For more than five years, Left-wing union bosses have tried to ram union representation down the throats of America’s union-free workforce. They first tried, through their bought-and-paid-for stooges within the Democratic party, to enact the delusionally-dubbed Employee Free Choice Act. After that scheme failed, they opted for Plan B: Using Obama’s appointments of union extremists at the National Labor Relations Board to issue a slew of pro-union decisions and usher in changes that make it easier for unions to pick off job creators and their employees.
On Wednesday, the union attorneys at the NLRB adopted a final rule on their controversial proposal that paves the way for unions to conduct ambush elections on America’s union-free workplace. While the rule will not go into effect immediately (it takes effect April 30, 2012), the substance of the rule goes to the stripping of due process from the minority of employers who challenge the validity of a union’s petitioned-for voting unit.
As the result of removing an employer’s right to object to the petitioned-for unit through a regional NLRB hearing and request for review by the NLRB in Washington, not only does it enable the NLRB to conduct “quickie” elections (in as little as 17 days from petition filing), but it will also likely cause more employers to use the federal courts as a means of redress against a blatantly pro-union NLRB.
As union organizers are legally allowed to manipulate and mislead workers into unionizing, at the heart of the issue is the amount of time union organizers can spend attacking a company in stealth, picking out a small section of the workforce to unionize into “micro-units,” and leaving employers virtually no time to counter the misinformation. Currently, most union elections occur within 42 days of petition filing. Under the new rules, they may occur in as little as 17 days.
Even before the NLRB formally issued its final rule on Wednesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sued the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to challenge the rule.
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace’s Chairman Geoffrey Burr stated:
“Instead of putting fairness first, the NLRB bowed to special interests by abandoning longstanding rules governing union-representation elections for this new rigged system where employees have less information and employers have fewer legal rights and a diminished due process.” He continued, “Big Labor’s paid union organizers seeking more dues-paying members spend months making their pitch. Employees deserve to hear from employers too – employees deserve the full story.” Burr concluded, “Unfortunately, taking legal action was the only way to block the rogue agency’s unfair rule.”
With the NLRB’s Wednesday move, there will likely be a push by many employers to begin planning for the ambush elections. Unfortunately, for those that do not plan in advance—most typically, small employers—there will be many caught wholly unprepared for the attack.
As with the Boeing case and numerous other examples, Wednesday’s action by Obama’s union appointees at the NLRB is just another reminder of how tilted the playing field has become against America’s job creators.
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“Socialism has no place in the hearts of those who would secure the fight for freedom and preserve democracy.” Samuel Gompers, 1918
