Justice Department and National Labor Relations Board strengthen Partnership to o better protect competitive labor markets

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division have joined forces to deepen their cooperation in order to better safeguard competitive labour markets and guarantee that employees can freely exercise their legal rights.

Just a few days after the President’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy turned one year old, the agencies strengthened their relationship while also achieving the goals of the Order.

According to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, “protecting competition in labour markets is important to the capacity of workers to earn just compensation for their job, to live out the American dream, and to care for their families.”

“By working together more closely with our NLRB colleagues, we can share information on any violations of the labour and antitrust laws, work on new regulations, and make sure that employees are safeguarded from collusion and improper employer activity.

We appreciate the Board’s ongoing efforts to update its advice to ensure that workers are properly classified under the labour laws, as the department stated in the amicus brief we provided in the NLRB’s recent Atlanta Opera matter.

The Antitrust Division will continue to monitor this issue with particular caution because it is central to the operations of both of our agencies.

Workers have the right to organise under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to enhance their income and working conditions, according to Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel for the NLRB.

“When employers obstruct worker organisation, whether by establishing institutions intended to circumvent labour laws or by engaging in anticompetitive behaviour, it harms both our economy and our democracy.

This MOU will make it easier for the federal government to put a halt to this type of illegal behaviour and, as a result, better defend workers’ rights to unionise, collectively bargain through freely chosen representatives, and to freely associate with one another.

In order to safeguard American workers against illegal employer interference with their right to organise and collusive or anticompetitive employer activities, the Department of Justice and the NLRB have a shared interest in supporting open and competitive labour markets.

The two agencies will maximise the enforcement of federal laws, notably the labour laws within the NLRB’s jurisdiction and the antitrust laws enforced by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, through improved collaboration in information sharing, enforcement activities, and training.

The two organisations will be able to refer to one another appropriately and coordinate on policy, strategy, and training thanks to this MOU.