Snap elections may also men quickly being harassed by unions. The Workforce Fairness Institute wants to stop both, so it sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board today.
The Honorable Mark Pearce
Chairman
National Labor Relations Board
1099 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Pearce,
The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) is an organization devoted to educating workers, their employers and Americans in general on important issues affecting the workplace. We write to address the proposed changes to the National Labor Relations Board’s Excelsior Rule.
In June 2011, the Board proposed significant changes in its election laws, processes and procedures including changes to the Excelsior Rule. That rule requires an employer to provide an NLRB Regional Office within seven days of an election being scheduled and at least 10 days prior to an election being held the names and addresses of unit employees. The proposed rule would have required employers in as few as two days to provide, in addition to the names and home addresses of unit employees, their personal e-mail addresses and telephone numbers. These proposed changes were not adopted by the Board in the final rule it promulgated last December.
Several weeks later, however, The Associated Press quoted you as saying that the Board must "keep [its] eye on the prize." According to the AP, you contemplate putting "another round of regulations in place by the end of the year that would make it easier for unions to establish and win representation elections in workplaces" including, requiring employers to "hand over lists of employee phone numbers and emails to union leaders before an election."
Not surprisingly, your comments re-ignited significant public comment and concern over the issue. Many, as WFI, believe such changes in the rule would interfere with a worker’s legitimate expectation of privacy and his/her ability to keep personal contact information from being disclosed to third parties without their consent. In addition, the original proposed changes to the rule would further shorten the time period between a petition and election. It would impact the kind of “robust debate” contemplated by the National Labor Relations Act.
In light of your announced plans, WFI respectfully requests that all the comments received by the Board on its original proposal to amend theExcelsior Rule, both pro and con, be made immediately available on the NLRB's web site. This will enable the public to be fully informed and further comment on any changes in the rule before they are made.
While we do not know the parameters of the changes being considered, we add a comment of our own. As you know, legislation was recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives that addresses this very matter. The Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094) includes a provision that affords businesses at least a week to provide labor organizers with a list of employees who are qualified voters and it leaves it up to employees to decide for themselves whether and to what extent their personal contact information should be provided to unions or their representatives. We fully support this provision of the legislation. We believe workers should be able to decide for themselves what – if any – contact information is provided a labor organization prior to a Board election.
No poll needs be taken to support the conclusion that the vast majority of Americans are opposed to the release of their personal contact information to third parties without their consent. Already, tens of millions of Americans have acted to prevent their home telephone numbers from being used by tele-marketers. And one can easily hang-up on an unwanted call from a telemarketer. On the other hand, when a worker’s private time is infringed upon by an unwanted phone call or e-mail from a union organizer, the worker will feel constrained from exercising his/her right to hang-up understandably fearing labor bosses could use their action against them should a collective bargaining unit be formed.
Also, union elections are often contentious. Workers want the right to have their private space respected and leave the debate over unionization to the workplace. The last thing most workers want is workplace controversy following them home and literally landing on their doorstep.
While the Board may, unless restrained by Congress, be able to order the release of workers' personal contact information to members of organized labor, it has no ability to protect that data's use by a union after the election or its further dissemination to other third parties. This alone warrants that a worker’s personal contact information not be disclosed without his/her express consent.
In conclusion, WFI requests that the National Labor Relations Board: 1) make available on its web site all public comments it received, pro and con, that addressed the Board's proposed changes to the Excelsior Rule; and 2) if the Excelsior Rule is amended to address the release of a worker's contact information, that serious consideration be given to express written consent on the part of the employee.
We appreciate your consideration to the views expressed herein, as well as the public release of the comments the Board received on the changes originally proposed to the Excelsior Rule.
Sincerely,
Fred Wszolek
Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI)
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