What Do NLRB Cases Reveal about Non-Union Employee Representation Groups? A Typology from Post–Electromation Cases

Since the late 1800s, unions and employers have competed with each other to offer representation groups to employees. In general, these groups have aimed to provide a voice to workers in aspects of their employment. These groups have widely differed, however. Employers have formed some representation groups with progressive aims: to empower individuals to manage their work, to share information about improving a work process, and more broadly, to feel a sense of ownership in the fi rm. Other groups have extended compensation beyond wages by seeking employee input in designing benefi ts-for example, a pension plan in the 1920s or child care at work in the 1990s. Other employers have formed groups to mimic a union’s functions, believing that a company union is better able than an independent union to voice the interests of employees.