President Obama on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would undo new rules governing union elections that businesses oppose, saying they would give an advantage to unions during organizing drives.
It was the second veto Obama has issued since Republicans took control of the Senate in January and the fourth of his tenure.
The bill, passed by on mostly party-line votes by the House and Senate earlier in March, would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from implementing a rule, issued in December, that would accelerate union elections at workplaces.
In vetoing the bill, Obama called the rule a “modest but overdue” change to labor elections laws.
“Unions historically have been at the forefront of establishing things like the 40-hour work week, the weekend, elimination of child labor laws, establishing fair benefits and decent wages,” Obama said. “And one of the freedoms of folks here in the United States is, is that if they choose to join a union, they should be able to do so. And we shouldn’t be making it impossible for that to happen.”
House Speaker John Boehner objected to the veto.
“The NLRB’s ambush election rule is an assault on the rights and privacy protections of American workers,” Boehner said in a statement responding to the veto. “With his veto, the president has once again put the interests of his political allies ahead of the small business owners and hardworking Americans who create jobs and build a stronger economy.”
The legislation was favored by business groups, who argue that the rule would benefit union leaders and not businesses.
Labor unions have pushed for the rule for a long time, which would require union workplace elections to take place within a two-week timeframe of the vote being authorized by the National Labor Relations Board. Currently, elections take several months or longer. The change gives business managers less time to campaign against labor organizing.
