Government Takes Step to Protect Employees

From the Associated Press:

 Employees who don’t want to be unionized have 45 days to build up support for a government-monitored decertification vote even if a company agrees to a card check campaign and the union wins, the National Labor Relations Board said Tuesday.

In a 3-2 vote, the NLRB decided to give anti-union employees a chance to object to unionization and demand a secret ballot election even if the company agreed to a card check campaign on formation of a union.

It may sound like a small matter, but it’s a big deal to employees who may feel like their boss cut a deal with a union that leaves workers picking up the tab. Meanwhile, the dissenting opinion is troubling:

The board’s decision will make it less likely that a company will voluntarily agree to a card-check campaign, said NLRB members Dennis P. Walsh and Wilma B. Liebman.

“An employer has little incentive to recognize a union voluntarily if it knows that its decision is subject to second-guessing through a decertification petition,” the two wrote.

Why should it be a matter of law to make it easier for employers to cut deals that infringe on the rights of employees? This logic reeks of union favoritism.

Warning: Look for union officials and their allies to squawk that this is the “anti-Labor Bush government” trying to hurt unions. That’s a load of bull — this is about protecting employees, something union bosses gave up on long ago.