Most Americans aren’t aware of the obstacles workers face when trying to form unions—but they certainly wouldn’t expect the law or the agency set up to protect those rights to get in the way.  Unfortunately, workers rarely win when they end up at the National Labor Relations Board.

In 1984, a Subcommittee of the House of Representatives adopted a report called "The Failure of Labor Law—A Betrayal of American Workers," which stated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) “has ceased to accomplish its purpose…. The evidence is clear that the law does not encourage collective bargaining.  Rather it has become an impediment.”  But first and foremost, the law doesn’t even begin to protect the fundamental right of workers to organize unions. 

In September, the National Labor Relations Board issued an unprecedented number of decisions undermining workers’ fundamental rights.  Two of these decisions added new hurdles that workers must overcome before they can receive what employers have unlawfully taken away, most involving backpay. In one case, the NLRB made it even cheaper for employers to fire union supporters to chill an organizing effort.  In the other, the Republican majority of the Board reversed a 45-year precedent to shift a burden of proof from the employer to the worker, to make it more difficult for fired workers to collect backpay. 

 Until now, workers have successfully formed unions through voluntary recognition, a process where employers agree to recognize a union once a majority of workers sign cards.  This peaceful, swift, and non-disruptive organizing method provides an alternative to the flawed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process.  However, workers and employers who use this method are now undermined by a major ruling of the NLRB.  The Republican majority of the Board sided with anti-union groups in radically changing the law.  Without providing legitimate factual evidence to justify reversing 40 years of precedent, the Board exposed its real political motivations.

The Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board issued decisions in October that could strip millions of workers of their right to have a union at work—all without holding public hearings. 

On July 18, 2006, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report"—a show satirizing Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor"—host Stephen Colbert took on the National Labor Relations Board and the potentially disastrous impact its rulings could have on workers.

Watch the video below:

 Behind closed doors, the fate of millions of America's workers will be decided by the National Labor Relations Board.  The five-member Board is considering three cases which could strip millions of workers-including nurses, quality control inspectors, sales representatives, and many others-of their rights to form a union and collectively bargain.  Yet despite the great significance of the ruling, the Republican majority of the Board is refusing to hold public hearings on the matter.

On May 15, 2006, the Republican majority of the Board ruled that a treatment center for children and adolescents did not retaliate against its employees when it terminated its funding from the United Way after the organization supported employees' bargaining efforts.  The loss of funding meant fewer hours and less pay for several employees. The majority of the Board concluded that the employer merely acted in response to an "intrusion" by a third party, reversing a 2004 decision of an administrative law judge who determined that this tactic was indeed retaliation.

Last year was quite the year for anti-union employers.  The Republican majority of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) went out of its way to endorse the unscrupulous tactics of employers at the expense of workers' rights.

A federal appeals court recently joined the growing chorus of critics of the National Labor Relations Board’s Republican majority.  The Seventh Circuit Court issued a harsh assessment of the Board last month when they ruled to overturn its finding that an employer’s partial lockout of pro-union workers was legal.  The decision wasn’t handed down by “liberal activist judges,” as you might have expected.  Rather, a trio of Republican-appointed judges denounced the Bush Board.