Overview
Trusted Legal Counsel for Every Stage of Labor-Management Relationships
Get practical guidance across the full spectrum of labor–management issues. We regularly counsel clients with unionized workforces on collective bargaining and grievance handling, and we frequently serve as lead negotiators at the table. Our team is experienced in interest‑based and mutual gains bargaining, and we draw on these techniques to assist you in structuring agreements, resolving disputes, and strengthening long‑term labor relations.
Our Approach: Hands-On Support Grounded in Real-World Insight
Take a Proactive Approach to Labor-Management Relations: We pair sophisticated legal knowledge with practical experience to help you anticipate issues, manage risk, and maintain productive union relationships. Several members of our team have served at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), giving us a valuable inside perspective on how matters are evaluated and decided. We use that insight to shape proactive strategies, prepare thoroughly for organizing activity and bargaining cycles, and guide you through proceedings before the NLRB and state labor relations agencies.
Strategic Support When Labor Actions Loom: We move quickly to design comprehensive response plans that deter or minimize disruption and protect both economic performance and public reputation. We collaborate closely with in‑house counsel and HR leaders, provide targeted training to managers and supervisors, and tailor communication strategies that resonate with your workforce.
Focus Areas
Full-Lifecycle Support for Union and Employee Relations
We represent employers nationwide in all facets of labor–management relations, including:
- Certification, decertification, and related proceedings before the NLRB and state agencies
- Collective bargaining negotiations and mediation
- Strike readiness and strike management
- Grievance processing and labor arbitration
- Legal compliance training for managers and supervisors.
We also help employers maintain union‑free status by:
- Advising on employee relations strategies
- Addressing union organizing activity
- Managing election campaigns
- Developing effective communication programs for both employees and leadership.
For clients facing potential labor actions, we deliver end‑to‑end strategies designed to reduce operational risk and safeguard brand and stakeholder confidence.
Experience
Michael Best serves as outside employment and labor counsel to a food holding company that owns a portfolio of brands. We represented the client in collective bargaining negotiations with an existing union during a stressful time at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. The matter concluded with a favorable contract and continuity of work at a food company. Our team later successfully negotiated an extension of the labor agreement at minimal new cost. We also provided counsel on safe work during COVID to ensure consistent production, as well as on restrictive covenants and other employment law issues.
We serve as outside labor and employment counsel to a healthcare system of over 11,000 employees, 17 hospitals, 75 clinics, home health and hospice care, pharmacies, critical care and air-medical transport, medical goods, nursing homes and a broad network of physicians in Michigan and Wisconsin. In labor matters, a Michael Best attorney served as chief spokesperson in collective bargaining negotiations with five separate unions at six different hospitals, involving eight contracts. Negotiations were highly contentious, including picketing activities and unfair labor practice charges. Our team secured successful extensions of all contracts that allowed our client to align wages and benefits by removing step schedules, ensure flexibility in staffing, and minimize expense at an extremely difficult time. We also successfully bargained a highly contentious initial contract negotiation with the Michigan Nurses Association after years of bargaining and litigation, including litigation that gained national attention. In addition, we have successfully defended multiple organizing efforts of provider groups and a radiologist group, resulting in the withdrawal of an NLRB petition prior to a vote.
