GOP and Chamber of Commerce's War Over the Bulletin Board
by Peter Dreier and Donald Cohen
11/22/11
Earlier this month, thirty-six House Republicans filed an amicus court brief to support corporate America's war on workers' rights. They are embracing a suit filed by the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Restaurant Association , and other business lobbies to block a new ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.
This ruling, by one of those out-of-control federal government agencies, could be devastating to the job-creating corporations that are the engine of the American economy. Just listen to those who should know:
"The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is causing great uncertainty among manufacturers at a time when our economy is struggling to recover," Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, recently warned.
"Just when we thought we had seen it all from the NLRB, it has reached a new low in its zeal to punish small business owners," echoed Karen Harned of the National Federation of Independent Business.
"It's unnecessary, needlessly provocative and will only to serve to create division rather than cooperation between small business owners and their employees," said Farrell Quinlan, NFIB's Arizona state director.
"The National Labor Relations Board is making sure that unemployment remains high in America," wrote Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Manhattan Institute, a business-sponsored conservative think tank.
"This is nothing more than labor regulation run amok," reiterated Robin Conrad of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The conservative website GOPUSA, labeled it "another disgusting government intrusion into private business."
What is it that's got America's major business lobby groups and their friends so upset?
A poster. More specifically, a recent ruling by the NLRB saying that as of next January 31, employers must display an 11-by-17-inch poster (available at no cost from the NLRB) informing workers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.
The placard tells workers about their right to join a union and their right not to join a union.
The poster explains 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 refrain from 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. It is simply a summary of a 76-year-old federal law.
From the reactions of the corporate cry babies, you'd think that the NLRB had commanded businesses to pass out copies of the Communist Manifesto during lunch breaks.
After the NLRB published the proposed rule in the Federal Register earlier this year, it received more than 7,000 public comments, most of them from business groups and employers objecting to the requirement to inform employees of their rights. But the corporate lobbyists and their political allies reserved their angriest objections for business publications and their own websites.
The NLRB ruling simply mandates employees to put the poster on a bulletin board where employees can see it. They could put it up right next to other notices they already have to post that tell workers what the current minimum wage is or what they should do if they are subject to unsafe working conditions.
Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act -- often called the Wagner Act after its sponsor, Sen. Robert F. Wagner Sr. of New York -- in 1935, as part of the New Deal's social legislation, along with the 40-hour week, the minimum wage, and Social Security. Although it has been amended several times, its key components haven't changed. It gives workers the right to organize unions and collectively bargain with employers. The law created the National Labor Relations Board - a five-member body, appointed by the president with the approval of the Senate - to guarantee that employees and employers know their rights and responsibilities under the law...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/gop-and-chamber-of-commer_b_1107499.html?ref=politics&;ir=Politics
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