Here we go again.
Rule changes proposed this week by the National Labor Relations Board that would make it easier for unions to organize are yet another effort to tilt the playing field in favor of labor.
The new rules would drastically shorten the time that workers have before being asked to vote on unionization. They’re unfair to employers and employees alike, and they ought to be rejected.
While the changes are the latest endeavour to give unions advantages in organizing, they certainly aren’t the only effort.
Since Barack Obama was elected president with broad union support, Big Labor has relentlessly tried to collect on the work it did to get him into office.
There was the unsuccessful effort to get Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the so-called card-check legislation that would make union organizing much easier while dispensing with the secret ballot.
Thankfully, that legislation withered away for lack of support, even though Congress was controlled by Democrats, but there have been other efforts to gain an advantage for unions.
In recent months, the NLRB filed a lawsuit against Boeing, accusing the world’s largest aerospace company of retaliating against unionized workers in Washington state by trying to open a new production line in non-union South Carolina.
Heaven forbid that Boeing should try to build airplanes in a state with lower costs that is thrilled to have the company.
The case is before an administrative law judge, the beginning of a process that could stretch on for years.
Now come the proposed rules to expedite union organizing.
Generally speaking, labor elections take place some 45-60 days after a union gathers enough signatures to file an organizing petition. The NLRB proposal would shorten that window by days or even weeks, by deferring challenges on voter eligibility and instituting electronic filing.
The compressed time frame would deprive employers of the full ability to communicate with employees about the effects of collective bargaining, and it would give employees less time to thoughtfully consider all the issues.
If the NLRB were to approve the changes, it would be considered a victory for labor, which has long objected to the current time frame, saying it gives employers time to intimidate workers.
However, the average time it took to go from petition to election in 2008 was 57 days, according to the NLRB. That’s not an eternity by any stretch, and it gives employers an opportunity to present their concerns to workers.
Further undercutting the union case is their winning percentage under the current system. In fiscal year 2009, unions prevailed in nearly 64 percent of union elections. That’s a pretty good conversion rate.
We hope the NLRB, which is now taking comments on the proposal, will back off this plan.
