Top NLRB Lawyer Launches Effort to Protect Union Campaigns (1)

The National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer directed the agency’s regional offices to seek court orders against employers who’ve threatened workers during union organizing drives, marking an expansion of her aggressive strategy on injunctions.

Threats and other forms of coercion—like dangling the possibility of discharge or promising to grant benefits—can “severely chill organizing campaigns,” NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo told regional officials in a memo Tuesday. Threats often escalate into action that further harms worker organizing efforts, she said.

“They are not mere words hanging over employees’ heads, but a prelude to what is to come,” Abruzzo said. “Therefore, I ...