Dempsey Foods is a large meat processing plant located in the Midwest. The company has been very concerned about safety in the plant and so it organizes a group of employees, selected by the plant manager, to ask other employees what can be done to improve safety. After talking with other employees, the safety group tells the plant manager safety would be improved by increasing wages, cutting hours, and buying new safety equipment. The plant manager asks the group whether the employees would be happy with an increase in wages and some new safety procedures. The safety group checks with the other employees before telling the plant manager those changes are acceptable. The plant manager implements the changes. This exchange between the plant manager and the safety group would be likely considered illegal under the Wagner Act (NLRA).

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Wagner Act (NLRA) protects the rights of employees to organize and bargain collectively with their employers. The Act prohibits employers from interfering with these rights, including by forming or dominating employee committees that are not truly representative of the employees' interests. In this case, the safety group was selected by the plant manager and was not truly representative of the employees' interests. The plant manager's actions in asking the safety group to check with the other employees before telling him whether the changes were acceptable were also an attempt to interfere with the employees' rights to organize and bargain collectively.

Dempsey Foods Is a Large Meat Processing Plant Located in the Midwest