Today, Republican Workforce Leaders on the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), submitted a comment letter to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman John Ring in support of the Board’s proposed rule that would expand employee free choice on union elections.
In the letter, Reps. Foxx and Walberg write: “Since the enactment of the Labor-Management Relations Act amending the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) over 70 years ago, federal labor law has struck a careful balance between the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively with an employer and the rights of the employer throughout the organizing and bargaining process. However, one area in which labor law needs updating is the right of employees within unions." The letter concludes: “Federal labor law must balance the interests of employers, unions, and workers. The NLRB’s rules and regulations are an important part of ensuring this balance. Under President Obama, the Board upended dozens of case-law precedents, which increased the power of labor unions at the expense of employee rights. The proposed rule would help restore important and needed balance to the NLRA by expanding employee free choice. We urge the Board to adopt the proposed rule expeditiously."
Background: Under current federal labor law, employees’ rights are not sufficiently defined nor protected, and the Obama NLRB worsened this problem through rulemaking and decisions in cases intended to benefit labor unions at the expense of workers’ rights. The NLRB’s proposed rule will help restore balance that was upended by the previous administration by expanding employees’ ability to vote on the union in their workplace. The proposed rule will reduce barriers to union decertification elections, provide employees greater opportunity to vote on a union voluntarily recognized by an employer, and expand voting rights.
