Opening Statement of House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (remarks as prepared):
We are here today for one simple reason: the National Labor Relations Board is wreaking havoc on the nation’s workforce and it must be stopped. In recent months, the NLRB has taken a number of steps that move federal labor policy in a radically new direction.
Under the board’s ambush elections proposal, employers will have just seven days to find legal representation and prepare the case they must present before an NLRB election officer. If they fail to raise an issue before the start of a pre-election hearing, with few exceptions employers lose the ability to address the concern during the hearing process.
Workers will also be harmed by this troubling change in policy. The board’s proposal would leave employees with as little as 10 days to consider all the consequences of joining a union before casting a ballot. Additionally, the board’s plan would delay answers to questions often critical to an employee’s decision and undermine employer access to a fair hearing. When coupled with its Specialty Healthcare decision, which enables union leaders to manipulate the workplace for their own gain, it becomes clear the board is promoting unionization by stifling employers’ free speech and crippling workers’ free choice.
I am open to ideas that will modernize the election process, but those efforts should never undermine the fundamental rights of employees and employers. Expansive changes to workforce policy should be vetted by the people’s elected representatives - first by this committee, and then by the full Congress. Hundreds of millions of workers and employers will be forced to live with the consequences of these dramatic changes and they deserve a Congressional response.
Read more…
