More Labor Disputes Must Go to Arbitration, NLRB Top Lawyer Says

The National Labor Relations Board’s head attorney wants unions and employers to more often deal with conflicts through their own grievance and arbitration procedures as the agency’s resources continue to be overwhelmed, he said in a memo to agency officials.

NLRB regional staff should defer unfair labor practice charges to arbitration in cases that meet the legal standard set in the board’s 1963 Dubo Manufacturing Corporation doctrine, said Acting NLRB General Counsel William Cowen in a memo Thursday.

For cases to be deferred, agency investigators need to prove that the conflict could be solved through the grievance and arbitration process ...