Sources: National Right to Work Foundation, Springfield, Va.; CP staff
A deadline has passed for the National Labor Relations Board to file petitions at the U.S. Supreme Court to review two federal appellate court decisions striking down a proposed rule requiring private-workplace display of an 11- x 17-in. poster detailing employees’ union-organizing rights.
The Board’s inaction lets stand two victories: At the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, attorneys from the Foundation and other groups won a unanimous decision striking down the rule. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit also struck down the rule in a separate legal challenge by other groups.
“By promulgating this sweeping new requirement, the NLRB clearly overstepped its statutory authority in a heavy-handed attempt to force more workers into forced unionism ranks,” noted National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix in a statement on the Board’s capitulation. “The rule would have required almost every job provider in America to post biased, one-sided notices about workers’ rights … Mom and Pop shops, small businesses, larger companies—even some religiously-affiliated organizations—would have been forced to comply.
“Eight judges in two federal appeals court circuits have considered the NLRB’s rule. All found [it] to be unlawful in whole or in part. It appears the unanimous voice of the judiciary has forced the Obama Labor Board to back down from its attempt to empower union bosses yet again at the expense of the rights of employees and employers.”
Announced in late-2010, the rule a) required employers who have never committed a violation or been accused of unfair labor practices to post an incomplete notice about employee rights; b) stipulated that employers who did not comply would be guilty of violating federal labor law; and, c) provided no corresponding requirement to give employees information about how to exercise their rights to refrain from union membership and forced political activity, or to remove a union from their workplace.