The National Labor Relations Board has issued a decision that could be of significant aid to organized labor in reorganizing the construction industry. American Steel Construction Inc. and Iron Workers Local 25, 372 NLRB 23 (2022).
Union membership among construction industry employees has been eroding for decades. At the zenith, in 1947, approximately 87% of non-supervisory construction industry employees were represented by a union. By 2000, that number was about 18%. In 2021, less 13% of construction workers were union members.
American Steel Construction could result in a more union-friendly approach in determining the appropriate voting unit when a union petitions for an election. The practical effect of American Steel Construction is allowing an organizing union to seek an election among small subsets of employees, sometimes referred to as “micro-units.” Unions generally have a higher chance of success when the unit is smaller, as is well-illustrated by facts the American Steel Construction. The company was in the structural steel business. It employed fabricators, welders, and painters in its fabrication shop, truck drivers who delivered the fabricated product to job sites, and field employees who performed the installations at the construction sites. The union sought to represent only the field employees and filed a petition requesting that the Board conduct an election among that group. The company objected and argued that the high level of integration of the...
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