Tag Archives: NLRB

Workers Need A Functioning NLRB

  By New Hampshire Labor News | May 21, 2013 - 8:10 am | , , , ,
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NH AFL-CIO Logo

By Mark MacKenzie (Pres. of NH AFLCIO)  and Richard Trumka (Pres. of AFL-CIO)
Also published in the Nashua Telegraph

Most people in New Hampshire don’t even know what the National Labor Relations Board is. Well, why should they? Here’s why.

For decades, American labor law helped working people come together to have a voice on the job which in turn gave them a say in our economy and in our politics and public life.  This freedom to organize, which is enshrined in the National Labor Relations Act (and, by the way in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights) helped produce the greatest period of sustained and broad prosperity in our country’s history.

Everyone did better.

Broadly shared prosperity is needed once again. In order to rebuild our economy and level the playing field for all working people – union and non-union – the law protecting workers’ rights must be enforced. That’s the role of the National Labor Relations Board – and it needs to work.

That doesn’t mean protecting the rights of working people as opposed to the rights of employers. It means ensuring the NLRB’s ability to promote commerce by governing the relationship between workers and employers.

The less the board works, the more America’s economy falls out of whack, as we see it today with record inequality and a shrinking middle class.

But currently the NLRB is under unprecedented attack by extremist Congressional Republicans and corporate lobbyists who want to weaken the board’s power to protect workers who choose to organize and form unions on the job.

While this issue may not grace the front page of every newspaper the effects are and will continue to be felt at home here in New Hampshire and across the nation.

In the face of partisan obstruction threats in Washington, President Obama made three Board recess appointments. But an unprecedented and radical decision by conservative U.S. District Court judges has put these appointments in jeopardy.

To make matters worse, House Republicans are pushing legislation to further cripple the Board. Their so-called “Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations” Act (H.R. 1120), despite its name, would create more uncertainty and deprive workers of enforceable rights.

These attacks are causing real consequences in real people’s lives.

Marcus Hedger is just one of the many workers who has been denied justice because of the attack on the NLRB.  Marcus was the Chief Steward for the union at Fort Dearborn Co. After the union rejected a company proposal Marcus was fired and told the company was tired of the “union circus”.  The NLRB rules that the firing was illegal and ordered the company to rehire Marcus, but the company has refused because of the Noel Canning decision. Marcus recently lost his home to foreclosure because of the financial distress he faced after being unlawfully fired.

Marcus is hardly alone. Four years ago, Visions of Elk River a Minnesota school busing company illegally fired two drivers and three aides, who accompany special needs children, for trying to form a union. The firings were motivated by employees’ known involvement in past union activity.

Without a functioning NLRB, these people were fired, not for doing something wrong, but for doing something that’s protected by law, by openly talking about forming a union or bargaining for a better life. And yet their lives have been thrown into turmoil, and they have no effective recourse.

Justice delayed is justice denied, and justice to working people is being seriously denied because of the instability being forced upon the NLRB.

President Obama has taken an important step towards restoring stability to our system of labor-management relations by nominating a full, bi-partisan package of nominees to the NLRB.

New Hampshire’s working people can’t wait in limbo any longer.

Responsibility for providing needed stability and the functioning NLRB working people need and deserve is now up to the U.S. Senate. The Senate should act quickly and confirm the President’s full slate of nominees.

 

Richard Trumka is president of the 12 million member AFL-CIO. Mark MacKenzie is president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO.

Can You Feel It? Workers Standing Together In Strikes Across The Country

  By Liz Iacobucci | May 13, 2013 - 3:23 pm | , , , ,
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union_strike_by_blperk_viaFlikr

Fair Contract NowSomething’s happening out there.

  • Here in New England, the Brotherhood of Utility Workers reached a tentative agreement with National Grid just three hours before a strike was scheduled to start.  Members will vote on a tentative agreement next week.
  • More than 2,000 registered nurses at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center will hold a one-day strike later this month.
  • After a week-long strike in Iowa, Carpenters Union Local 308 just reached a new agreement with their local contractors.
  • Last month, fast-food workers in Chicago and New York walked off their jobs for a day.

