On Oct. 4, 2006, the National Labor Relations Board issued a number of decisions that will allow employers to strip more than 8 million workers of the right to protection under the National Labor Relations Act. The decision was a 3-2 partisan vote.

The AFT represents more than 70,000 nurses and other heathcare professionals and is very concerned about the decision.   The board’s new definition essentially enables employers to make a supervisor out of any worker who has the authority to assign or direct another employee or who uses independent judgment. Amazingly, the board also ruled that a worker can be classified as a supervisor if he or she spends as little as 10 percent to 15 percent of his or her time overseeing the work of others. This will also discourage nurses from speaking out on behalf of their patients for fear of losing their jobs.