LaborPains.org

On Monday, the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW) announced that it was assisting four clients challenging the validity of the appointments including Richard Griffin (whose name you’ve certainly heard before), Sharon Block, and Terence Flynn (who has since resigned from the NLRB).

The NLRB found in both cases that union bosses illegally forced workers who exercise[d] their right to refrain from formal union membership to “annually renew” their objections to paying full union dues.

But in both cases, the NLRB – filled with President Barack Obama’s legally-suspect appointments – only applied their ruling prospectively to the workers involved in the cases and not retroactively to all workers who have objected in the past to paying full union dues to the respective unions.

On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asked Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reconsider his decision to strike down a rule decreasing the amount of time needed for union elections, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Judge Boasberg struck the rule down last month, saying that the board lacked a quorum because Republican Brian Hayes didn’t cast a ballot. Therefore, he did not “show up,” according to the judge.

The NLRB now argues that Mr. Hayes was present in the electronic voting room, with a memo they say shows that he logged on to the system the agency tracks.

In a memo attached to its motion for reconsideration filed Monday with the court, the board said the judge’s decision was based on a “mistaken understanding of the facts.”

“While the voting was occurring on this rule, [Hayes] simultaneously participated in the votes taken on other matters, and deliberately abstained from voting on this rule. He opened, but did not act upon, the voting task in this rule,” the board wrote in its memo.

Credit: Crazy George

Every Senate Democrat voted against a Republican measure to nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial ruling in favor of “quickie” or “ambush” votes on unionization.

Labor experts believe the NLRB rule will slash the time between calling and holding an election from 40 days to as few as 14. There has been an outcry from Republicans who believe that “the new rules will lead to ‘ambush’ elections that barely leave company managers enough time to respond or counsel against forming a union.”

Senate Democrats gave the impression that they’re unafraid of the consequences at the ballot box for their stand. Though Republicans had little chance of passing the amendment in the Democratic-controlled Senate, it forced some Democrats who face tough re-election bids to take a stand on an issue important to business groups. While the chances of the amendment passing were slim, President Obama still threatened a veto on the measure.