Free Republic

Employees with access to their employer’s email system have the right to use it for union organizing and other communications about wages and working conditions, but only during “nonworking time,” the National Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday. The ruling overturns a 2007 board decision stating employees don’t have a statutory right to use their employer’s email system for such purposes. Since then, the board’s makeup has changed and the board’s three Democrats agreed to overturn the earlier decision. The two Republican members dissented. The ruling, part of a rush of decisions the board is expected to make by Dec. 16,...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has become a lightning rod for controversy under President Obama, with its aggressive actions fueling sustained warfare between business and labor. From the labor board’s bitter fight with Boeing, to the creation of new union election rules, the NLRB has repeatedly moved to the forefront of political debate, drawing in Congress, the White House and even the Supreme Court. The NLRB’s latest bombshell was dropped on Thursday, when the board determined the waste management agency Browning-Ferris should be considered a “joint employer” of temporary workers. The decision expands the definition of what it means...

Why should a union representing workers who are not employees of McDonald’s be empowered to squeeze concessions out of McDonald’s? Why did Willie Sutton rob banks? In a party-line decision, the Democrat-dominated National Labor Relations Board has decided that employees of contractors can be treated as employees of other companies when . . . well, when it is convenient for Democratic constituencies that they be so treated. The underlying case involved an operator of recycling centers, Browning-Ferris Industries of California, which uses subcontractors to staff some of its facilities. Firms have many reasons for using subcontracted labor, one of which...

You can rightly complain about the things which go on inside the White House, the State Department, the Justice Department or the EPA and all of the headline grabbing controversies which erupt from them. None of them, however, may be up to nearly as much mischief as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) though it doesn’t seem to catch the attention of the media nearly as much. This week they were at it again and while a bit on the wonky side, a new wrinkle in the rules could spell big trouble for America’s employers and many, many workers....

Last year there was a burst of excitement in some quarters over the prospect of college football players forming a union. Leftists nearly always think that unions are good because they supposedly promote social justice and when an apparent majority of the players on Northwestern’s team said they wanted to form a union, that gladdened many a collectivist heart. Then, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago gave the players the green light. Joy! But on August 17, however, the full National Labor Relations Board unanimously declined jurisdiction, which means that it won’t pursue the case...

The National Labor Relations Board on Monday blocked a historic bid by Northwestern University football players to form the nation’s first college athletes’ union, dealing a blow to a labor movement that could have transformed amateur sports. In a unanimous decision, the board said the prospect of having both union and nonunion teams could lead to different standards at different schools—from the amount of money players receive to the amount of time they can practice—and create competitive imbalances on the field. The ruling dismissed a stunning decision in March 2014 by a regional NLRB director in Chicago who said football...

Congressional Republicans are using the power of the purse to do battle against a series of controversial labor regulations from the Obama administration. They say the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) gave a gift to labor unions by issuing what they call an “ambush election” rule that speeds up the process for organizing in the workplace. Republican lawmakers are also incensed by a joint-employer policy that holds companies responsible for the labor violations of their business partners, and by a “micro-union” policy that paves the way for multiple labor unions to organize in a single workplace. Now tasked with crafting...

What if you won an election butt the incumbent refused to leave?I know, silly isn’t it? However that’s exactly what happened in Alabama. Employees of an Alabama plant will be voting for the fifth time on whether it will oust the United Auto Workers union. The union has lost three of the four previous votes at NTN-Bower Corporation, but has filed appeals with the National Labor Relations Board alleging management interference.The one vote won by the union was nullified for voting irregularities. In that January vote, only 139 of the plant's 140 workers voted, but a total of 148 ballots...

House Speaker John A. Boehner criticized Obama's decision. "The NLRB's ambush election rule is an assault on the rights and privacy protections of American workers," Boehner said. "With his veto, the president has once again put the interests of his political allies ahead of the small-business owners and hardworking Americans who create jobs and build a stronger economy." The rule was a victory for unions, which have long complained that the process is too long. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, using language similar to Obama, has said that the board's "modest but important reforms" will help reduce delays and make it...

The federal government has said in a major, closely watched lawsuit that McDonald's Corp. violated workers' union rights at its individual franchise restaurants. What officials haven't said is exactly how the corporation did this since it didn't actually employ the workers, the franchise owners did. To win the case, the government will have to prove that McDonald's is a "joint employer" of the workers with the franchises — a concept that runs counter to very understanding of what a franchise is: a legally separate entity that merely rents out the parent corporation's trademarks. The actual charging documents by National Labor...

