NLRB Rulings Are Gift to Unions, Blow to Economy

Washington, D.C., August 31, 2011 -- Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) handed down three pro-union rulings [2] that will have significant consequences for American employers. In one ruling, the Board held that unions may organize departments of a business without organizing the business as a whole. Another ruling forces workers who are unhappy with a union to wait longer to decertify the union. In the third ruling, the NLRB made it more difficult to challenge a union's status in a company that changes ownership via merger.

The timing of the rulings was rushed to pre-empt the term end of the board’s chairwoman, Wilma B. Liebman, who steps down on Sunday.

CEI Labor Policy Analyst Ivan Osorio [3] said, "The Obama administration seems to be throwing every pro-union measure at the wall to see what sticks, in order to give union bosses something -- anything -- to keep them on board for the 2012 elections. Having failed to get card check through Congress, the administration has turned to the NLRB to enact pro-Big Labor policy changes. This week's NLRB trifecta is of a piece with the Board's targeting of Boeing for opening a plant in South Carolina, a right to work state, and its support of shortened election periods and remote electronic voting ("e-card check"). Unfortunately for America's economy and workers, this only increases businesses' regulatory burden and creates further uncertainty, deterring investment and stifling job creation."