interests.

Several times throughout the bargaining process the union verbally accused the company of bad faith.  It made veiled threats against the company and tried to intimidate All Shore into signing the master agreement.

NLRA on behalf of All Shore stood its ground in bargaining.  It was the union that was bargaining in bad faith. The union refused to consider any company proposal and insisted the company sign the master agreement as is.

NLRA defended All Shore’s rights at the bargaining table, and it was this course that was key to allowing the employees to see the truth of Local 19’s apathy.  NLRA’s tactics complied to the letter of the law.

Conclusion

Congratulations to the employees of All Shore Heating & Air Conditioning.  Here’s to many productive and successful years of providing excellence in HVAC service and installation in a merit-based shop.

Have you recently lost a union election, but you want to know your options moving forward?  Have you been unionized for awhile and wish to be union-free, but you do not know where to start? Reach out to NLRA today.  The process to become union-free must be done carefully and correctly, but it is not a pipe dream. When done correctly you will have the full force of the law behind you.  For this or any of your labor relations needs, contact Karen or Jim today, or call 844-4-NO-UNION [844-466-8646].