Case No. 01-RC-186442
Between the Harvard Graduate Students Union-UAW as the petitioners and the President and Fellows of Harvard College as the employer, is an example of a case that the NLRB examined.
The Unjust Electoral Procedure
The electoral procedure was unjust, according to the petitions offered. The first problem was that, despite both parties' agreement on the election's parameters on October 21, 2016, the vote wasn't cast until November 2016. Voter turnout was delayed after the election, and the procedure was completed on December 22, 2016. After the votes were tallied, there were 272 votes in favor of representation, 1456 votes against it, and 314 ballots that were deemed to be contested.
Violation of Excelsior Rule
The union thus objected to the elections, stating that the employer had not complied with the Excelsior rule since a number of eligible voters were omitted from the list at the time of the election.
Hearing and Rulings
After the representations were made by the petitioner, a hearing was held, and the respective officer ruled on the missing voters and challenged ballots. The employer was given time to file an exception, and the group members submitted their voting records. Once the petitions were forwarded, the Regional Director issued the ruling that all the challenged votes ought to be opened, and a new tally has to be done, in case of the failure of which to correspond to the results of the majority of votes cast, a new election has to be conducted. The employer was not in agreement with the decision and requested the petition for the regional director's decision.
NLRB's Role in Settling the Dispute
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) provides judgment to the different unfair practice cases presented by the public. According to the section 8a of the NLRB, the charges prohibit the employer from restraining and coercing their employees at the time of duty. In the year 2010, NLRB had received approximately 510 labor practice cases, with the half of the filed cases being charges on discrimination of activities done by the union. In the other 50 percent of the cases, the employers failed to bargain in good faith. From the NLRB provisions, every individual is free to present the unfair labor practice charges. The cases should be filed with the regional director of the Board not more than six months after the party has been affected.
Rulings and Errors
The NLRA listened to both parties and ensured that their judgment was free and fair for both the petitioner and the employer. The director thus issued the ruling to repeat the elections on 7th July 2017, which could be not valid since there were some errors made during the ruling from the Regional Director's direction. It was necessary for the board to have correct data information that would be presented to the case parties and the public. The errata detected included "Carolina San Miguel" inserted in place of another person's name. Also, the decision had used the word "sustain" instead of "overrule", which should have been used. The number count in the data summary of the case contained an error since the decision used 533 instead of 530.
Summary of NLRA Responsibilities
From the different judgments and rulings made by the NLRA, their major role was to protect the rights of the employees and the union from being violated by the employer. The NLRA ensures that the members of staff in an organization have the right to vote fairly. Therefore, the employer did not support the election process, and therefore, there were errors and fraud activities in the process. Employers should not discriminate members, making them receive unfair treatment as compared to other employees (Guerin). The NLRA also ensures that a member should not hit back at an employee for filling a charge to the board.
Other than protecting the employees, the board also ensures that the union staff and employees do not take advantage of their rights or act in negative influence, but should rather respect all the terms and requirements made at the time of employment. As much as the NLRA gives the employees rights to file a case, the members should have enough evidence and resources. Union members are also requested to interact with other staff members who are non-union, not threatening them for not joining the association (Guerin). All parties should not have a "hot cargo agreement" for eliminating the strike or bribing the party that had presented legal charges to the NLRA. From Harvard against the Employer case, the members engaged in an open discussion in court for unfair elections done. NLRA ensured that the employer had time to present their filings to defend their charges (National Labor Relations Board).
Works Cited
Lisa Guerin, J.D. Unfair Labor Practices: Certain actions by employers or unions are illegal under federal labor law. 2017, https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/unfair-labor- practices.html. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017
National Labor Relations Board . “President and Fellows of Harvard College.” 2016, https://www.nlrb.gov/case/01-RC-186442. Accessed 16 Nov. 2017
