Today the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing to discuss the National Labor Relations Board’s recent set of proposed rules, which if passed, would significantly change union election procedures and restrict both employer and employee rights. 


Under a recent notice of proposed rulemaking, the NLRB seeks to dramatically reduce the timeframe between the filing of a petition for union election and the actual date of the election. The proposed rules also limit the opportunity for a hearing of issues that may arise during the election period. Other provisions include providing employers with a scant seven days to prepare an initial representation case for hearing and eliminating any review by the Board of contested issues raised before a union election takes place.

The hearing consisted of a panel who provided opening statements and answered questions of committee members. The panel represented a broad and varied range of experience with union elections. The panel included former NLRB chairman Peter Schaumber and Michael Lotito of Jackson Lewis LLP. The Jackson Lewis firm serves as ALFA’s counsel for labor issues.

The proposed rules in total will significantly restrict an employer’s ability and right to communicate with their employees; and deprive employees of critical information needed to make informed decisions regarding whether they wish to be represented by a union. The rules if adopted will also empower unions to more frequently conduct “ambush campaigns.” In many organizing campaigns, especially those directed at small businesses, ambush elections are often conducted months prior to a petition being filed. Businesses are often unaware that a campaign has been underway until a petition is filed. If the proposed rules are adopted, businesses will not have adequate time to properly respond to these ambush campaigns. These rules will especially hamper small businesses, which will probably lack the time and resources needed to adequately address these types of campaigns.

One of the primary fallacies behind the filing of the proposed rules is the claim by unions that elections take too long. According to the NLRB’s most recent annual report, the median time for an election (from the time a petition is filed to the vote by employees) is 38 days. Over 90 percent of all union elections occur within 56 days.

ALFA applauds Chairman John Kline (R-MN) for continuing his efforts to hold the NLRB accountable for promoting a radical agenda at the expense of employee and employer rights. Chairman Kline accurately points out that these types of initiatives are job destroyers. ALFA will continue to work with Chairman Kline and members of Congress to defeat these proposals and will be asking for your help to ensure that employee and employer rights are not compromised by overzealous federal regulatory agencies. The following site provides the complete hearing and meeting materials, “Rushing Union Elections: Protecting the Interests of Big Labor at the Expense of Workers’ Free Choice”

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If you have any comments or feedback, please contact ALFA:

Paul Williams 
Senior Director of Government Relations
703-562-1183
pwilliams@alfa.org

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