NLRB APPROVES UNION ELECTION RULE; GOP FOAMING AT THE MOUTH

Washington, D.C.-- The National Labor Relations Board voted Wednesday to move forward with a new labor rule that Republicans and business groups charge would restrict the ability of employers to bring concerns about union elections to the regulatory agency. Score one for the good guys.

A 2-1 vote was along party lines, with the two Democratic members backing it and the lone Republican voting no. The rule will now be drafted into final language for a subsequent NLRB vote before it goes into effect.

Democrats says the new rule will eliminate delays between when employees file for a vote on whether to start a union and the day the ballots are cast.

“Today an election can be held up by pre-election appeals to the Board, which in the end are rarely granted and even more rarely result in a changed outcome. An election can also be delayed by raising irrelevant issues in pre-election hearings, which are intended to be quick and non-adversarial,” the Democratic chairman of the NLRB board, Mark Gaston Pearce, said in a statement before the meeting.

Much of the tension on the politically divided NLRB is the result of the fact that the board is not fully constituted. Though the NLRB should be made up of five members, it currently only has three - 2 Democrats, board chairman Pearce and member Craig Becker, as well as 1 Republican, member Brian Hayes.

GOP member talked of "walking out"

The board requires three members to form quorum and issue new rules on labor regulations. The GOP has been playing the devilish role of the obstructionist since, well-- forever.

Until the meeting occurred, it remained an open question whether Hayes would even attend Wednesday’s session. If Hayes had chosen not to show up or had resigned, he might have denied the NLRB the quorum to make new rules on labor relations.

Hayes said he decided against quitting, explaining during the board meeting that he felt his resignation would not only deprive the board of the views he represents, but also tar the image of the agency.

“It is not my nature to be obstructionist,” he said at the meeting. “I believe resignation would cause the very same harm and collateral damage to the reputation of this agency.”

Craig Becker
photo provided

The Obama administration has had problems confirming new members to the NLRB board. In fact, Becker was a NLRB nominee whose Senate confirmation failed in early 2010, leading the Obama administration to recess appoint him in March 2010.

Becker’s appointment will expire when the Senate adjourns for recess sometime at the end of this year, meaning that the NLRB would no longer have the minimum three members needed to make rules regarding labor relations.

Because of this impending deadline, the NLRB, ahead of Wednesday’s vote, stripped its proposed rule on union elections of the more controversial aspects that had previously been proposed. For example, providing employee email addresses and phone numbers in the voter list and the facilitation of online petition-filing had been in the original proposed rule but has since been removed for future consideration.

In predictable partisan fashion, yesterday the U.S. Chamber of Commerce criticized the NLRB’s move, arguing that the proposed rule would lead to “ambush elections” that don’t allow employers adequate time to discuss unionization with their employees.

Meanwhile, the anti-labor House passed by a 235-188 vote a bill that would roll back the NLRB rule. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), was drafted in response to the NLRB’s more sweeping earlier proposal and was the second whack at the labor board this fall by the GOP-led House, which in September approved a bill that would ban the NLRB from forcing companies to close or relocate jobs.