Friday, November 12, 2010

Some good news about the NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board is expected to issue more rulings favorable to unions (for a change), the Wall Street Journal reports today.
In one recent decision, the board's three Democrats backed a union practice of holding large stationary banners at a secondary employer's business to protest contractor work being done. The board ruled that because the banners weren't part of a marching picket line, they weren't "coercive," and therefore didn't violate labor laws.
The board is also revisiting several cases, like whether the UAW can represent graduate students at New York University.

But wait, here's the good part:
Another contentious issue that the NLRB could address is whether to reduce the amount of time that a union must wait between filing for an organizing election and actually holding the vote. The average lag time is currently about 38 days. Unions say they want to shrink that time substantially, arguing that delay gives employers more time to pressure workers to vote against organizing.