Sign up for the lastest information from the IBEW!

American workers deserve fair decisions, not a kangaroo court, said AFL- CIO Voice@Work Director Fred Azcarate Its time to close this board for renovations.

In 20 cities across the United States, angry union members marched in solidarity to ask what good is an ideological National Labor Relations Board that sides with management against workers time and time again.

The five-member NLRB is the highest authority in the United States to rule on labor-management disputes. Since 2002, it has been led by Republican appointees of President Bush, who have issued decision after decision favoring employers over workers in party-line votes.

The NLRB was set up to protect workers but in fact it is doing just the opposite, said United Food and Commercial Workers Organizer Brian Nesbit. Its become a hindrance to workers rights.

In what has been described by labor lawyers as the September massacre, the NLRB issued more than 60 decisions, half of which had been pending for four or more years. Many of these decisions strip working people of fundamental workplace rights. If workers choose a union through majority sign-up, one ruling says, employers have to post a sign telling them that 30 percent can petition for an election to undo the recognition. Another NLRB dictate says that employers should be able to withdraw recognition from the union on the basis of a signed petition.

Democratic NLRB appointee Wilma Liebman suggested at a legal conference in November that she feared there may be a loss of confidence in the National Labor Relations Act.

This is Bushs board. This is Dick Cheneys board. This is the Chamber of Commerce Board, This is the National Association of Manufacturers board, said United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts at a pre-march rally at the AFL-CIO. This sure as hell isnt the labor board!

Jonathan Upright, an AT&T sales consultant who recently formed a union with the Communications Workers of America in Winston-Salem, N.C., said the new rules undermine what he and his co-workers sought to achieve. Everyone deserves the ability to join a union, he said, decrying the ruling that says a minority of workers can undo the majoritys will. Our bargaining unit is new, but it is strong.

IBEW Political Director Brian Baker said the union is focused on taking control of the White House for Democrats next year. If we can change the presidency, we can get the board changed and have better decisions.

Related Articles

Activists Protest Anti-Labor Labor Board

Seven years of frustration at anti-worker decisions by the National Labor Relations Board spilled over Nov. 15 in front of the agency in Washington, D.C., with 1,000 labor activists chanting and carrying signs saying NLRB: Close It for Renovation.