Marathon Pundit: Ex-NLRB chief: Congress reasserts role in labor law

Friday, October 28, 2011

Ex-NLRB chief: Congress reasserts role in labor law

Peter Schaumber, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, applauds the reasserting of the role of Congress in regards to labor law.

From The Hill:

President Obama's recess appointment of Craig Becker after his nomination was filibustered by the Senate for views considered outside the mainstream set the stage for a radical activist results-oriented National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB). Driven by an intense desire to turn back the clock on the decline of unionization in the private sector, the Obama Board has reached out and upended settled Board law and procedure.

For example, the Board stripped workers of their right to challenge their employer's voluntary recognition of a union by card check, given a green light to unions to engage in prohibited secondary boycott activity, and authorized tiny bargaining units (micro-units) of employees that threaten to balkanize the workplace. The board also proposed a rule to drastically shorten the time for board elections, which will effectively deprive employer’s of a meaningful opportunity to express their views on unionization to their employees, and deprive their employees of the opportunity to hear those views and make an informed choice.

As a result, earlier this year, the Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. John Kline, was forced to respond and reassert through legislation the meaning and intent of the National Labor Relations Act (Act or NLRA). The Chairman introduced H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, that prevents the Board from implementing its proposed "quickie election" rule and reverses the Board decision authorizing the creation of micro-units.

Without making a case for it, the Board’s proposed “quickie election” rule would shorten the time for a board election from a median time of 38 days to as little as 10 days. It accomplishes this result by radically manipulating the Board's election process so as to tilt the process in favor of organized labor. The proposal moves from before to after the NLRB’s election resolution of virtually all pre-election issues even though those issues may determine whether or not an election should have taken place.