Operations In Fiscal Year 1988 - National Labor Relations Board

VUnfair Labor PracticesThe Board is empowered under Section 10(c) of the Act toprevent any person from engaging in any unfair labor practice(listed in Sec. 8) affecting commerce. In general, Section 8 prohibitsan employer or a union or their agents from engaging incertain specified types of activity that Congress has designated asunfair labor practices. The Board, however, may not act to preventor remedy such activities until an unfair labor practicecharge has been filed with it. Such charges may be filed by anemployer, an employee, a labor organization, or any other personirrespective of any interest he or she might have in the matter.They are filed with the Regional Office of the Board in the areawhere the alleged unfair labor practice occurred.This chapter deals with decisions of the Board during fiscalyear 1988 that involved novel questions or set precedents thatmay be of substantial importance in the future administration ofthe Act.A. Employer Interference with Employee RightsSection 8(a)(1) of the Act forbids an employer "to interferewith, restrain, or coerce" employees in the exercise of theirrights as guaranteed by Section 7 to engage in or refrain fromengaging in collective-bargaining and self-organizational activities.Violations of this general prohibition may be a derivation orbyproduct of any of the types of conduct specifically identifiedin paragraphs (2) through (5) of Section 8(a), 1 or may consist ofany other employer conduct that independently tends to interferewith, restrain, or coerce employees in exercising their statutoryrights. This section treats only decisions involving activities thatconstitute such independent violations of Section 8(a)(1).1. Concerted Nature of ActivityThe definition of "concerted activity" played a major role inthe Board's decisions this past year. The following cases illustratethe Board's modified interpretation of that term.'Violations of these types are discussed in subsequent sections of this chapter.57