Labor Board Backs Speedier Union Votes (Obama's gift to unions)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | December 21, 2011 | MELANIE TROTTMAN

[Second Amendment First]

The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday adopted a rule that will speed union-organizing elections in private-sector workplaces, ushering in some of the biggest procedural changes in decades and scoring a win for unions that say scheduling a vote often takes too long.

The board's two Democrats approved the rule through electronic voting, while the lone Republican symbolically rejected it by choosing not to vote. The rule takes effect April 30.

The approval drew immediate backlash from employers, which said it leaves them inadequate time to respond to unionization campaigns and limits their rights to legally challenge elections before employee voting occurs.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it filed a lawsuit Tuesday night to challenge what it called the "ambush election rule." The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims the rule deprives employers of a fair opportunity to explain to employees the costs of unionizing. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is also a plaintiff in the suit.

Labor officials welcomed but downplayed the new rule's potential impact and said more needs to be done to protect workers' rights. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the rule a "modest but important step" to help ensure workers get a fair chance to vote on forming a union.

Mr. Trumka said he hopes the board moves quickly to adopt the rest of the union-organizing election proposals it shelved until later. The original proposal in June included provisions board Democrats said would modernize the process, including a proposal to require employers to provide the union with email addresses of employees who would be eligible to vote.

[Second Amendment First]

Meanwhile, the NLRB website has not reported the results of union elections since March. I wonder why?

From their website:

Please note: The National Labor Relations Board is in the process of moving all regional offices to an agency-wide uniform case processing system, which will result in more efficient processing and ensure more consistent and up-to-date case information. During this transition period, the monthly election reports will not be available. All election reports for that period will be posted here as soon as the information is compiled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

https://www.nlrb.gov/election-reports

They changed the wording from "will be posted here by October".

[EagleUSA]

The Chief Thug taking care of his Thug voters.

[Truth29]

Why hasn't the Republican member resigned to deny the NLRB a quorum?

[ridesthemiles]

IF I were running a small business—I would carve back to only myself & possibly another family member & do what I could with only that staff. The rest can be laid off—permanently. I would call it bunker mentality.

[Grunthor]

I plan to start up a dairy within 24 months.

I hope to eventually get big enough to need to need employees.

If they voted to unionize, I would sell the cattle and close the dairy.

Every one of those employees will be made aware of this from day one.

[Carry_Okie]

You know, comrades," says Stalin, "that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how." - Boris Bazhanov, Memoirs of Stalin's Former Secretary, 1992.

[Second Amendment First]

Not only are you prohibited from doing that, but you must post this information that they have a right to form a union.

Employee Rights Notice Posting

As of January 31, 2012, most private sector employers are required to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The notice should be posted in a conspicuous place, where other notifications of workplace rights and employer rules and policies are posted. Employers also should publish a link to the notice on an internal or external website if other personnel policies or workplace notices are posted there.

For further information about the posting, including a detailed discussion of which employers are covered by the NLRA, and what to do if a substantial share of the workplace speaks a language other than English, please see our Frequently Asked Questions. To read a copy of the rule requiring the posting, please click here.

You may download and print the notice using the links below. You may also fill out this form or call 202-273-0064 and copies will be mailed free of charge.

Poster Downloads

PLEASE NOTE: The poster is required to be 11 x 17 inches, in color or in black-and-white. When printing to full size, be sure to set your printer output to 11 x 17. Or you may print the two 8.5 x 11 pages and tape them together.

English version

• Employee Rights Under the NLRA poster, two-page 8.5 x 11 version (pdf)
• Employee Rights Under the NLRA poster, 11 x 17 version (pdf)

Spanish version

• Spanish language poster - two-page, 8.5 x 11 version (pdf)
• Spanish language poster - 11 x 17 version (pdf)

Other languages

The NLRB is translating the poster into 26 other commonly used languages. As the translations are available they will be posted here.

[Second Amendment First]

Try this link:

https://www.nlrb.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1562/employee_rights_fnl.pdf

[Java4Jay]

Republicans and business groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers said the labor board’s plan creates “ambush elections.” The proposed rules, which face one more vote before they are final, are intended to reduce the average amount of time to hold unionization elections and campaigns to fewer than 21 days, down from the current median of 38. For example, that would require employers to postpone their legal challenges to elections until after the workers vote. Under current procedures, such challenges often are filed before votes are cast and can end up delaying the balloting for weeks or months. Ok fine, but the employers need time to respond to a union vote: The House voted 235-188 to try to overrule the labor board and require a 35-day waiting period before unionization elections could be held, with the clock starting from the time that employees petition the NLRB to hold an election.

