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Workers Set to Protest Bush Labor Board’s Anti-Worker Rulings |
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Since its installation by the Bush administration, this National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has systematically dismantled decades of worker rights’ protections, especially the freedom to form a union.
Thousands of workers across the country are taking to the streets to say “No More!” On Nov. 15, in more than 20 cities, workers will march and rally at NLRB offices to protest the board’s anti-worker decisions and push for an end to the Bush Board’s reign.
In fact, the NLRB should be “Closed for Renovations” because the nation’s workers would be better off without the NLRB until a president who doesn’t side with Big Business is elected and can appoint new members.
In Washington, D.C., more than 1,000 union members, religious leaders and civil rights supporters are expected to rally in front of NLRB headquarters. Elsewhere, workers plan to march in every section of the country from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, to Nashville and Albany, N.Y. For more information on events in your area, contact your local central labor council.
The Bush NLRB already has taken away the right of some 8 million workers such as nurses, building and construction trades workers, journalists and others to form unions by expanding the definition of supervisor. That figure is in addition to the estimated 8.6 million workers already barred in recent years from joining unions because they have been excluded from labor law coverage.
In September—perhaps because the 2008 elections might mean an end to the board’s Republican majority?—the board issued a sweeping set of decisions that stack the deck in favor of Big Business and bury the few workplace freedoms still remaining. The decisions:
- Make it harder for workers to form unions but easier to get rid of existing unions.
- Make it easier for employers to escape liability for breaking the law and weaken already ineffective remedies.
- Make it easier for employers to discriminate against union supporters and replace strikers.
The board’s actions have become so egregious that the AFL-CIO last month took the unusual step of filing a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO), charging the Bush administration’s NLRB with denying workers’ rights in violation of international labor standards.
As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says:
Under Bush, America’s labor board has so failed our nation’s workers that we must now turn to the world’s international watchdogs to monitor and intervene. The Bush labor board is kryptonite for America’s workers. There is no historic precedent for such aggressive efforts by the board to curtail workers’ rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The ILO complaint highlights numerous NLRB decisions over the course of several years. In case after case, the Bush NLRB has denied workers’ rights while protecting employers. For example, in a partisan vote, the board ruled Sept. 29 that if employers voluntarily recognize a union based on union authorization cards (also known as majority sign-up), anti-union employees have 45 days to petition for a decertification election and the employer must notify employees of this 45-day window.
The Sept. 29 decision is so one-sided that even some Republicans are criticizing it. In BNA’s Daily Labor Report, Marshall Babson, a management lawyer who served as a Reagan administration appointee to the NLRB, questions the board’s “premise” for changing the recognition bar. He says card-check has its basis in voluntary recognition going back to 1935 and passage of the National Labor Relations Act. “There is nothing in the statute that requires opposition to organization,” Babson says.Last year, in a protest filled with symbolism that resonated from civil rights marches in the 1960s, nine union and religious leaders, backed by some 1,500 chanting workers, locked arms and blocked streets at the NLRB headquarters for nearly half an hour at the height of the lunch hour.Chanting, “We’re Union, Get Used to It!” and “Labor Board, You Ain’t Right, You Ain’t Gonna Take Our Rights,” workers from a gamut of unions protested the Bush-appointed NLRB’s failure to do its job and protect workers’ rights.. Workers also held protests the same day in 21 other cities.
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Our challenge is making this relate to non union sector workers. They have to understand that these NLRB rullings resonate even/especaily when there is no union. Our local recently had an advanced steward training seminar to supplement AFSCME/WFSE’s intro program. The atty/ presenting the course gave us a hand out “I;ve got rights!” Secnario was that Judy had 29 years at Fredco Widget, the Fredco employee guide states that we only fire for just cause, and that employees who retire with 30 or more years service recieve a $30k bonus on seperation. The last line of the hand book states this is in no way a contract or agreement between Fredco and it’s employees. The owner (son of the founder) is a drug addict with bouts of delusion. On the day before Judy is to retire Mark the owner has an episode and turns to Judy yelling ‘Damn it Steve dad always loved you more and you rubbed it in by driving that msutang to work, you know I wanted that car!!” Judy starts to say but Mark we were at Steves funeral together, But Mark yells Steve you are fired!! Security get her out of here in 10!! The question was what rights does Judy have? Answer none, there is no law against being nuts.
We yell so loud about the Bush NLRB Board, and rightfully so, but the Clinton Board was little better. Workers lost a ton of rights under that board, and it was supposed to be appointed by a friendly President.
Remember that when it comes time to select a Democratic Presidential Canidate - the Clinton Administration produced some of the most anti-labor determinations in the twentieth century. Not to mention the fact that his support for corporate America led to the beginning of the end of industrialized America.
Actions such as NAFTA, CAFTA and preferred trade status for China have led to the exportation of hundreds of thousands of middle class jobs. An exodus which started during the Clinton Administration, and led to the hamburger flipping job being the new jobs created.
Remember who to thank for that when you head for the caucus or the voting booth this year and remember that Ms. Walmart support those great trade agreements her husband pushed through, and will be ready to do more of the same to support corporate America and her mentor Uncle Sam Walton.
Well I understand now. If you are an AFL-CIO member you have no rights under your rules. JUST LIKE IN THE STATE OF OREGON. You give up your rights of freedom away, because the Govenor and Nesbits and AFL-CIO will take your rights away. Vote and they will do what they want to any way. Democercy not any more. Paid for politicans and union organizers. I am an union member who is going to fight the AFL-CIO in any way I can. Measure 37 Victum. You want to see what happens to your crooked organzation. WATCH. David L Hart, ex ALF-CIO member
Oh yes, why should President Bush the Childrens health act when the one they just tried to pass does not address the issue, Just like the Afl-CIO does not address what the people voted for. I will fight you any way I can. You are just as crooked as the corupt politicans of Oregon. We woll get rid of all unions. Member of the crooked IUEC. Voters rights and Americans with Disabilities Act. Ex AFL-CIO membere. WE WILL GET RID OF YOU!
As with any company, there are good unions and there are bad ones, or should I say, ineffective ones. I have dealt with both. A good union can only get that way by strong employee support and strong voices. For example, the Writer’s Guild of America, currently on strike now. They are having an enormous impact because, number 1, their organization is huge, 2, they have tremendous support, and 3, the outcome affects persons all over the country. How many unions could state that what happens in their local organization will affect a large group of people outside their town or state. Local unions have enormous pressures to even exist, and most businesses would prefer a non-union work force for obvious reasons. The NLRB is not union friendly. I don’t know if it ever was, but this organization is one of the key reasons why unions do so poorly, and even the best ones have to struggle to stay afloat. I would much rather have the opportunity to work with a struggling or weak union than to not have one at all, because things could always get better when you have something, something, at least, to work with.