So yes, down in Washington DC, Congress may be trying to emasculate the National Labor Relations Board.

And yes, in state capitals across America, corporate lobbyists may be pushing their so-called “Right to Work” laws.

And the political elite may think they’re winning this battle.

But out there, all across America, people are getting tired of watching corporate profits soar. Tired of waiting for the economic recovery to “trickle down”.  Tired of shrinking incomes and stagnant futures.  Tired – and scared – of rising workloads and lowered worksite safety standards.

All across America, something’s happening.  Workers are willing to go out on strike.  We’re willing to stay out on strike.  We’re even willing to go out on “sympathy strikes”.

Something’s happening, all around this great country of ours.

Something that’s bigger than the political elites.

Can you feel it?

D.C. Circuit Court Of Appeals Puts Employers Speech Above Workers Rights

  By Matt Murray | May 10, 2013 - 2:14 pm | , ,
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NLRA Poster

NLRB Employee Rights Poster

How many times have you seen this poster? This is the ‘Employee Rights’ poster that was mandated by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to be prominently displayed in over 6 million worksites.   That was until a Circuit Court of Appeals Judge decided the ‘freedom of speech’ of the employer is more important than rights of workers.

The poster was created to inform the workers of their right to organize, and collectively bargain.  A right that is guaranteed to millions of workers, however they do not know it.   This poster was specifically designed to inform workers of all of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Employers have balked at this mandate since it was instituted because they do not want workers to know they have the right to collectively bargain with them.  While some think that unions are bad, polling shows overwhelming support for collective bargaining.  Employers do not want employees to organize and form unions because it is well known that union workers make more money than non-union workers.  When employees make more money, business owners see a reduction in profits.

The other part of this poster that is extremely important is the fact that it is illegal for an employer to question you or take adverse actions against you for union activities.  Companies violate this part of the NLRA over and over because many of the workers do not know their rights.    I remember when I was 19, I got a summer job with the evil empire (Wal-Mart, before I knew how evil they were).  In their basic orientation they forced me to watch a video that basically told me that unions were terrible, money grubbing, organizations that force you to pay due and then do nothing for you.  You know, the complete opposite of what unions are all about.  At the time, I was also taking a college class on Labor/Management relations.  I asked, actually begged, for them to let me borrow the video to use for my class project.  They immediately shut me down, and would never let me view the movie again.  I think they knew they were skirting the NLRA anti-union regulations with their video and did not want anyone outside of Wal-Mart to see it.

The video I remember was very similar to the one that Gawker obtained from the Target.   I am serious, check it out.  See if you think it follows the law.

Once again the corporations right to free speech beats out the workers rights to organize.    Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO responded to this ruling in a written statement.

“In today’s workplace, employers are required to display posters explaining wage and hour rights, health and safety and discrimination laws, even emergency escape routes. The D.C. Circuit ruling suggests that courts should strike down hundreds of notice requirements, not only those that inform workers about their rights and warn them of hazards, but also those on cigarette packages, in home mortgages and many other areas. The Court’s twisted logic finds that “freedom of speech” precludes the government from requiring employers to provide certain information to employees. This is absurd: when workers know their rights, the laws work as intended.“

Here, here President Trumka, you nailed it.  The goal of these posters, to inform the workers of their rights.  The fact that they cannot be disciplined, fired, admonished, or any other adverse actions by their employer for activities in forming/joining a union.   This is just another absurd ruling in favor of ‘corporate people’  over the actual people who work for these corporations.   The good news is that President Obama plans to take this case to the Supreme Court if he needs to.

AFL-CIO President Trumka Comments On NLRB Nominations

  By New Hampshire Labor News | April 9, 2013 - 7:30 pm | , ,
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Richard_Trumka

President Obama, with the nominations announced today, has taken an important step toward restoring stability to our system of labor-management relations, which has been in disarray since the DC Circuit’s decision in the Noel Canning case.   For America’s workers, businesses and the promotion of healthy commerce, putting forward a full, bi-partisan package of nominees to the NLRB is the right thing to do.

