Question: What should employers be doing now in response to the 'quickie election' rule?

Question: The NLRB's "quickie election" rule became effective on April 14. We have learned that, under the new rule, an election can be scheduled as quickly as 13 days following the date of the filing of an election petition. As an employer, is there anything we should be doing to prepare?

Answer: Under the new rule, the filing of an election petition is an "emergency." When the emergency hits, it is too late to develop an Emergency Operations Plan. Yes, you should be developing such a plan now, in advance of the filing of a petition.

Components of a solid Emergency Operations Plan should include the following:

• Draft a company statement clearly communicating management's position that it would prefer to maintain a union-free environment.
• Put together talking points that a manager would make in a meeting with employees within 24 hours of the company's receipt of an election petition.
• Identify a small, select group of managers who would be designated to immediately begin to orchestrate the campaign; this is your union election "SWAT Team."
• Select the executive who would deliver campaign speeches and sign letters to the homes of employees.
• Draft the text of a letter that would be mailed to employees, explaining the company's initial position with respect to the union election petition.
• To communicate effectively with your employees during an election campaign, develop your communication infrastructure now:

• Consider making videos, bulletin boards, a website, etc.
• Brainstorm campaign poster ideas.
• Draft handouts to circulate.

Under the new rule, you will no longer have time to decide how you are going to execute your campaign, as well as all of the other logistical issues. Your plan should allow you to move directly into campaigning, without having to waste valuable time with this initial planning. When the election petition arrives, the employer must be in the position to "flip a switch" to cause the Emergency Operations Plan to spring into action.

Remember: Victory is all-important. In the words of my hero, Winston Churchill, "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

Note: Nothing in this SNPA Legal Hotline Q&A should be relied upon as legal advice in any particular matter.

L. Michael Zinser is the founding partner of The Zinser Law Firm in Nashville, Tenn. The firm, which has a heavy concentration of clients in communications media, represents management in the area of labor and employment. Zinser can be reached at (615) 244-9700 or mzinser@zinserlaw.com.

SNPA's free Legal Hotline for members – (844) 804-2016 – is designed to assist newspapers with a broad range of legal issues. Hotline attorneys and CPAs will tackle questions about circulation, independent contractors, labor and employment law, taxes, finances and accounting, employment benefits, open records, libel and privacy, and other issues newspapers encounter.

The attorneys and CPAs who will take calls from SNPA member newspapers are the best in the business:  The Bussian Law Firm PLLC, Fisher & Phillips, Way, Ray, Shelton & Co., P.C. and The Zinser Law Firm.