Handling the Demand for Recognition

Abstract

For as long as the National Labor Relations Act has existed, unions have had two routes to pursue representation rights: A union can file a petition for an election, or it can ask an employer to voluntarily recognize the union. The latter approach has been the subject of significant attention in the years following the decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023), which placed the onus on employers to file election petitions under penalty of compelled recognition for failing to do so. A question that remains is, how exactly should an employer react when it receives a demand for recognition?