The package includes individuals who have challenged recent actions by the NLRB and who have views on labor relations matters that we do not agree with. But working people need and deserve a functioning NLRB, and confirmation of a full package will provide that stability. The labor movement understands that when the NLRB is not at full strength and cannot enforce its orders, America’s economy falls out of balance, as it is today with record inequality and a shrinking middle class. We urge members of the Senate to act quickly and confirm the President’s full slate of nominees.

CWA Praises President Obama For Nomination To NLRB and Call For Quick Senate Confirmation

  By New Hampshire Labor News | April 9, 2013 - 5:40 pm | ,
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Washington, D.C. — The Communications Workers of America commends President Obama for putting forward three additional nominations to the National Labor Relations Board. These nominations, together with two previously announced, would restore the NLRB to full status and will ensure that a functioning NLRB can enforce workers’ rights on the job.

The NLRB protects workers in the American workplace.  It’s where workers turn when they are fired and their free speech is threatened.

“It’s important that the Senate moves quickly, to counter a cynical move by House Republicans to stop the NLRB from making any decisions without a quorum of three, despite the fact that Senate Republicans have blocked all nominations to the Board. The ridiculously named ‘Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act’ will come up for a House vote later this week,” said CWA President Larry Cohen.

“The US Chamber of Commerce and many of its corporate members would prefer that the NLRB not function at all. As a result of Republican obstructionism in the Senate, 85 million workers have lost a critical path to workplace justice as a growing number of corporations are refusing to abide by Board decisions,” he said.

Now it’s up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate leaders to move the President’s nominations to the Senate floor and work to have them confirmed.

If the nominations are blocked by the Republican minority, Majority Leader Reid must be ready to confront that obstructionism to keep this agency functioning.

Bid to Return to Era of Open Season on U.S. Workers from the National Nurses United

  By New Hampshire Labor News | January 26, 2013 - 9:46 am | ,
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Nurses Make a Difference

The nation’s largest organization of nurses today condemned a conservative federal appeals court ruling overturning President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, a step taken by the President only after the refusal of Senate Republicans to restore a quorum on the board to enable it to function.

“It is appalling that the court would reward the giant corporations and Wall Street, and the politicians they control in Washington, who have worked for years to overturn even modest protections for working people in the U.S.,” said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the 185,000-member National Nurses United.

“What that means in healthcare is a clear assault on the ability of nurses to act collectively to improve safety standards and public protections for patients,” said DeMoro. “If nurses are unable to speak out for patients and act together to safeguard conditions, all patients are threatened in an era in which most hospital employers place their bottom line above patient safety.”

“When the board is not controlled by corporate-oriented appointees, as it has been most of the past four decades, the game plan of the anti-union crowd is to bar it from operating, either by refusing to confirm appointees, defunding or other destabilization tactics,” DeMoro noted.

Without a quorum, which will now be the case again as a result of today’s ruling, workers experience delays that can drag on for years if they object to unfair discipline, intimidation or harassment by employers, or attempt to form a union to represent them, DeMoro noted.

In 2007, for example, the California Nurses Association filed labor board challenges in response to retaliation by a rural Northern California hospital against RNs for legally protected union activity.  After initial board delays, an NLRB administrative law judge ruled in 2009 that the hospital had acted illegally and ordered restitution for the nurses.

When the hospital employer appealed to Washington, the NLRB was unable to act for years because of the Senate action blocking Presidential appointments to the NLRB. Only after the recess appointments were made, was the NLRB able to act on the case, along with a long stack of other delayed decisions.

A final decision on the 2007 charge was issued just days ago affirming the 2009 law judge ruling. Now that decision, too, is in jeopardy, further delaying justice for the nurses. “Once again justice delayed is justice denied,” said DeMoro.

“That, of course, is the real intent of this court challenge, the obstruction of the Senate in confirming Presidential appointees, and blatant attempts by the U.S. Chamber of Chamber and the politicians they control, to gut any semblance of federal protection for workers who need a collective voice to counter multi-million dollar employers who profit off denying workplace rights, consumer rights, and reducing worker living standards,” DeMoro said.

