House GOP Declares Open Season on Workers’ Rights, Labor Board
December 9, 2011 “Punitive,” says a spokesperson for the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “Labor regulation run amok,” says the Chamber of Commerce. “[Guaranteeing] unemployment will remain high,” said a researcher from the right-wing Manhattan Institute.
What are corporate lobbyists and right-wing talking heads going so ballistic about? A poster. The National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling this summer that requires employees to notify their workers about employee workplace rights by merely putting up a poster. The rule is similar to those already in effect regarding wage and safety regulations. One leading business attorney recently referred to the controversy as “much ado about nothing,” but that hasn’t stopped Congress from trying to gut the board and take away basic workers’ rights in response. As Working America’s blog reports:
At the top of the congressional GOP’s hit list are new NLRB rules to help streamline union elections. As we wrote last June:
The GOP’s war on the NLRB has reached the point where a Republican member of the board, Brian Hayes, threatened to quit in order to deny the NLRB a quorum. Operating at only three members, the board may cease to operate if the GOP continues to block every nominee President Obama has offered. Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee passed a bill in October that could potentially add months- or even years-long delay to the union election process by making it easier for employers to challenge voting results and launch frivolous legal appeals, costing employee time and money. Bill opponent Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), says:
House Republicans have also introduced legislation to cripple the government’s ability to enforce existing workplace health and safety laws. Says International President Edwin D. Hill:
American Rights at Work has more information on the campaign against the NLRB.
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