NLRB: Faster review of firings over union drives
By SAM HANANEL | Associated Press
September 30, 2010
The federal agency that oversees union elections plans to speed up its review of cases where employees are fired during union organizing drives.
The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday it would act more swiftly in seeking federal injunctions to get workers reinstated when officials believe a firing was illegal.
It is against the law to fire workers because they want to form a union. But some fired employees can wait months or years to get their cases resolved.
“Firing an employee in the middle of a union organizing campaign can quickly destroy the campaign by creating a climate of fear in the workplace,” said Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel.
The move won praise from labor leaders, though they would prefer to see Congress pass legislation that imposes stiffer penalties against companies that intimidate or fire pro-union employees.
“Until we can fix our broken system, the least we can do is provide swift justice to workers illegally fired,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler.
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