Tratelemonioc is a manufacturer of electrical components located in Elkhart, Indiana, and employs approximately 200 employees. None of the employees are represented by a union. The company was experiencing severe nancial losses and decided that changes were needed to keep the company viable. To reduce costs, the company decided not to give a wage increase for the year, but instead paid employees a lump-sum bonus that depended on length of service. Additionally, the existing employee attendance bonus policy was dropped. In early January, 68 employees signed a petition expressing dissatisfaction with the new attendance policy. In response, the company decided to meet directly with the employees. On January 11, the company met with a group of eight randomly chosen employees and discussed a wide range of issues, including wages, bonuses, incentive pay, attendance programs, and the leave policy. After this meeting, the company president concluded it was very unlikely that further unilateral management action to resolve the problems was going to come anywhere near making everybody happy . . . and we thought the best course of action would be to involve the employees in coming up with solutions to these issues. The company decided that the employees' concerns could be divided into ve categories (absenteeism! infractions, no smoking policy, communications, pay progression for premium positions, attendance bonus program). Thus the company's management decided to form ve \"issues committees\" to involve the employees in trying to resolve these problems. A week later, the eight employees were informed of the proposal to create ve issues committees of six employees and two managers each. The employees were told by the company president that the committees would meet to try to nd solutions to problems and that if the company believed the solutions \"were within budget concerns and they generally felt would be acceptable to the employees, that we would implement these suggestions or proposals .\" It was agreed that the issues committee employees would not be chosen at random. After the meeting, management drafted the goals and responsibilities of the committees. On January 19, Tratelemonioc sent a memo to each employee announcing the formation of ve issues committees. Also, sign-up sheets were posted for each committee. The sign-up sheets contained the goals and responsibilities of each committee. The company determined the number of employees who were allowed to sign up for the committees and restricted several employees to serve on only one committee. From the sign-up sheets management was to select the members of the committee, although this proved unnecessary. Tratelemonioc's employee benets manager, Elaine Nixon, served as coordinator of the committees, was the discussion facilitator in the committee meetings, and was \"in charge of the issues committee program." The issues committees began weekly meetings in late January in a company conference room with the employees being paid for their time and with supplies being provided by the company. The employees were informed that they were expected to \"kind of talk back and forth\" with the other employees in the plant to get their ideas. On February 13 , the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen, and Helpers of America Local 1049 requested that Tratelemonioc recognize them as the authorized bargaining agent of the employees. There is no evidence that the company was aware of the Teamsters' organizing drive. Subsequently, Nixon informed each issues committee that management could no longer participate, but that the employees could keep meeting if they wanted. Three committees decided to keep meeting on company premises and on company time. The attendance bonus committee devised a proposed solution that was rejected by the company's controller because it was too expensive. Subsequently, the employees met again and drafted a second proposal. The company controller accepted this proposal, but it was never presented to the company president because of the union organizing drive. On March 15, the company president informed employees that because of the Teamsters' organizing drive, the company \"would be unable to participate in the committee meetings and could not continue to work with the committees until after the election ." A representation election was scheduled for March 31. Questions 1. Do the issues committees constitute a labor organization? 2. Assuming that the issues committees are a labor organization, do they violate the NLRA'? 3. IfTratelemonioc violated the NLRA, what is the appropriate remedy? 4. IfTratelemonioc violated the NLRA, does this ruling mean that labor law needs to be reformed to allow for employee participation plans