Labor law was enacted in the 1930s precisely to assure some balance in the workplace and fair treatment for workers. It helped sustain the growth of unions which led to dramatic improvements in living standards for all Americans in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Since then, the neo-liberal agenda has been to overturn any labor law rights for workers, which has contributed to the growing decline of union membership and the concurrent decline in wages and economic security for all U.S. workers, while more wealth is transferred to corporate board rooms and yacht owners,” DeMoro said.

“This decision, DeMoro said, “is a further reminder that the labor movement and all those who believe in workplace and democratic rights need to step up our efforts to challenge Wall Street, the Chamber and the puppets it controls. We need to get back in the streets, forcefully challenge those who would deny our rights, and unite a broad movement to press for participatory democracy and social change.”

(Via press release from NNA)

Think you have union rights? What Happens if there’s no NLRB?

  By Liz Iacobucci | January 25, 2013 - 5:13 pm | ,
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Got Union Rights?

Got Union Rights?Earlier today, a federal appeals court ruled that President Obama improperly appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board in January 2012.  The Court ruled that the Senate was “in session” rather than “in recess” when President Obama made the appointments, because the Senate held “pro forma sessions” – some lasting less than a minute – during their 20-day holiday break.

The Justice Department had reviewed the issue a year ago and determined that the recess appointments were constitutional.  Similar cases are pending elsewhere in the country — and other appeals courts could rule differently.

NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce announced today that the Board “will continue to perform our statutory duties and issue decisions” until the question is finally resolved, most likely by the Supreme Court.

That’s probably not the short-term outcome expected by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the 41 other GOP Senators who were part of today’s lawsuit.

Probably, those GOP Senators expected to simply put the NLRB out of business.  Here’s how:

  1. In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the Board must have at least three members to act – voiding almost 600 decisions that had been issued by the NLRB during the 27 months it had only two members.
  2. The Senate GOP has used the filibuster to block President Obama’s nominations to the NLRB, both before and after that Supreme Court decision.
  3. If today’s appeals court ruling is upheld, then the NLRB will be left with only one Senate-confirmed member — and therefore without any authority to act.  (That would also overturn the hundreds of NLRB decisions made since last January.)

What does that mean to the country, if the NLRB has no authority to act?  Here’s how the Washington Post described this scenario, a year ago:

Workers illegally fired for union organizing won’t be reinstated with back pay. Employers will be able to get away with interfering with union elections. Perhaps most important, employers won’t have to recognize unions despite a majority vote by workers. Without the board to enforce labor law, most companies will not voluntarily deal with unions.

One more time: the NLRB can’t act unless it has at least three members.  The GOP Senators in today’s lawsuit are trying to invalidate three of the current four members, reducing Board to only one member.  And at last report, “GOP senators, including Graham and McConnell, had vowed to block confirmation of any new NLRB nominees.”

Think you’ve got union rights? 

Read more about the GOP’s assault on labor rights in The Hill here.

AFL-CIO President Trumka’s Statement On NLRB Recess Appointments

  By New Hampshire Labor News | January 25, 2013 - 2:48 pm | ,
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Richard_Trumka

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka On Decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the NLRB Recess Appointments
January 25, 2013

 From WIKIPediaToday’s decision by a panel of Republican judges on the DC Circuit is nothing less than shocking.  In a radical and unprecedented decision, the court has interpreted the Constitution in a way that would deprive both Republican and Democratic presidents of a critical tool they have used hundreds of times over the years – including 179 appointments by former President George W. Bush and 139 appointments by former President Clinton – to keep agencies functioning and make the government work.  In this case, the affected agency is the National Labor Relations Board – a crucially important agency that enforces workers’ rights.

We strongly disagree with the court’s reasoning and decision.  We fully expect this radical decision to be reversed, and that other courts addressing this issue will uphold the President’s recess appointment authority.  In the meantime, the appointees to the National Labor Relations Board remain in their jobs and the NLRB remains open for business.

The rights protected by this agency are too important for the agency to have to operate under a legal cloud.  We urge the Senate to promptly confirm a package of nominees to the NLRB.

