Activist NLRB To Hear Case On Special(ty) Interests
CDW Warns of Specialty Healthcare Case Threat To Small Business, Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. // MARCH 8, 2011 // Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) submitted a brief on what may be the most significant and troubling case before the National Labor Relations Board - Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile and United Steelworkers, District 9, 356 NLRB No. 56 (2010).
At issue in Specialty Healthcare is whether Big Labor may organize by cherry picking groups of workers that support the union without providing many co-workers who may oppose the union an opportunity to vote. Such a ruling would reverse over 50 years of standards for bargaining units.
As a result of the decision, businesses could be forced to bargain with multiple unions for similarly situated employees, with each group of employees having separate wage schedules, benefit packages and work rules. Businesses, workers, consumers and the economy would suffer, as the negative impact on business productivity and competitiveness would be significant.
“What we are seeing is another blatant, politically motivated effort by the NLRB to subvert employee wishes and the framework of the law in favor of forced unionization no matter what the cost,” said Geoffrey Burr, Chairman of CDW. “The fractured bargaining scenarios that would result out of this will be nightmares for everyone involved.”
About the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, www.MyPrivateBallot.com
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is a coalition of workers, employers, associations and organizations who are fighting to protect the right to a federally supervised private ballot when workers are deciding whether or not to join a union.
Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Reps. John Kline (R-MN), Phil Roe (R-TN), and Phil Gingrey (R-GA) commending them on the introduction legislation to demonstrate Congress’s disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board’s unfair ambush election rule.
In addition to laying out three “fatal flaws” with the Board’s rule, CDW relies on the position of former Senator and President John F. Kennedy, who emphasized that employees need at least 30 days to decide how to vote in NLRB elections.
Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), which represents over 600 employers, associations and other organizations operating in every Congressional District, thanked the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and Chairman Darrell Issa for holding a hearing on four unlawful appointments by the Obama administration.
In response to Mr. Obama’s continuing assault on workers’ rights, on Thursday, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline, Minnesota Republican, and I [Rep. Phil Gingrey] introduced a joint resolution of disapproval pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) on the NLRB’s ambush election rule. Sen. Michael B. Enzi, Wyoming Republican, introduced the Senate companion.
The partisan clash over President Barack Obama’s NLRB recess appointments was on full display at a House hearing Tuesday: Democrats called the meeting a waste of time and Republicans called it instructive.
GOP lawmakers are still steaming over the White House decision to ignore brief pro forma Senate sessions to single-handedly name three members to the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Senate Republicans are weighing a plan to block most of President Barack Obama’s federal appeals court nominations starting in June or earlier in response to the recess appointments he made this month.
