Rep. Miller Asks Justice Dept. for Investigation of Possible Coercion of NLRB Member
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, asked the Department of Justice to look into evidence uncovered by a National Labor Relations Board Inspector General investigation that found board member Brian Hayes engaged in employment discussions with a law firm with business before the agency. Miller wrote:
The board plays a critical role in adjudicating and administering the rights of employees and employers under our nation’s labor law and Board members must be free of coercion and undue influence when executing their responsibilities.
The NLRB Inspector General investigation found that Hayes and an attorney with Morgan Lewis had a number of conversations beginning in late September or early October about potential employment if he were to resign his position on the NLRB. As part of those conversations, an attorney with the firm, according to Hayes, stated that “if you ever decide to resign we’d like to talk to you.”
More here.
Operating Engineers’ Counsel Among Picks for NLRB
Operating Engineers (IUOE) General Counsel Richard Griffin is among the three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) President Obama will appoint through recess appointments, the White House announced.
Also named is Sharon Block, currently deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. She has served as the senior labor and employment counsel for the Senate HELP Committee. The third member named is Terence F. Flynn, chief counsel to NLRB member Brian Hayes. He also was counsel in the labor and employment law firm Crowell & Moring.
IUOE President James T. Callahan says Griffin is “highly respected by lawyers on both the labor and business side of labor law.”
His fair-minded approach to legal questions is exactly what the NLRB needs….Richard Griffin and the President’s other pick Sharon Block are distinguished attorneys who will bring an even-handed approach to labor and management issues. They deserve to be seated—and workers and employers deserve a functioning National Labor Relations Board.
Obama Set to Name Three to NLRB
President Obama will use recess appointments to name three new members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the White House announced this afternoon.
Since Jan. 1, the board has just two members and cannot carry out most business. Republican Senate leaders have said they will block any NLRB nominations in a move most regard as an attempt to shut down the NLRB. That is part of an overall strategy that has bottled up hundreds of Obama administration nominations. But with the Senate in recess, Obama is allowed to make appointments that last through the current session of Congress.
Earlier today Obama used a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
We commend the president for exercising his constitutional authority to ensure that crucially important agencies protecting workers and consumers are not shut down by Republican obstructionism. Working families and consumers should not pay the price for political ploys that have repeatedly undercut the enforcement of rules against Wall Street abuses and the rights of working people.
Obama to Appoint Cordray Consumer Watchdog Chief
President Obama will use a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Associated Press (AP) reports this morning. Cordray’s nomination has been blocked by Senate Republicans who want to gut the agency that was created by 2010’s Wall Street reform legislation.
Cordray is just one of hundreds of nominees Republican senators have bottled up and they have vowed to block any nomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which now has just two members and cannot issue most decisions, according to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The AP reports Obama is expected to name other recess appointments later today. Read more here.
NLRB Ruling Is Right on Key to Musicians’ Ears
Musicians in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Texas can play a happy tune following a Dec. 27 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that says musicians in symphony orchestras are employees with the freedom to join unions—not independent contractors.
Members of the Lancaster (Pa.) Symphony Orchestra sought to join the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM) and the union filed a petition for an election. But an NLRB regional director ruled the musicians were independent contractors and thus ineligible for union representation.
The board’s 2-1 decision reversed that ruling and sent the case back to the region for further action. Citing the Lancaster ruling, the NLRB issued decisions the following day that the musicians in the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra and the Plano Symphony Orchestra are also employees with the right to join a union.
For more on the cases, visit the NLRB here and the Bureau of National Affairs’ Daily Labor Report (subscription required) here.
NLRB Election Rule to Take Effect April 30
A new rule on the way union elections are conducted will take effect April 30, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced today. The rule will help alleviate the delays, inefficiencies, abuse of process and unnecessary litigation which plague the current system for workers who want to vote on whether to have a union. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says it’s “good news”that the NLRB has taken
this modest but important step to help ensure that workers who want to vote to form a union at their workplace get a fair opportunity to do so. Many more improvements are needed to protect workers’ rights. We hope the Board will quickly move to adopt the rest of its proposed reforms to modernize and streamline the election process.
The new rule, says NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston, gives workers who have petitioned for an election the Read the rest of this entry »
NLRB Drops Boeing Case as Machinists Requested
After months of contention that drew the attention of presidential candidates and members of Congress, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today announced that the Machinists (IAM) District 751 dropped its charge against the Boeing Co. after negotiating agreeable terms with the company.
Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel, announced the closing of the case after Machinists in Washington State voted to accept a four-year contract extension and commitments from Boeing to expand manufacturing operations in the state.
Earlier this year, the NLRB agreed to hear the union’s complaint that claimed Boeing’s decision to produce its new 787 Dreamliner aircraft in South Carolina, an anti-union state, was made in retaliation for the union’s 2008 strike against Boeing. A Republican NLRB threatened to quit the board—which would have prevented the case from going forward—and Republican presidential candidates made the labor board a campaign-trail target. Read the rest of this entry »
Calpine Workers Petition for Union Election; Documents Delivered to NLRB in San Francisco
 |
||||
|
||||
This is a cross-post from Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1245.
Five Calpine employees delivered authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in San Francisco on Dec. 1, the latest step in a campaign to gain union representation for workers at Calpine’s power plants in Northern California.
The Calpine employees were joined by about 50 supporters for a brief rally in front of the NLRB on San Francisco’s Market Street. Several Bay Area labor leaders offered words of encouragement to the Calpine organizers.
“We’re not asking for anything in particular. We’re not asking for better wages, better benefits,” said Mike Farmer, a long-time Calpine employee with decades of service in the industry. “What we want is a voice and some representation. We’re asking Calpine to allow us to have a free and fair election.”
Romney Spouts Same Tired Old Anti-Union Rhetoric
If you’ve been following the race for the Republican presidential nomination—and who doesn’t love a circus—you’ve probably noticed that Mitt Romney is being portrayed as somewhat of a moderate in this collection of extreme conservatives. Not when it comes to workers’ rights.
In a statement on yesterday’s House vote to block some modest rule changes proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Romney hit all the right-wing Republican anti-union talking points.
He trotted out the tired old “union boss” line. He accused the NLRB of trampling “on the rights of workers” and job creators. He called the NLRB “out of control”—because, heaven forbid, the workers’ right agency acts to protect workers’ rights.
NLRB Takes Step Toward Reducing ‘Delays and Unnecessary Litigation’ for Workers
Great news: Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) voted 2-to-1 to draft a rule that will address the “delays and unnecessary litigation in the pre-election process” that make it all too easy for employers to use delaying and intimidation tactics against workers who want to vote for a union.
Read more here.
