WASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of industry sectors and businesses filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the National Labor Relations Board from moving forward with its “ambush elections” rule issued Dec. 12, the National Association of Manufacturers said.
The rule changes longstanding labor policy by shortening the time frame for businesses to hold union elections to as little as 14 days, robbing employees of the time needed to gather the facts they need to make an informed decision.
“The NLRB is attempting to overturn more than 75 years of settled labor policy as it continues to implement a radical, agenda-driven policy,” NAM CEO and President Jay Timmons said. “Manufacturers are prepared to fight this battle again on all fronts.”
The NAM said that with the rule, the Obama Administration has made clear that it plans to pursue a partisan agenda to overturn longstanding and effective labor policy. The lawsuit was joined by the National Retail Federation, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“The NLRB rule drastically accelerates the union election process, depriving employers of their right to explain to employees the impacts of unionizing,” said Randy Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits. “Furthermore, we question the need for the regulation given that 95 percent of all elections are now conducted within two months and that unions win more than two-thirds of them. The Chamber already won a legal battle against the NLRB when it issued this rule in 2011, and we will continue to use all available means to push back against the Board’s overreach.”
According to the civil complaint, “In doing so, the Final Rule is ‘contrary to common sense, contrary to the [National Labor Relations] Act and its legislative history, and contrary to other legal requirements directed to the preservation of employee free choice, all of which focus on guaranteeing enough time for making important decisions’.”
The rule is “fundamentally unfair and will predictably deny parties due process by unreasonably altering long established Board norms for adequate notice and opportunity to introduce relevant evidence and address election-related issues,” the lawsuit said.
The Business Council of Alabama BCA is Alabama’s exclusive affiliate to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
-Dana Beyerle