[Avoiding_Sulla]

Given that names similarity to Rocky and Bullwinkle’s Badenov, how cannot not be anything published under that name now be intended to leaves you wondering if it’s for real?

Boris Badenov: “I think he is as dumb as a sack of hammers.”
where “He” is “Us.”

[Avoiding_Sulla]

Sorry:

Given that name’s similarity to Rocky and Bullwinkle’s Badenov, how can anything published under it not be intended to leaves you wondering if it’s for real?

[Grunthor]

So I could not choose to close up my own privately owned business. We no longer live in a free country.

[Second Amendment First]

You are free to close your company. You just can't tell employees you will do it if they unionize. It's a threat of retaliation and it's illegal.

Under the NLRA, you have the right to:

• Organize a union to negotiate with your employer concerning your wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.

• Form, join or assist a union.

• Bargain collectively through representatives of employees’ own choosing for a contract with your employer setting your wages, benefits, hours, and other working conditions.

• Discuss your wages and benefits and other terms and conditions of employment or union organizing with your co-workers or a union.

• Take action with one or more co-workers to improve your working conditions by, among other means, raising work-related complaints directly with your employer or with a government agency, and seeking help from a union.

• Strike and picket, depending on the purpose or means of the strike or the picketing.

• Choose not to do any of these activities, including joining or remaining a member of a union.

Illegal conduct will not be permitted. If you believe your rights or the rights of others have been violated, you should contact the NLRB promptly to protect your rights, generally within six months of the unlawful activity. You may inquire about possible violations without your employer or anyone else being informed of the inquiry. Charges may be filed by any person and need not be filed by the employee directly affected by the violation. The NLRB may order an employer to rehire a worker fired in violation of the law and to pay lost wages and benefits, and may order an employer or union to cease violating the law. Employees should seek assistance from the nearest regional NLRB office, which can be found on the Agency’s Web site: http://www.nlrb.gov. You can also contact the NLRB by calling toll-free: 1-866-667-NLRB (6572) or (TTY) 1-866-315-NLRB (1-866-315-6572) for hearing impaired.

If you do not speak or understand English well, you may obtain a translation of this notice from the NLRB’s Web site or by calling the toll-free numbers listed above.

Under the NLRA, it is illegal for your employer to: • Prohibit you from talking about or soliciting for a union during non-work time, such as before or after work or during break times; or from distributing union literature during non-work time, in non-work areas, such as parking lots or break rooms.

• Question you about your union support or activities in a manner that discourages you from engaging in that activity.

• Fire, demote, or transfer you, or reduce your hours or change your shift, or otherwise take adverse action against you, or threaten to take any of these actions, because you join or support a union, or because you engage in concerted activity for mutual aid and protection, or because you choose not to engage in any such activity.

• Threaten to close your workplace if workers choose a union to represent them.

• Promise or grant promotions, pay raises, or other benefits to discourage or encourage union support.

• Prohibit you from wearing union hats, buttons, t-shirts, and pins in the workplace except under special circumstances.

• Spy on or videotape peaceful union activities and gatherings or pretend to do so.

Under the NLRA, it is illegal for a union or for the union that represents you in bargaining with your employer to:

• Threaten or coerce you in order to gain your support for the union.

• Refuse to process a grievance because you have criticized union officials or because you are not a member of the union.

• Use or maintain discriminatory standards or procedures in making job referrals from a hiring hall.

• Cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against you because of your union-related activity.

• Take adverse action against you because you have not joined or do not support the union.

If you and your co-workers select a union to act as your collective bargaining representative, your employer and the union are required to bargain in good faith in a genuine effort to reach a written, binding agreement setting your terms and conditions of employment. The union is required to fairly represent you in bargaining and enforcing the agreement.

[Grunthor]

“You are free to close your company. You just can’t tell employees you will do it if they unionize.”

Cool. I don’t even HAVE to warn them!

[GeronL]

With child care providers and those who take care of older parents in Michigan they are basically forced to join and fund a government formed union.

Small businesses will probably get treated the same way sooner or later.