The contracting employer directs the temporary employees' work, determines when the temporary employees will take breaks and eat lunch, and oversees and discusses the quality and quantity of the temporary employees' work directly with the temporary employees. For the true temporary worker, who is engaged for a very short period of predefined time, this decision may not have much impact. The Board has indicated that it will continue to rule that these workers are not eligible for unionization. When temporary workers with long or open-ended assignments are involved, however, the Board will look at the working conditions of the employees at issue to determine their inclusion. These decisions may have a significant impact on the recent health care organizing efforts taking place in Kansas City, St. Louis, and all around the nation.
Many hospitals use temporary nurses and other staff members on a regular basis.
At the very least, these decisions will add another layer of controversy between the employer and the union during election campaigns. This decision also may have a significant impact on Kansas City employers who use temporary employees and who already have union representation in place. The unions are likely to take steps to automatically include temporary employees in the preexisting unit and apply the existing contract terms to those employees. The good cause requirements for terminations and various other provisions of the contracts will be inconsistent with the normal procedures applied to temporary employees. How employers and unions will work through those challenges remains to be seen.