Fight for Union Rights

Employer groups turned out in force to challenge rules proposed by the National Labor Relations Board that would streamline the process for holding union elections and make it easier for workers to organize. The rules would eliminate many of the opportunities for delaying elections that unions say give employers more time to threaten workers against organizing. Unions say the existing rules are tilted in favor of employers, helping to explain why union membership in the private sector has plummeted from 36 percent in the early 1950s to 7 percent today. The proposed rules would, among other things, postpone until after elections many employers’ challenges that certain workers are supervisors and ineligible to join a union; remove a 25-30 day waiting period, allowing either side to request reviews, requests that are now rarely filed or granted; and require employers to include cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses in the employee lists they provide organizers. In addition to speeding up elections, that bill would have required mediation when employers and unions failed to agree to a contract and would have allowed workers to organize by getting a majority to sign pro-union cards, without holding an election.

“Every additional day of delay before a representation election provides another opportunity for employers to manipulate the system and cause controversies that can take years to litigate,” Veronica Tench, a member of the Service Employees International Union, said

"[Workers] encounter significant obstacles in the form of needless bureaucratic delays and costly taxpayer-funded litigation. It can take months and even years before they get to cast a vote.” said Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director of the American Rights at Work