Management Memo

Just hours after it became clear that Donald Trump would be returning to the White House, the majority Democratic National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) showed no signs of slowing down its efforts to implement the Biden Administration’s pro-labor agenda before January 20. In its latest decision the Board severely curtailed what types of statements employers can make to employees when pointing out the legal and practical effects of unionization.

On November 8, 2024, the NLRB issued a decision in Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB No. 135, which overturned long-standing case law Tri-Cast, Inc., 274 NLRB 377 (1985). Under Tri-Cast, the Board held that it was lawful for employers to accurately explain that a union’s certification as the collective bargaining representative of employees would change the relationship between the employer and its employees, holding that, “there is no threat, either explicit or implicit, in a statement which explains to employees that, when they select a union to represent them, the relationship that existed between the employees and employer will not be as before,” regardless of “the truth or falsity of the parties campaign statements.” Tri-Cast, 274 NLRB 377, 378 (quoting Midland National Life Insurance Co., 263 NLRB 127, 133 (1982)).