The Uncertain Legal Status of Employee Participation Committees Available to Purchase

The recent National Labor Relations Board ruling upholding the Electromation decision has further clouded the legal status of a significant number of employee participation committees and programs implemented by industry in its effort to improve productivity, quality and competitiveness. Employers are concerned that their efforts to improve productivity and quality through new team‐oriented work systems could be impaired if employee committees are defined broadly as labor organizations. If the NLRB ruling is overturned, union leaders are concerned that company‐dominated unions could proliferate, making organizing efforts more difficult, and depriving employees of more objective, aggressive third party representation.