National Labor Relations Board Archives

Commentary: GOP Senate Needs to Show Up to Work and Block Biden Labor Board Chair Pick

December 11, 2024 The Daily Torch

President Joe Biden is engaged in an end of presidency power play to keep Democrat control over the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by pushing a renewal of current chair Lauren McFerran to another term. Senate Republicans should do everything in their power to stop this power play and allow newly elected President Donald Trump to name the next Chairperson. This means that they have to all show up to each lame duck Senate session to stop any funny business.

Supreme Court Sides with Memphis Starbucks in Union Case

June 16, 2024 Just the News

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Starbucks on Thursday in the company’s challenge to a judicial order that would have required them to rehire seven Memphis employees that were fired while they participated in union efforts.

The “Memphis Seven” publicly released a letter addressed to the Starbucks CEO and agreed to sit down in a store with a TV news crew to discuss the union efforts.

House Report Finds Widespread Misconduct in Union Votes by Biden Labor Board

May 12, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) expansion of mail ballot elections has led to widespread mismanagement, misconduct and procedural irregularities by the agency, according to a report released Thursday by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

The NLRB issued a decision in November 2020 expanding regional agency directors’ ability to order that union elections operate by mail rather than the traditional manual ballot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the decision, voter turnout has decreased while both institutional issues, like employees interfering in elections, and integrity issues, like inappropriate voter solicitation and the number of lost or void ballots, have increased, according to the report.

Labor Board’s Pro-Union Ruling Could Have Devastating Consequences for Free Speech

May 9, 2024May 8, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

A judge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week ruled in favor of a case that has serious implications for free speech by employers when talking about unions, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Judge Brian Gee found that the NLRB was correct in its assertion that certain comments made in interviews in 2022 by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law amid a national unionization campaign at the company. Jassy’s comments were about how union members would be “better off” without a union because there would be less red tape between employees and management, and came as the Biden administration has pushed to promote unionization. However, the judge’s decision could significantly chill free speech.

Commentary: The Federal Government is Deciding Who Can Start a Small Business

March 8, 2024March 7, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

Just when it seemed impossible for things to get tougher for small businesses, the federal government decided to make things worse.

Small businesses have had a tough run for the last few years. Record inflation, high interest rates, and workforce shortages have led to widespread pessimism among small businesses. The last thing they need is more government interference, but that is exactly what is happening.

Claiming ‘Democracy Under Attack,’ Biden Administration Looks to Make It Harder to Oust Unions

November 7, 2022November 6, 2022 The Center Square

The day after President Joe Biden claimed “American democracy is under attack,” his administration took action to make it more difficult for employees to vote on whether or not they want to join a union.

At a Democrat Party campaign event on Wednesday, Biden said democracy is under attack by the “MAGA Republican Party,” referring to those who support former President Donald Trump.

Commentary: Biden National Labor Relations Board Counsel Rewrites Labor Law History

July 19, 2022July 18, 2022 RealClearWire

Very soon after being confirmed in a razor-tight U.S. Senate vote last year as general counsel for the powerful National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Jennifer Abruzzo, formerly a lawyer for the radical Communications Workers of America union, made her agenda plain to all.

Clearly acting on the wishes of the man who nominated her for the job of NLRB general counsel, Big Labor President Joe Biden, Abruzzo broadcast her intention to wield the power of her office to help union officials grab monopoly-bargaining power over millions of additional workers.

Amazon Prepares to Go on the Offensive Against Newly Unionized Employees

April 11, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

Amazon plans to go on the offensive against the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) following its successful bid to unionize Amazon workers on April 1 in New York City, according to legal documents filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Amazon intends to appeal the Amazon Labor Union’s victory in a 55% majority vote at a Staten Island, New York City warehouse to unionize the facility’s workers. The company argues that labor groups influenced the outcome of the vote.

Amazon Workers Will Redo Union Vote After First Election Ruled Illegal

January 13, 2022January 12, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

Amazon employees in Bessemer, Alabama, are set to hold a second union vote after the first election was deemed illegal, a federal labor agency said Tuesday.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that workers at the Bessemer warehouse would vote again on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) on Feb. 4. The second vote comes almost a year after the first election in which Amazon employees overwhelmingly rejected the proposal to join the RWDSU.

Following the unsuccessful unionization bid, labor organizers demanded a new vote, alleging that Amazon improperly placed the election ballot box on company property, which the union argued was a form of intimidation. The union also alleged that Amazon threatened warehouse workers with messages saying the facility might close or they might lose benefits if the union vote succeeded.

Labor Board Orders New Union Election at Amazon Warehouse

December 1, 2021November 30, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered a new unionization election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, ruling that the company violated federal labor law during the first election.

“Today’s decision confirms what we were saying all along – that Amazon’s intimidation and interference prevented workers from having a fair say in whether they wanted a union in their workplace – and as the Regional Director has indicated, that is both unacceptable and illegal,” Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) President Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement Monday.

“Amazon workers deserve to have a voice at work, which can only come from a union,” he continued.

Amazon Warehouse Workers Overwhelmingly Reject Unionization Bid, Organizers Cry Foul

April 10, 2021April 9, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, overwhelmingly rejected a bid to unionize, according to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) tally of the vote.

More than half of the workers who cast votes in the Bessemer, Alabama election voted against unionization, the NLRB reported Friday morning. Although hundreds of the ballots were contested, largely by the company, Amazon’s margin of victory was large enough that the contested votes were rendered unimportant.

The NLRB counted the vote on a live teleconference that began Thursday and resumed Friday morning with a small group of observers including Amazon representatives, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) representatives and reporters.

Teamsters Officials Forced out of LA Trucking Company After 80 Percent of Workers Sign Petition to Remove Them

March 16, 2021March 15, 2021 The Center Square

The union for a Los Angeles trucking company, Teamsters Local 986, was forced out after nearly 80% of workers signed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to remove it.

The National Labor Relations Act governs private sector workers, unionization and how workers can remove a union from their workplace. In 27 right-to-work states, union payments are voluntary. In California and other non right-to-work states, union payments are mandatory for all unionized and non-union employees.

Amazon Loses Bid to Delay Unionization Vote at Its Alabama Warehouse

February 7, 2021February 6, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The National Labor Relations Board denied Amazon’s request to delay a unionization vote in its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse and ensure it’s conducted in-person.

In January, Amazon requested that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) delay the unionization election, arguing that the proposed mail-in ballot election would disenfranchise up to 1,700 workers. The Bessemer, Alabama warehouse’s nearly 5,800 total workers will begin voting in favor or against unionization on Monday.

Labor Experts: Biden’s Unusual Firing of NLRB General Counsel Possibly ‘Unlawful’

February 1, 2021January 31, 2021 The Center Square

Just minutes after taking office on Jan. 20, President Joe Biden’s Office of Presidential Personnel demanded that Senate-confirmed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Peter Robb resign. Robb refused, citing the unprecedented nature of the demand, and was fired.

His deputy, Alice Stock, also was asked to resign, refuses, and was fired the next day.