Yesterday,
Congress had a special House-Senate hearing over whether the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has abandoned its core historic mission of promoting the rights of workers and peaceful labor relations. The NLRB's lone Democrat, Wilma Liebman was quoted as saying
that:
Something different is going on—more ’sea change’ than ’see-saw.’ The
current board, it seems to me,
is divorced from the National Labor
Relations Act (NLRA), its values, and its goals….Virtually every recent
policy choice by the board impedes collective bargaining, creates
obstacles to union representation,
or favors employer interests.…No
wonder that there has been loss of faith in the board.
That's a powerful indictment from a sitting comissioner of the NLRB. What could have gotten these critics so worked up?
They looked at several recent decisions of the NLRB which ranged from reclassifying up to 8 million American workers as 'Supervisors' (and therefore ineligible from union representation and collective bargaining) to recent decisions which have made it harder to organize workers.
Perhaps the most powerful testimony came from Feliza Ryland, a Florida hotel housekeeper who was fired striking after her union contract expired. The NLRB ruled in her case that any time she spent picketing over her job loss couldn't be figured into the back wages she was due from her old employer. The Board ruled that such picketing was 'idleness' which should not be rewarded.
So...fighting for the job you just lost because your boss illegally fired you becuase (hold on!) you were exercising your legal rights to strike your employer during a contract dispute--that's idleness. And it shouldn't be rewarded. Firing the people illegally, not idleness.
Now keep in mind that the NLRB has already ruled that she and 43 of her cowrokers were illegally fired. They ruled this in 2001. That's six years ago, for those of you keeping score at home. The firings themselves happened in 1996. So we're talking about 11 years between the illegal acts and any resolution of this issue. All of which prompted Ms. Ryland to say:
“It has now been more than 11 years since I was unlawfully fired,and I am still waiting to see the back pay, still waiting
to see justice.”
It was nearly a month ago that hundreds of unionists picketed the NLRB's DC office,
urging it to close for renovations.
United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts told the crowd that:
I say take the “L” out, because it’s not
labor’s board. It’s Bush’s board. It’s Cheney’s board. It’s
the Chamber
of Commerce’s board. It’s the Right to Work board. It’s the National
Association
of Manufacturers’ board. It sure as hell ain’t the labor
board."