Judge nixes NLRB request to
reverse union election rule
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — A
federal district judge has turned down the
National Labor Relations Board’s
(NLRB) request to reconsider his prior
ruling killing the Board’s rule making
union recognition elections fairer and
more efficient.
The rejection by District Judge James
Boasberg was cheered by the Chamber
of Commerce and the National Associa-
tion of Manufacturers, which sued to
stop the rule from taking affect.
And it left the Board pondering its
next move in the controversy.
Boasberg threw out the rule earlier
this year because, he decided, the NLRB
lacked a quorum when it passed the
measure last Dec. 16. The Board’s two
Democratic members voted for the rule,
but its lone Republican, Brian Hayes,
neither opposed it nor abstained. He sim-
ply didn’t vote.
The NLRB’s rule would deprive busi-
nesses of time they use for some proce-
dural tricks to delay and deny workers
the right to vote on whether to unionize.
It would consolidate hearings, mandate
that hearings on voter eligibility be after
the vote, and set a time limit for object-
ing to election procedures, among other
things.
Hayes’ non-vote deprived the NLRB
of its required three-member quorum for
a decision on the rule, Boasberg said.
That’s despite new evidence the
NLRB introduced at the rehearing about
how its electronic “voting room,” involv-
ing all three Board members, works —
and showing that Hayes voted on every-
thing else electronically on Dec. 16.
The Board even noted that Hayes
wrote a dissent against the rule when it
was sent for official publication. Boas-
berg replied that Hayes, like the other
Board members, was under the “misim-
pression” that the rule passed and should
be published. But Hayes didn’t vote on
it, so the rule wasn’t legally passed, the
judge said.
“Hayes’ presence for and participation
in other votes that day do not necessarily
establish his presence for the vote in
question,” Boasberg wrote in his latest
ruling at the end of July. “He must have
been present for this vote to count to-
wards this quorum,” the judge said (his
emphasis).
The NLRB can still pass the rule,
Boasberg reiterated, if it can find a quo-
rum to do so.
HAPPY LABOR DAY TO ALL
from
IRON WORKERS LOCAL 29
111 PROUD YEARS OF SERVING THE WORKING MEN AND WOMEN OF OREGON
Executive Board
Rion Barrett, Kevin Crocker,
Shane Nehls,
Michael Newton, Neal Ryan
Kevin Jensen - F INANCIAL S-T/B USINESS M ANAGER
Joe Bowers - P RESIDENT /B USINESS A GENT
Robert Camarillo - D ISPATCHER /O RGANIZER
Kevin Soto - R ECORDING S ECRETARY
11620 NE Ainsworth Circle,
Suite 200, Portland, OR
503-774-0777
Aimee Parmeter - A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT
AUGUST 17, 2012
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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