National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen issued GC Memorandum 25-09 (available here) instructing NLRB regional staff to defer unfair labor practice charges to arbitration in cases that meet the criteria established under the board’s Dubo Manufacturing Corporation doctrine (Dubo).
For cases to be deferred, agency investigators need to prove that the conflict could be solved through the grievance and arbitration process set up in parties’ collective bargaining agreements. The decision to defer a case under Dubo cannot be appealed. Additionally, the memo states that “if the criteria for Dubo deferral are not met, then Regions should consider the appropriateness of deferral under Collyer Insulated Wire.” Furthermore, NLRB states that its Regions will no longer contact parties on a quarterly basis to inquire about the status of the related grievance in deferred cases, but instead the Contracting Parties are obligated to provide a deferral status report to the NLRB Regional staff on a biannual basis—on March 15 and September 15. The deferral status report is available here.