What is the story behind the notice we received and what's next?

What is the story behind the notice we received and what's next?

The email accompanying the notice states:

"We are distributing the Attached Notice to Employees to you pursuant to a Settlement Agreement approved by the Regional Director of Region 19 of the National Labor Relations Board in Case 19-CA-115285. "

Case 19-CA-115285 concerns the complaint filed by Marilyse B after she was abruptly fired from the lab in August 2013.

She was fired the day after she had complained to management about the lack of benefits during a meeting convened by management so that team employees could freely express their concerns.

Considering it was obviously a case of illegal retaliation against an employee exercising her protected right to organize (ie act to improve the collective well being of employees) Marilyse immediately filed a complaint to the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (the Federal Administration in charge of monitoring the enforcement of the labor laws relevant to organizing).

6 months later the NLRB gave the results of its investigation and found the company guilty of illegal retaliation and wrongful dismissal against Marilyse. This meant that the company could be obliged to reinstate her and pay back her pay.

As the company did not want Marilyse back (nor did she) and the company did not want to fight the NLRB decision in court, their attorney approached Marilyse to ask her to settle: against a financial compensation she would agree to drop her complaint and not to return to her previous job.

After some discussion about the amount of the compensation (this amount is confidential) Marilyse agreed in February 2014 to drop her complaint.

BUT the NLRB had to agree to the settlement and they required that the company also publicly acknowledge to all employees their right to organize that had been compromised in Marilyse's case.

Therefore the notice you have received that reminds everybody of the law that protects the right to organize on the workplace.

What's next?

What's next depends of you: if you want for us, Tier 1 employees (presently without any benefits but for a meager 401K) to be represented by a union that could collectively bargain for us to try to obtain benefits, you can sign an 'authorization card'.

This process is completely confidential and anonymous as far as management is concerned (see the details of the process in the previous post).

If more than 30% of Tier 1s sign such a card, the company has to organize a vote for all the employees to decide if they want a union or not.

The notice we received reminds us we have such a right. It's up to us to exercise it or not.