The folks at the National Labor Relations Board aren’t slowing down for the holidays. With the term of one of its most reliable pro-union votes set to expire today, the NLRB is cramming through a few more anti-employer regulations in these waning hours.
On a 3-2 vote, the NLRB last week voted to what it calls “modernize” the process of staging elections for union representation. To employers, the dramatically accelerated election process is nothing more than an ambush on a business’ interaction with its employees, something I’ve written about before here and here.
Under the new rules, a labor union could plan its organizing strategy for months and then spring an election on an employer in as few as 10 days. Before the new rule, labor elections were usually staged over a month or so.
Once the company gets notice of the election, it’s required to hold a pre-election hearing to lay out all of its arguments against union organization within eight days. As the Wall Street Journal rightly points out, expect unions to file their petitions for an organizing election on Fridays to make businesses scramble over the weekend.
Unions are giddy with excitement. The president of the SEIU cheered the NLRB’s ruling. “(This) means corporate bosses will have fewer opportunities to cheat you out of your right to join together,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said.
And so it goes at the NLRB, which has morphed into an activist arm of organized labor and continues to put forth anti-employer proposals with regularity. Were it up to the NLRB, card check would be a reality and employers would be posting pro-labor posters in their break rooms. Add this to the board’s recent ruling that employees are free to use their work e-mail for union activity, and its plan to completely upend the franchise model by directly linking corporate parents to individual franchisees, thus making them easier targets for organizing and legal actions, and you’ve got an NLRB that has placed employers firmly under its thumb.
A new Congress with a new majority party takes control next month. It’s time for an adult to cut junior off from the federal spigot and rein in this rogue agency.
Glenn Hamer is the president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry is committed to advancing Arizona’s competitive position in the global economy by advocating free-market policies that stimulate economic growth and prosperity for all Arizonans. http://www.azchamber.com/.