President Obama's National Labor Relations Board will consider a case this week with important implications for the future of the franchise industry. Last year, NLRB's lead attorney found that McDonald's corporation should be treated as a "joint employer," meaning that it be responsible for the business and labor practices at each and every one of its franchise operations. This week, an administrative law judge will determine the viability of that finding. If he confirms it, McDonald's could face numerous suits and actions from the NLRB....

Richard Griffin was appointed to the National Labor Relations Board via a recess appointment and still serves despite a court ruling that his appointment was illegal. House Republicans on Thursday struck down a labor board rule which critics say unfairly benefit unions.The National Labor Relations Board rule, which was finalized in December, shortens the length of time in which a labor union certification election is held from the current median of 38 days to as little as 11 days.Calling it the “ambush election” rule, critics argue it will deprive employees time to fully understand the impact of unionizing before they...

The federal government is stepping into the void of decades of inattentiveness to religious identity at several Catholic colleges. The chapel at St. Mary's College of California in Moraga is seen in a 2009 photo. (CNS photo/courtesy St. Mary's College of California) While many Catholics have been concerned for decades about professors at Catholic colleges denying core Church teachings on theological issues, as well as about disputes over women’s ordination, same-sex marriage, and abortion on Catholic campuses, few Catholic college leaders have been willing to enforce the requirements of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which mandates that Catholic college faculty teach in...

Congressional Republicans launched a drive Monday to repeal a recent National Labor Relations Board rule updating procedures for union representation elections, setting up a likely veto showdown with President Barack Obama. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the GOP will employ a little-used law that permits the Senate to reject some federal agency regulations by majority vote and denies opponents the ability to thwart action through a filibuster. Alexander said that by shortening the time between a union’s request for representation and the actual balloting, the NLRB had cleared the way for a new type of “ambush election” to take place...

Anti-union forces claim UAW ‘stuffed’ ballot box. Workers in Alabama are staging a fourth attempt to kick the United Auto Workers (UAW) out of their plant following claims that stuffed ballot boxes derailed their last vote. Employees at the NTN-Bower Corporation, a ball bearings manufacturer, have unsuccessfully tried to boot the labor giant out of their factory for two years. Workers voted to decertify the UAW in an earlier election, but an Obama-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) panel threw out the election. Another election was held in January of this year. The UAW prevailed, but it was later revealed...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is facing a second lawsuit from business groups upset about a controversial rule they contend will unfairly speed up union elections. The business groups are challenging what they refer to as the NLRB's "ambush election" rule. The Texas chapters of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in federal court seeking to overturn the rule. "We are proud to join the legal fight against the ambush rule, which is designed to deprive employers, particularly small businesses who typically do not employ legal counsel,...

The National Labor Relations Board is expected in the coming weeks to weigh in on several high-profile labor cases with major implications on workforce and union issues, ranging from college football players to fast food restaurants. Business are bracing for a flurry of action from a labor board they’ve accused of taking on an activist, pro-union agenda. "We’ve seen the board become very active and aggressive under the Obama administration,” said Beth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). One of the most closely watched cases on the labor board’s agenda involves a bid by...

In The Trial, written a century ago in 1914, Franz Kafka paints a portrait of an unimaginably oppressive government with secret laws and trials in which the individual is crushed. Today, in 2014, Kafka would not have to invent these circumstances. He could find them in real life, at the National Labor Relations Board. It’s up to the 114th Congress to keep the NLRB in check.On Friday, just before the holidays, NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin announced that he had issued complaints against McDonald’s franchised restaurants and McDonald’s USA, the parent corporation, as joint employers.  Workers complained that they...

McDonald’s and its franchisees illegally retaliated against employees for participating in union-related activities, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer alleged Friday in a case with sweeping industry implications. NLRB general counsel Richard Griffin announced Friday he will issue 13 complaints involving 78 charges against franchises and McDonald’s USA, LLC. Though many of these alleged labor violations were committed by independent franchise owners, Griffin ruled earlier this year that McDonald’s can be held liable for those actions as a so-called joint employer, leaving the corporatrion — and potentially other franchisors — exposed to such claims. McDonald’s said the decision will...

The National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule on Friday aimed at modernizing and streamlining the union election process. The new rule will shorten the time between when an election is ordered and the election is held, eliminating a previous 25-day waiting period. And it seeks to reduce litigation that can be used to stall elections. It will also require employers to furnish union organizers with email addresses and phone numbers of workers. […] AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the NLRB’s “modest but important reforms” will help reduce delays and make it easier for workers to vote on forming...