The National Labor Relations Board held last week that captive audience meetings violate Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act. A captive audience meeting occurs when an employer requires employees to attend anti-union meetings or face discipline or discharge.
The Nov. 13 decision in Amazon.com Services overturns a 1948 decision, with the board unanimously holding that captive audience meetings have a “reasonable tendency” to interfere with employees’ exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the NLRA, which includes the right to decide whether they will unionize. Section 8 prohibits any action that interferes with or chills the exercise of employees’ Section 7 rights.
The board reasoned that captive audience meetings violate Section 8 in three ways:
(1) they interfere with an employee’s right to determine how and when to participate in the debate about unionization;
(2) they serve as a vehicle for employers to monitor and surveil employees during the exercise of their Section 7 rights; and
(3) they are coercive in nature because of the threat of discipline or discharge for refusing or failing to attend.
Because attendance is mandatory and carries the threat of reprisal, the board determined that an employer’s messaging at these meetings cannot be protected speech under the NLRA. The board’s ruling does not prevent employers from holding meetings to express their views on organizing efforts, provided attendance at the meetings is voluntary.
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