NLRB Curbs Union Access to Public Spaces on Employer's Property

In a 3-1 decision earlier this month, Duane Morris reports that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reversed long-standing precedent regarding union access rights to "public spaces" of employers. The decision in UPMC, 368 NLRB No. 2, grants employers greater rights to limit union activity on their property. It also maintains that employers may prohibit non-employee union representatives/organizers from soliciting employees or promoting union membership in public areas within an employer's location. The NLRB's decision in UPMC rejected a previously held, generalized "public space" exception and held that employers do not have to allow non-employee union representatives/organizers access to the public areas of their property to engage in promotional or organizational activity unless the union has no other reasonable means of communicating with employees or the employer discriminates against the union by allowing access to other non-employee groups.