NLRB feels ‘street heat’

The details of the cases are complicated — they deal with the legal definition of who is a supervisor — but the bottom line is that, in a worst case scenario, a board decision could give the nation’s employers the right to legally bar up to 8 million U.S. workers from being union members.

They would do this by designating as a “supervisor” anyone who has skills, gives direction to others and exercises judgment. A nurse, a construction crew leader or a powerhouse dispatcher might be anointed a “supervisor” by the federal labor board. They won’t get a raise in pay, an expense account or even a high-back chair. But they will be left without any protection, even subject to firing. And the bargaining power of their co-workers will be diminished.

When a group of people work together every day, confronting the same workplace issues like health and safety, for example, should they be required to go it alone in dealing with their employer? Or should our country’s laws give them the right to join together and bargain collectively?

The majority of America’s 125 million workers support such a right. In fact, a majority of workers say they would join a union if given a chance. The Bush administration labor policy is all about making sure they don’t get that chance.

The demonstrators had good reason to take pre-emptive action. In previous decisions, the NLRB, which now consists of five Bush appointees, said that temporary workers can only join unions with their bosses’ permission. It ruled that college teaching assistants who are graduate students aren’t union-eligible workers because their status is “educational,” and that disabled workers are barred because their work is “rehabilitative.”


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