Workers deserve a “fair, clear system for protecting their rights and making themselves heard in union elections,” four top Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) strongly supporting the board’s proposed changes in the way elections to form unions are conducted.
Noting that the current election procedures are “outdated and contain unnecessary delays…that run anywhere from three and a half years to 13 years,” the lawmakers say:
The longer an election is delayed, the more likely it is that workers will face harassment and unlawful retaliation for exercising their rights….In today’s workplace one in five workers who exercise the right to organize is illegally fired. In that environment, workers stop trying to organize, leading to a country where tens of millions of Americans who want a union do not have one.
The four are Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee; Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Education and Workforce Committee; and Rep. Robert Andrews D-N.J.), ranking member of the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee.
They wrote that along with ensuring workers’ rights, the proposed changes also “maintain employers’ rights while providing greater certainty and lower litigation costs for employers, workers and the government.”
The current systems delays and red tape encourage labor unrest and erode the rights of employers and employees alike. The new rules will help heal that broken system, bringing greater peace and greater fairness to the American workplace.
Click here for the full letter
