Acting NLRB General Counsel Proposes More Regional Office Consolidations

By Edwin S. Hopson

NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon has just announced that he is considering yet another reorganization of NLRB Regional offices as part of the ongoing effort to restructure field operations in light of new technologies and changing patterns of case loads.

Under the plan, Regional Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Region 30) would become a Subregion of the Minneapolis, Minnesota Region (Region 18), with the Regional Director being located in Minneapolis. The Des Moines, Iowa Resident Office would continue to be assigned to the Minneapolis Region.  The San Juan Regional Office (Region 24) would become a Subregion of the Tampa, Florida Region (Region 12), with the Regional Director located in Tampa.  The Miami and Jacksonville, Florida offices would continue to be assigned to the Tampa Region.  Solomon stated in a press release that no offices will actually be closed under the proposed reorganization. 

According to Solomon, the proposed reorganizations came about in light of the planned retirements of Milwaukee Regional Director Irv Gottschalk, and San Juan Regional Director Marta Figueroa.  Assuming the plan is approved, the proposed reorganization would occur shortly after the effective date of retirement date of the Director in the office that would become a Subregional office.

In his press release, Solomon stated he would thoroughly consider input from Agency staff, from external stakeholders, including practitioners, members of the management-labor relations community, and Members of Congress, before making a final proposal to the Board.  Any feedback regarding the proposed restructuring should be submitted to Associate General Counsel Anne Purcell in the Division of Operations-Management at feedback@nlrb.gov or mailed to her at the National Labor Relations Board, Division of Operations-Management, 1099 14^th Street NW; Suite 10206, Washington DC 20570. Comments should be submitted by April 22, 2013.

NLRB Announces Implementation of the Final Field Office Restructuring Plan

By Edwin S. Hopson

The National Labor Relations Board has announced that its previously announced restructuring of several regional offices, as proposed in July 2012, and as modified in October, 2012, has taken effect on December 10, 2012.  The restructuring was published in the Federal Register on December 6, 2012.

The changes affect the status of four regional offices which are being converted to subregional offices and will result in the reassignment of some subregional and resident offices to new regional offices. The number of NLRB regional offices will go from 32 to 28, but the total number of field offices will remain at 51.

The Winston-Salem, NC office (Region 11) will now be a subregion of the Atlanta Regional Office (Region 10). The Nashville, TN resident office, formerly a part of the Memphis, TN regional office (Region 26), will now report to Atlanta.  The Regional Director in Atlanta is Claude T. Harrell, Jr.

The Memphis, TN office (Region 26) has now become a subregion of the New Orleans Regional Office (Region 15). The Little Rock, AR resident office will also report to New Orleans.  The Regional Director in New Orleans is Kathleen McKinney.

The Overland Park, KS office (Region 17) will become a subregion of the St. Louis Regional Office (Region 14).  Under a previous plan, it was the reverse.  However, the NLRB, after receiving a significant amount of input, decided to leave St. Louis as a regional office and convert Overland Park to a subregional office within the St. Louis region. The Regional Director in St. Louis is Dan Hubbel, who was previously based in Overland Park, KS.  In addition, the Peoria, IL subregional office (formerly a part of the St. Louis region) will now report to Indianapolis, IN (Region 25).  The Regional Director in Indianapolis is Rik Lineback.

The Hartford, CT regional office (Region 34) has now become a subregion of the Boston, MA Regional Office (Region 1).  The Regional Director in Boston is Jonathan Kreisberg.

These changes are, in part, the result of reduced case load.  More changes may well be coming in the future.