Throughout the years, following a strike, long-time strikers could return to their jobs. In such cases, management had to fire replacement workers, for the replacement workers were considered at-will employees who could be terminated for any reason.
Now the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that workers who went on strike for economic reasons such as wages, hours, and benefits, can be replaced and need not be re-instated following a strike.
In order to keep replacement workers as permanent employees and not re-hire workers who went on strike, management and replacement workers must agree that the worker’s hiring was meant to be permanent, not just for the period of the strike,
This represents a major pro-management decision for Corporate America, and it removes a once effective weapon from organized labor’s arsenal.
