Fresh from today’s posting at The Nation:
Most legal scholars and labor experts believe that the NLRB has the authority to enact procedural changes that could, among other things: • drastically shorten the time frame for holding union elections; • eliminate cumbersome pre-election procedures that allow employers to dispute who is eligible to vote in such elections; • require the employer to turn over employee names, addresses and phone numbers early in any union organizing drive; • require equal access to both workers and the workplace for unions during campaigns; and • increase the penalties on companies that violate their workers’ legal rights. The NLRB even could make it easier for workers to unionize based on a card check showing of majority support–just as the EFCA would. It could force employers to recognize a union as the representative of its employees so long as a neutral third party verified that more than 50 percent of those employees had signed a written statement expressing a desire to be represented by that union.
Even if Craig Becker doesn’t end up being the 3rd union-friendly member of the NLRB, the board is destined to be tilted in the Big Labor direction via Obama’s appointments. American businesses should remain vigilant, and use the time prior to regulatory changes to come to diminish their vulnerability to union encroachment.
