by James Parks, Dec 13, 2007

It rarely makes the headlines, but the National Labor Relations Board is constantly making critical decisions that affect workers’ lives, especially the freedom to join a union and bargain collectively.

In the past five years, the Republican-majority NLRB has systematically removed the rights of millions of workers to join unions and made it harder for others by shifting the balance of power heavily toward employers.

Now, workers and their allies have a new tool to expose the insufficiency of U.S. labor law and raise awareness of NLRB decisions. The workers’ advocacy group American Rights at Work has launched a new blog, “Eye on the NLRB,” which follows and analyzes recent board rulings.

 In a current blog post, Erin Johansson summarizes many of the sweeping decisions the board made in September that stack the deck in favor of Big Business and bury the few workplace protections still remaining. Click here to read Johansson’s post. 

The board’s actions have become so egregious that the AFL-CIO took the unusual step last month of filing a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO), charging the Bush administration’s NLRB with denying workers’ rights in violation of international labor standards. 

A series of NLRB decisions and their impact on workers’ rights came under close scrutiny today in a joint hearing of the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety on several NLRB decisions.

During the hearing, Wilma Liebman, one of two Democrats on the NLRB, told lawmakers the majority of the Republican-dominated board has gone further than the normal tweaking of policy that is common when a presidential administration changes.

This is more a sea change than a see-saw. It’s not just a see-saw, but tearing up the entire playground. They are going back and changing the core of the law.

 Virtually every recent policy choice by the Board impedes collective bargaining, creates obstacles to union representation, or favors employer interests. 

Jonathan Hiatt, the AFL-CIO’s general counsel, told the panel today’s NLRB:

has departed from its statutory responsibility and utterly abdicated its role as protector of worker rights. In decision after decision, the board has denied workers the very protections it is supposed to guarantee. 

Since its installation in 2002, the Bush administration’s labor board has embarked on a systematic and insidious effort to radically overhaul our federal labor law and its regulation of labor relations in the private sector. In case after case, this board has turned the  (National Labor Relations) Act on its head by narrowing its coverage, withdrawing its protections, and weakening its already ineffective remedies.   

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