When one reads the National Labor Relations Board’s single item agenda, the so-called Quickie Election Rules (verbatim excerpt below), the reaction might be, “This is no big deal. The NLRB has been trying to do this since the middle of 2011.” True enough. It may be unwise, however, to believe that this is the limit of the NLRB’s activism or, better said, that of President Obama.
In the last eight months there has been a prolific filling of vacancies at the “prosecutorial level” within the NLRB staff. Deputy this, assistant deputy that, and assistant and assistant deputy positions are being filled at a pace that I have never witnessed in my 30 years of resisting this agency’s intrusive initiatives. Be assured that every one of these newbies will set their crosshairs on the putative illegal conduct of employers.
What is perhaps even more alarming is the demonstrated intent of this administration to act capriciously. The hubris displayed so glaringly with the immigration order foretells of continuing persecution of employers by an administration that is so blatantly anti-business.
Clearly, the NLRB possesses the right to administer the Act as it reasonably sees fit. Most in our business acknowledge that right includes revising the rules and regulations as it relates to the conduct of representation case elections. With a fully staffed NLRB team and the five-member Board itself (Pro-labor Democrat Lauren McFerran will take the place of Nancy Schiffer when Schiffer’s term ends on December 16.), administration of the Act, or if you will, prosecution of employers in furtherance of the NLRB’s unpublished mission of assisting unions and victimizing employers, will be more energetically enforced.
As in the case of the immigration order, the incoming Congress’ ability to constrain funding to the NLRB may be the last line of defense for employers against another destructive activist federal agency.
The bottom line is, don’t let your guard down.
NLRB RIN: 3142-AA08 Publication ID: Fall 2014
Title: Representation–Case Procedures
Abstract:
The National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB) is proposing to amend its rules and regulations governing the filing and processing of petitions relating to the representation of employees for purposes of collective bargaining with their employer. The Board believes that the proposed amendments would remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation. The proposed amendments would simplify representation-case procedures and render them more transparent and uniform across regions, eliminate unnecessary litigation, and consolidate requests for Board review of regional directors’ pre- and post-election determinations into a single, post-election request. The proposed amendments would allow the Board to more promptly determine if there is a question concerning representation and, if so, to resolve it by conducting a secret ballot election. The Board first made these proposals on June 22, 2011. 76 FR 36812. Although the Board issued a final rule on December 22, 2011, that adopted a number of the proposed amendments (and that deferred others for further consideration) (see 76 FR 80138), that final rule was set aside by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 14, 2012, on procedural grounds relating to the voting process used by the Board for that rule. On January 22, 2014, the Board issued a final rule rescinding the amendments adopted by the December 22, 2011, final rule. 79 FR 3483. The present proposal is, in essence, a reissuance of the proposed rule of June 22, 2011.
Agency: National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Best Regards,
William R. Adams, Ph. D.
President & CEO
Adams, Nash, Haskell & Sheridan
1-800-237-3942