The NLRB cancelled our election and denied employees the opportunity to vote
on unionization through secret ballot elections.
The National Labor Relations Board canceled my vote
- By Barbara Ivey
Suppressing votes is something we usually associate with Third World
dictators. But closer to home, the National Labor Relations Board in
Washington is the one calling off elections.
After working at Kaiser Permanente for 21 years, I was abruptly informed
that Service Employees International Union organizers were launching a "card
check" drive at my workplace.
Following a 13-day campaign, company officials announced that SEIU
organizers had collected enough union cards to become the sole bargaining
agent at my office. In Oregon, this means that everyone -- including those
of us who did not want to join the SEIU -- will have to pay union dues and
accept union bargaining just to keep our jobs.
If you've never experienced a card check drive in your workplace, you may
not know the difference between card check organizing and traditional secret
ballot unionization elections. During a card check campaign, union
organizers can pressure employees face to face until they sign cards that
are then counted as "votes" for unionization.
I was strongly suspicious of the results of the SEIU's card check drive from
the very beginning. Although union officials claimed to have collected
signed cards from a majority of my co-workers, I was never approached by
their organizers.
Other colleagues said they felt pressured by SEIU officials to sign cards in
favor of unionization. Many were frustrated that we never had a secret
ballot vote to determine if we'd unionize.
After talking to attorneys at the National Right to Work Foundation, I
decided to collect signatures for a union decertification election. At the
time, the NLRB allowed employees like me to petition for a secret ballot
vote immediately after a union got in via card check.
This "safety valve" was intended to correct some of the abuses associated
with card check organizing -- many of which I described above.
After I collected enough signatures to trigger a vote, the NLRB scheduled a
secret ballot election for Oct. 4. My co-workers and I were eager to have
our say, but the NLRB called the whole thing off before we could vote. It
was only later that I learned why.
In the recent Lamons Gasket case, the NLRB voted 3-1 to overturn a precedent
that allowed workers like me to demand a secret ballot unionization election
following a card check campaign.
I don't know why the NLRB decided to reverse precedent and end these
safety-valve elections. But I do know the decision has had a serious impact
on workers across the country. Several pending union decertification
elections were called off before employees had a chance to vote. Other
elections that had already taken place were abruptly nullified -- the NLRB
didn't even bother to count the ballots.
Choosing whether to unionize is a serious decision, and card check
unionization drives are often fraught with misinformation, harassment and
even intimidation.
Before the NLRB's Lamons Gasket decision, workers at least had an
opportunity to demand a secret ballot vote following a card check campaign.
Now we don't even have access to that modest restriction on aggressive union
organizing. My co-workers and I are saddled with a union for up to four
years before we get another chance to vote.
The NLRB was wrong to cancel our election and deny employees the opportunity
to vote on unionization through secret ballot elections. Congress should act
immediately to rein in the NLRB and restore my secret ballot.
http://www.nrtwc.org/ The
NLRB canceled my vote By: Barbara Ivey 10/18/11 OpEd Contributor
The Washington Examiner
Send Us Your Comments
Submit
it Here
Send News,
Comments, Web Sites, Video Links to include
Submit
it Here
E-mail talk shows. Reference any
article and add> http://www.warriorsfortruth.com
Another way to
Email this site to talk shows & friends
Just
Click Here
Share News - Email to Friends - Save Bookmark
To Warriors
For Truth Main Page |
|
