UFCW President Joe Hansen Calls for Congressional Investigation into NLRB Leaks

You may have read about a recent report by the Inspector General showing that National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Terence Flynn engaged repeatedly in improper conduct when he was chief counsel to Member Brian Hayes.

UFCW takes these allegations very seriously and is committed to making sure they are properly investigated. Here's what UFCW International President and Change to Win Chair Joe Hansen had to say on the matter today:

“These are serious allegations and I urge the appropriate Congressional Committees to launch a full investigation. The NLRB must carry out its important mission of ensuring union elections are conducted freely and fairly. Regrettably, this independent agency has consistently come under political attack from Members of Congress and candidates for President who want to make it harder for workers to organize.  

"The fact that this effort was reportedly being orchestrated by a high-profile employee of the Board is completely unacceptable. NLRB members and staff should serve as referees, striving for the fairest possible outcome and ensuring rules are followed and enforced. This Inspector General’s report suggests Member Flynn used his prior position to choose sides, bolstering big business at the expense of workers and their fundamental rights. Congress should get to the bottom of this and hold all wrongdoers fully accountable.”

Target's Shameful Targeting of Workers Who Want a Union

Guest post by Joe Hansen, UFCW International President

Workers at the Target in Valley Stream, N.Y., did a very brave thing last year: they exercised their constitutionally protected right to come together to talk about the issues they face at work and what they could do to improve their jobs for themselves, their families, and their community.

Target responded to these workers' initiative in a sadly typical way - waging a vicious campaign to scare the workers away from joining together as members of UFCW Local 1500. The company's tactics ultimately derailed last year's election at Valley Stream - and those tactics are currently being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which could decide to call for a new election with fairer conditions.

But now Target has sunk to a new low. The company announced plans to close the Valley Stream store for six months - a move that seems designed to put an end to the workers’ campaign to join together to improve their jobs.

Target is targeting these workers, singling them out, and trying to prevent the possibility of a second, fairer election. It's a shameful strategy, and one that takes aim at a core American value: the right to stick together on the job. We can't stand for such a bald-faced attack on the basic rights of working people.

UFCW Local 1500 has rightfully spoken out against the closure of the Valley Stream store and I hope federal regulators will heed their call to intervene. If they don't, it will be not only a grave injustice, but it will further embolden companies like Target and Walmart, who seek to squash worker rights in the pursuit of unfettered control of our economy.

Join me today to prevent Target from closing the Valley Stream store. Workers have the right to stick together and form a union. It’s wrong for Target or any other retailer to punish workers for exercising their rights. Retail workers across the country will be influenced by this decision, as they act together to improve their own jobs. Click here to do your part to ensure a fair outcome in Valley Stream.

Why Isn't Congress Hearing Workers?

It must be election season, because Republican leaders in Congress are at it again - wasting taxpayer dollars to make a political show of attacking workers’ most fundamental rights.

This morning, the Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing they called “The NLRB Recess Appointments: Implications for America’s Workers and Employers.” The sole intent of this hearing was to question and undermine President Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As we know, the NLRB is charged with protecting the right of every American to bargain for a better life – a right Republicans are steadfastly committed to obliterating.

On tap for tomorrow morning is a hearing by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called “The Right to Choose: Protecting Union Workers from Forced Political Contributions.” Don’t be fooled by fancy word play – this hearing doesn’t protect union workers; it protects corporations that oppose collective bargaining in the first place.

Republican committee leaders should be ashamed of themselves for so blatantly putting the corporate interest ahead of the national interest – and their constituents should be outraged. The last thing we need right now are hearings driven by cynical partisan politics – especially considering that this Congress can’t even get it together to pass substantive pieces of legislation like the American Jobs Act or the payroll tax cut extension.

It’s time we let Republican leaders in Congress know we’re tired of waiting - they need to stop wasting time and start working for the American people. Send this message loud and clear by visiting the Education and Workforce Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Facebook and giving them a piece of your mind.

House Republicans Do it Again: Another Bill to Erode Workers' Rights

Guest post by UFCW Assistant Director of Communications, Politics and Advocacy, Tim Schlittner:

There they go again. A day after Congress’ approval rating hit an all-time low of 9 percent, House Republicans on the Education and the Workforce Committee passed yet another piece of legislation designed to erode workers’ fundamental right to organize.

