Common situs picketing is the name given to picketing conducted at the site at which an employer or employers in addition to the one at which the picket is targeted are present. Such employers are called secondary employers, as opposed to the primary employer, which is the target of the picket. Because of the potential for secondary effects on parties not involved in the labor dispute, special rules apply to common situs picketing, which vary depending upon whether the site is neutral, i.e., owned or operated by a secondary employer, or is owned or operated by the primary employer.
A primary employer may not prevent an otherwise legitimate picket at its own site, but may to take steps to insulate secondary employers located at its site from any impact from the picketing. In order to do that, the primary employer must designate a separate entry point onto its property for the use of the secondary employer's workers. In addition, in order to prevent picketing at that entry point, the primary employer cannot employer secondary workers in its usual operations. Thus, for example, secondary workers making parts for the manufacture of the primary employer's product cannot be insulated from picketing; however, workers employed in the maintenance of a building or the construction of a new building could be insulated from picketing because those functions are not related to the primary employer's normal operations. An exception to that exists when the secondary workers are employed for a task that would require the primary employer to shut down its operations. If, for example, the secondary workers were employed in replacing machinery used in the manufacturing process, picketing could not be prevented at the point of entry of those workers even if the primary employer establishes and maintains a separate entrance for them.
Finally, an employer may not protect its own employees, whether members of the union or not, from the effects of a picket by setting up a separate point of entry for them. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |