So it is the day after Labor Day and what are the Republicans doing as they return to Washington? Why trying to prevent the National Labor Relations Board from creating a new rule that would make it easier and faster to hold a vote on forming a union, of course.
The Hill is reporting this morning that Republican lawmakers want to block a newly proposed rule which would take away a few of the barriers that are currently used by business to slow and stymie the process of even getting to a vote on the formation of a union.
The issue here is not whether a group of workers can form a union but how they go about getting to the vote to see if they have enough support for such a move or not. The new rules would allow for the electronic filing of petitions, would force management at the company in question to provide a list of all the workers who will be voting, including their home phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and would move the appeals process from pre-vote to post-vote.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am the grandson and nephew of Union members, I grew up in Michigan in a UAW extended family and am the son of a Labor Law attorney, so I am going to be pro-labor. All that said I am having a hard time finding what is so objectionable about these changes.
One supposes that it is because preventing months or years of delay by companies as they produce more and more black propaganda and pressure against the idea of collective bargaining will make it more likely that workers will see the benefits of banding together. But that is not how it is being framed by the Chamber of Commerce and Republicans.
The often clueless House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, has sent around a memo including this change as part of ‘the 10 most harmful regulations proposed by the Obama administration’.
An unnamed aide in the Hill story had this to say about pending legislation aimed at preventing the NLRB from making the kind of rules it deems necessary:
The hope is to move forward in the coming weeks with a proposal that will rein in the NLRB, and protect employers’ right to free speech and workers’ ability to make a fully-informed decision in a union election,"
Note that it is the employer’s rights that are mentioned first, not the employees. This is par for the course when we are talking about the Republican approach to labor. The employer is supposed to have all the rights and the employee has the right to be bombarded with threats to their jobs (in the form of one on one meetings with management telling them that they will shut the store or division down if they organize) and long drawn out proceedings that make they think nothing will ever change so why bother.
The larger point here is that these rules do not actually encourage or discourage the formation of a union by workers. It is just making it so they actually can express their opinion in a timely manner. As Sen. Tom Harkin (D – Iowa) said back in early August of this proposed rule:
The [NLRB’s] modernized election rules take an important step forward in making this right a reality. By giving workers the right to a fair, up-or-down vote, the rules don’t encourage unionization or discourage it —workers get to make the decision that is best for them. But preserving this right brings some balance to the system, so that the deck isn’t always stacked against ordinary working people and in favor of the wealthy and the powerful.
And really that is what this is all about, the idea of power being balanced by law, the basic tenet of the entire American system. Which is why Republicans can’t allow it to happen. They are proposing legislation that would curtail the ability of the NLRB to make these kind of rules under the guise of ‘common sense’.
This legislation is going nowhere, of course. It will get out of the House on a party line vote but it is unlikely to clear the Senate or gain the President’s signature. Sadly that is not the only way that Republicans can block these new rules.
You see, a seat on the NLRB is one that requires a vote by the Senate. To make matters worse there are two vacant spots on the board and a Supreme Court ruling that says there have to be at least three members for their decisions to have the force of law.
There are two Senate confirmed members Mark Pearce and Brian Hayes, and a recess appointed member Craig Becker. Mr. Becker’s recess appointment expires at the end of this year and he is very unlikely to receive a Senate confirmation vote. This will leave the board with only two members and thus render it unable to issue any rulings or new rules.
All the Republicans have to do is keep throwing a spanner into the works of government by refusing to hold confirmation votes through the filibuster process and holding pro-forma sessions every three days whenever Congress is out of town and the NLRB will effectively cease to exist as a rule making body.
Which is just fine as far as they are concerned. It is beyond tragic that we have come to this place at this time. The sacrifice made by early union members, up to and including the their lives, is being slowly but surely swept away by the breaking of our very government. If the Republicans want to end the NLRB they should come out and say so, and try to get it legislated through the normal processes in Congress. This back door ruining of the process is low and despicable, even for them.
Hopefully the new election rules can be finalized before the end of Mr. Becker’s appointment. The normal time line suggests that they will be issued in late December, depending on the public comment and the Boards final decision.
There is something you can do, gentle reader, and that is get over this website (it is where all comments for proposed regulations can be filed) and voice your support for the idea that any worker should be able to at the very least vote on whether or not to form a union in a timely fashion.
Don’t just let this go by! One of the reasons that Organized Labor has languished so much is that far too many of us don’t actively support it. If you like your weekend, if you like paid time off or employer provided health care, then you should support Labor, after all they are the ones that made these things the normal part of working life we take for granted.
Don’t let the big money interests have all the say, be heard and be heard soon! Today is the last day that you make a comment, so take two minutes out to support the rights of working folks, after all the chances are good that you are one of the working class if you are reading this.
The floor is yours.