It’s the latest attack on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the independent panel charged with overseeing unfair labor practices and union elections. Make no mistake—efforts to undermine and gut the NLRB is more than just the same old Republican attack on government. As the New York Times pointed out in an October 13 editorial, it has the danger of “unraveling workers’ rights that have been part of the fabric of our social contract since the Great Depression.”

This particular bill would make it harder for workers to form a union by mandating minimum delays before NLRB elections. This means more time for employers to coerce, harass, intimidate, and in some cases fire their employees. It also means more time for employers to file frivolous lawsuits intended to deny unionization through delay. House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) dubbed it the “Election Prevention Act.”

Congress should be focusing on creating jobs and growing the economy, not creating hardship for workers and growing the profits of big business.

House Republicans should heed the call of the Occupy Wall Street protesters and spend their time and energy on job creation, not union bashing. Maybe then they can get their approval rating back into double digits.
 

Are Congressional Republicans on a NLRB Witch Hunt?

American Rights at Work is a
great resource for more on the
NLRB proposed rule changes.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is holding a hearing this morning on the new NLRB proposed rule changes which would create more efficient, shorter elections and cut out much of the bureaucracy that plagues both business and workers during union elections. Catherine Fist, a professor of law at the University of CA-Irvine, said that the new NLRB rule is "modest and long over-due." 

Don't expect a fair hearing, though, from Republican Chairman Kline and Republicans on the committee; they've titled the hearing "Rushing Union Elections: Protecting the Interests of Big Labor at the Expense of Workers' Free Choice." Which should tell you something about whose side they're really on. (HINT: It's NOT workers' side. Anyone using terms like "Big Labor" is not on workers' side at all.)

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions) said that "instead of talking about ways to put people back to work, Republicans are conducting another witch hunt against the NLRB." Rep. Andrews also mentioned that the Democrats were only allowed to have one witness at the hearing. Guess who Republicans have on the witness list? More than one witness - including a partner at anti-labor law firm Jackson Lewis. We're guessing he'll be totally fair and impartial.

NLRB Doubles in Size, Thanks to Recess Appointments by Obama

President Obama took a stand against obstructionist tactics in the Senate this Saturday, making 15 recess appointments--that is to say, filling key administration posts on a temporary basis without confirmation by the full Senate.

This is great news for the National Labor Relations Board, which saw its membership double from two to four. One more member and we'd have a full board. This is a significant step toward having a functioning NLRB that doesn't elicit quite so many frustrated blog posts.

So how come the President went over the Senate's head to make these appointments? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Senate has blocked over 200 critical nominations since the beginning of 2008, leaving our federal government severely understaffed during the worst economic crisis in over half a century?

Well, actually, according to the White House Blog, yes:

"While the President respects the critical role the Senate plays in the appointment process, he was no longer willing to let another month go by with key economic positions unfilled, especially at a time when our country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."

[...]

"The roadblocks we’ve seen in the Senate have left some government agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission impaired in fulfilling their mission. These agencies can now get back to working for the American people."

Impaired! That's the word we've been searching for. And to put it all in context, the Congressional Research Service tells us that President George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments throughout his time in office (that's an average of 21 per year!), while President Clinton made 139.

And now, without further ado, your newest NLRB members are ...

Craig Becker: Becker currently serves as Associate General Counsel to both the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale College in 1978 and received his J.D. in 1981 from Yale Law School where he was an Editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school he clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. For the past 27 years, he has practiced and taught labor law. He was a Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law between 1989 and 1994 and has also taught at the University of Chicago and Georgetown Law Schools. He has published numerous articles on labor and employment law in scholarly journals, including the Harvard Law Review and Chicago Law Review, and has argued labor and employment cases in virtually every federal court of appeals and before the United States Supreme Court.

Mark Pearce: Pearce has been a labor lawyer for his entire career. He is one of the founding partners of the Buffalo, New York law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux where he practices union side labor and employment law before state and federal courts and agencies including the N.Y.S. Public Employment Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the National Labor Relations Board. Pearce in 2008 was appointed by the NYS Governor to serve as a Board Member on the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, an independent quasi-judicial agency responsible for review of certain rulings and compliance orders of the NYS Department of Labor in matters including wage and hour law. Pearce has taught several courses in the labor studies program at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations Extension. He is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Prior to 2002, Pearce practiced union side labor law and employment law at Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll, Salisbury & Cambria LLP. From 1979 to 1994, he was an attorney and District Trial Specialist for the NLRB in Buffalo, NY. Pearce received his J.D. from State University of New York, and his B.A. from Cornell University.

(Bios courtesy of the White House Press Office)