Obama’s Labor Dept. to Force Employers to tell Employees They Have a Right to Unionize
December 24, 2010 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, NLRB, President, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Obama’s intrusive National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the government regulatory agency responsible for making rules to govern the relationship between employer and employee, has decided that as an employee you are stupid. Worse, the NLRB also decided that it has the power to force your employer to waste its resources holding your hand as an employee and notifying you of your rights to join a union under the National Labor Relations Act. Essentially, this government agency has summarily decided that employers must do the government agency’s job for it.
What American doesn’t understand that they have a basic right to unionize? And for those who don’t it is incumbent upon them to learn enough to become an informed citizen. It is the basic charge of being an American, after all. It is a duty of each of us to learn about our rights and learn how to exercise them. It isn;t our employer’s job to teach us how to be useful American citizens. Ah, but if you are Obama, you assume that everyone is too stupid to learn what their own rights are and nanny government must force your employer to read a list of your rights to you upon being hired.
But what is the point of this new regulation? It is little else but an attempt by Obama to create more unions. After all, this needling of employees is meant to force the idea of unionizing on them, to goad them into trying to unionize. This constant drumbeat of telling employees to unionize is nothing else but nanny state behavioral motivation meant to help Obama’s buddies in Big Labor.
It is also yet another cost being forced on business, another unfunded mandate that will drive up the costs of business. After all, businesses will have to spend time and money to make sure these new regulations are fulfilled as demanded by the NLRB. It is just one more little regulatory layer to force on business. Layer upon layer upon layer all of which cost business money and all of which costs jobs. The more regulations that businesses have to comply with the less money businesses have to hire new employees and for expanding their businesses. This hurts everyone.
Text of the NLRB’s notice:
News Release
National Labor Relations BoardDecember 21, 2010
Contact:
Office of Public Affairs
202-273-1991
publicinfo@nlrb.gov
www.nlrb.govBoard proposes rule to require posting of NLRA rights
Notices would be similar to those detailing rights under safety, wage and anti-discrimination laws
The National Labor Relations Board has submitted to the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which provides for a 60-day comment period. The rule would require employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
As the Notice states, the Board “believes that many employees protected by the NLRA are unaware of their rights under the statute. The intended effects of this action are to increase knowledge of the NLRA among employees, to better enable the exercise of rights under the statute, and to promote statutory compliance by employers and unions.”
Private-sector employers (including labor organizations) whose workplaces fall under the NLRA would be required to post the employee rights notice where other workplace notices are typically posted. If an employer communicates with employees primarily by email or other electronic means, the notice would be posted electronically as well. The notice would be available from the agency’s regional offices and could also be downloaded from the NLRB website.
The proposed notice is similar to one recently finalized by the U.S. Department of Labor for federal contractors. It states that employees have the right to act together to improve wages and working conditions, to form, join and assist a union, to bargain collectively with their employer, and to choose not to do any of these activities. It provides examples of unlawful employer and union conduct and instructs employees how to contact the NLRB with questions or complaints.
This rule was originally proposed in a petition to the NLRB by Charles Morris, Professor Emeritus of Law, Southern Methodist University, in 1993. Similar postings are already required under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, among other workplace laws.
The NLRA applies to most private-sector workplaces. Employers of airline, railroad, and agricultural workers are not covered. Section 6 of the NLRA authorizes the Board to issue “such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions” of the statute.
Board Member Brian Hayes dissented from the issuance of the proposed rulemaking, stating his belief that “the Board lacks the statutory authority to promulgate or enforce the type of rule which the petitions contemplated and which the proposed rule makes explicit.”
Public comments are invited on all aspects of the proposed rule, including the issue of the Board’s authority raised by the dissent, and should be submitted within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register, either electronically to www.regulations.gov, or by mail or hand-delivery to Lester Heltzer, Executive Secretary, NLRB, 1099 14th Street NW, Washington DC 20570.
A fact sheet and further information about the proposed rule is available here.
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.
Download .pdf file CLICK HERE>
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.
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