Congressional Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday that would roll back an Obama administration rule that allowed unions to gain footholds in businesses where they otherwise lacked enough worker support to have a regular union.
A long-standing federal rule required unions to get the majority support of all employees in a workplace before the government would recognize a union. The National Labor Relations Board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency, revised the rule in 2014, allowing the organization of smaller “micro-union” groups, provided that all those workers have a common connection. For example, instead of having to organize an entire department store, a union could organize just the workers in the sporting goods section.
Republicans and business groups slammed the move as little more than a gift to organized labor. The five-member labor board had a Democratic majority at the time.
“The National Labor Relations Board decided to tip the scales in favor of unions, rather than allowing employees and managers within an organization to negotiate to best meet the needs of customers and workers alike,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the lead sponsor of the Senate legislation. The bill has 10 co-sponsors, all Republicans.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, argued the micro-union rule, if left alone, would cause problems for consumers. “Your local department store could splinter into dozens of factions that the employer must now negotiate with – with the men’s clothing department, the bedding department, the fragrance department and the women’s shoe department all represented by separate unions that are fighting over who gets the better raises and break rooms.”
Unions, which backed the rule change, have had some limited success with it. In one notable case, the United Auto Workers organized a micro-union of just 160 workers at a Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen plant, in 2015. The previous year, the union lost a vote, 712-626, to represent the entire plant. VW has refused to bargain with the micro-union and fought the rule change in court.