Statement online here:  http://www.aflcio.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Statement-by-AFL-CIO-President-Richard-Trumka-On-Decision-by-the-U.S.-Court-of-Appeals-for-the-District-of-Columbia-Circuit-on-the-NLRB-Recess-Appointments

For the latest updates, follow @AFLCIO and @RichardTrumka on Twitter.

American Airlines Service Agent Deserve A Voice Not To Be Outsourced

  By Matt Murray | November 13, 2012 - 9:30 pm | ,
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AMR In Trouble

American Airlines is once again sticking it to their unions.

American Airlines (AMR) is still spending millions of dollars to block the service agents from holding their election.  The election would officially recognize the Communication Workers of America (CWA) as the sole representation of the workers.  This election has been held up for months due to a technicality over the percentage of people who say they want the union representation prior to the elections.

“We filed for this election almost a year ago and the company has been uncooperative from the beginning,” said CWA Organizing Director Sandy Rusher. “What are they afraid of? They know what we know – a union will give agents a voice and a seat at the table. Agents haven’t given up and we won’t give up on them.”

Two American Agents event went to Congress looking for assistance with this matter. See the video here.

No matter what American Airlines says the hard working agents are not giving up.  The agents and CWA have been fighting for their election for months and now they will finally get the vote they are asking for.

American Airlines agents will vote for representation beginning Dec. 4, when voting instructions will be mailed, and ending Jan. 15, 2013, under a schedule announced Nov. 1 by the National Mediation Board.

“After more than a year of needless delays, we finally can vote to form our own union, to secure a real voice on the job,” said Anne McCarthy, BOS. “It’s about time,” added Ted Tezino, SRO. “This shouldn’t have been in the courts in the first place. To all the agents out there who are undecided, I say wake up and see what’s going on! The company is not on our side.”

Ted is right American Airlines is not on their side.  A local Dallas TV station aired this story on the problems American Airlines is having with their third party contractor (embeded below).

The story highlights that the third party contractor may not have the proper clearance and credentials to access the secure side of the airport.  They have also been receiving numerous complaints on the work these contractors have been doing across the country.  These contractors are reportadly responsible for over 300 flight delays in their first two days.

These are only some of the horrors being brought to light about this outside contractor.

Agents for American Airlines need to know that without a union their jobs will be outsourced too.  AMR will cut your job, just to hire you back at less pay and no benefits.

Stand up for your rights and get out there and vote between Dec 4 th and
Dec 7 th.  Get all the information about how to vote and make your voice heard!

 

My name is Matt and I stand in solidarity with the Service Agents at CWA!

 

CWA For American Airlines Will Finally Get To Vote

  By New Hampshire Labor News | October 4, 2012 - 6:15 am | ,
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CWA Logo

The Communications Workers of America commends the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. For passenger service agents at American Airlines, who have been fighting for a union voice for 15 years, this is extremely good news.

Today’s unanimous decision dismisses claims by American Airlines that have blocked the democratic election rights of nearly 10,000 passenger service agents for far too long.

The appeals court found that the lower court “erred in exercising jurisdiction.” Now, the National Mediation Board can go forward with the election process that had been wrongly denied American Airlines passenger service agents since they filed for union representation in December 2011. Those employees finally will have the opportunity to exercise their legal right to vote on union representation.

The same American Airlines executives who took the airline into bankruptcy with $4 billion in the bank, which now has grown to $ 8 billion, also spent millions trying to stop workers from exercising their democratic rights.

Passenger service agents look forward to the NMB setting a new election date as soon as possible.

“This was a big step towards being able to negotiate instead of having them dictate terms to us,” said Janet Elston, a veteran of 28 years as an American Airlines gate agent based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. “It’s been grueling, it’s not easy, but it will be worth it once we have an election.”

Ted Tezino, who has worked for 11 years at American Airlines’ Southern Reservation Office, noted the bankruptcy has made their situation as employees clear;

“The company is not on our side, and it’s time to stand up for ourselves,” Tezino said.

This is a great step forward for the workers at American Airlines, across the country.  Workers will not get the chance to have a voice in their workplace and work towards bettering the lives the people who work so hard to make American Airlines run.