In the face of a strong business-sector outcry, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a delay in the effective date of the Notice Posting requirement from November 14, 2011 to January 31, 2012.
This was a big win for tank truck carriers and all businesses that actually create jobs and build the economy. The delay followed the filing of lawsuits filed by Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of Independent Business, the US Chamber of Commerce, and National Right to Work legal defense foundation.
In addition, CDW announced action on the Congressional front. The association lauded House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline’s introduction of the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act and urged the House of Representatives to immediately pass the legislation. The bill would rein in the rogue NLRB and address its campaign to use executive action to implement key portions of the ill-fated, ill-conceived Employee Free Choice Act (also called Card Check).
“Employers are grateful to (Committee) Chairman (Rep) Kline (R-MN) for his leadership in introducing a bill that will ensure employers have sufficient time to talk to their employees and guarantees that employees have the chance to make an informed decision through a private-ballot process that protects them from misinformation and coercion,” says Geoffrey Burr, CDW chairman. “We hope Congress will immediately pass this legislation to remove a cloud of uncertainty and allow job creators to focus on hiring and helping our economy recover.”
Even though Congress rightly refused to pass the job-killing Card Check legislation, the NLRB is attempting to effectively silence employers during an organizing drive–a key goal of EFCA–by reducing the amount of time they have to make their case to employees, according to CDW officials. As a result, many workers will only hear the union’s side of the story.
The Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act would directly remedy these key concerns, as well as heading off swarms of “micro union” organizing drives introduced by the blatant special-interest ruling in the “Specialty Healthcare” decision. Micro-unions not only threaten to overwhelm job creators with burdens associated with negotiating with multiple bargaining units for similarly situated employees, but also allow union strategists to gerrymander representation elections, effectively disenfranchising employees that do not support unionization.