EFCA by Stealth or Fiat?

In one of the few votes being taken this week in the U.S. Senate (due to inclement weather), Craig Becker was filibustered out of a chance to be voted into office with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), though I'm sure the cloture vote will be taken again, maybe many times.

Once ensconced at the NLRB, Becker hopes to issue diktats to implement the provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), bypassing both Congress (where there aren't enough votes) and the Constitution (where it says you need Congress to vote).

Anyway, it all may be moot since rumor has it that the Dems have slipped EFCA language into the looming "jobs bill," which is probably not even a jobs bill but a bunch of pork for the cronies back home.

Anyway, I thought this cartoon pretty well summed up the consequences of EFCA and "card check."

NMB Relaxes Unionization Standards

In an apparent effort to help organizers establish a union at Delta Air Lines, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has voted (along party lines) to change the secret ballot standard for unionization.

Airlines (and FedEx, which is currently subject to another political hatchet job to be forcefully unionized) are regulated by the Railway Labor Act rather than the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NMB has traditionally interpreted unionization voting standards as requiring a majority of affected workers to vote affirmatively, meaning that those who don't bother to vote are counted as "noes."

No more, the NMB action yesterday (Nov. 2, 2009) means that organizers now need just a majority of votes cast even if the number of those voting doesn't even add up to a majority of affected workers.

Cute trick. The only thing now standing between Delta's unionization by minority vote is a 60-day public commentary period following the NMB vote.

If you want conspiracy theory, here it is: On the Friday before Monday's NMB vote, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) withdrew its application for a unionization vote at Delta.

Delta says the IAM withdrew its ballot request to delay the vote until the new rule comes into effect.

You think?

Can the NLRB Force a Company to Reopen?

According to employer attorney George Lenard on his blawg, the answer is yes, no, and "it depends," though he does say it's not a very realistic outcome.

The company in question is the now-infamous Republic Windows and Doors, late of Chicago but now reincarnated in a place called Red Oak, Iowa, and renamed Echo Windows.

The difference? No United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union in Iowa.

Recall back in December, when Republic abruptly closed down due to a "credit crunch," the employees refused to vacate the premises until the owner of Republic, a man named Richard Gillman, obtained a line of credit to pay the workers all money due them, including eight weeks of pay under the WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act.

Sure enough, along with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing to cease operations, Gillman provided $1.75 million to settle with the employees.

Case closed, big victory for the union, right?

Not quite, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union smelled a rat and filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The filing requested that the machinery that had been ferreted out of the Chicago plant in the dead of the night to Red Oak and the new factory be returned to Chicago, where Republic might be put back in operation under a potential new owner.

Now, here's where it gets tricky. If Gillman did indeed move his operations to another state to bust the union, then previous court cases (cited by Lenard) grant the NLRB the right to order the old factory to be reinstated with the employees and union in tow.

Lenard doesn't give this reopening-of-Republic scenario much chance of playing out, but he concludes that it's not outside the realm of possibility.

With new appointees to the NLRB under Obama surely to be highly pro-labor, I'd say anything is indeed possible.