Narendra Speaks at NCBA CLE on Labor Law and the Employee Free Choice Act

Narendra Ghosh spoke at the North Carolina Bar Association's 2009 Fundamentals of Employment Law CLE, which was held in Greensboro. He was part of a duo presenting an overview of the National Labor Relations Act and the possible changes to it from the long-pending Employee Free Choice Act. Along with Tom Farr, he presented a paper entitled A Brief Introduction to Union and Employee Activities Under the NLRA and Proposed Changes Under the Employee Free Choice Act.

Summary: The National Labor Relations Act (the “Act” or the “NLRA”) guarantees the right of workers to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers, or to refrain from such activity. To enable employees to exercise these rights and to prevent labor disputes, the Act places certain limits on the activities of both employers and labor organizations. The text that follows is an introduction to pre-certification union and employee activities under the Act, which is intended for new practitioners. In addition, this paper describes changes to the Act that have been proposed in the Employee Free Choice Act, which is currently pending in Congress. Whether changes need to be made to the Act, and what forms they should take, are hotly debated questions, and this paper aims to illuminate the contours of the debate.