Vote Expected on Legislation to Nullify NLRB Quickie Election Rule

Next week the Senate could consider a resolution providing for disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures. AGC opposed the NLRB rule which will become go into effect April 30, 2012, unless Congress acts. AGC opposes the rule because expediting the union representation election cycle to as little as 14 days denies employers due process and ample time to prepare. It effectively limits workers’ access to information and an adequate opportunity to consider information, about whether they want to be represented by the union seeking to represent them. This rule will have a particularly difficult application and detrimental impact on the construction industry due to the complexity of identifying the appropriate bargaining unit and of determining voter eligibility in the industry, and due to the decentralized nature of construction workplaces operated by the same employer. Additionally, in construction, the rule can directly affect employers with unionized workforces as well as those whose workers are not yet organized, by putting their current pre-hire agreements in jeopardy. Historically, both union contractors and building trade unions have benefitted from the ease, convenience, and flexibility of 8(f), or pre-hire, agreements unique to the construction industry. The quickie election rule would enable unions to more readily convert their 8(f) relationships to 9(a) relationships in order to restrain a union contractor's flexibility or restrain a rival union from taking over its jurisdiction. In addition, a rival union might use the election process to take jurisdiction from a union with an 8(f) relationship. AGC is concerned that this regulation could have substantial unintended consequences and destabilize an industry that is struggling to recover from depression-like conditions. The rule is also a change in direction from over 50 years of U.S. labor law where the NLRB has almost never issued regulations and has frequently recognized the unique and complicated aspects of the employer-employee relationship in the construction industry. Visit AGC’s Legislative Action Center and write to your Senators urging them to vote in favor of the resolution providing for disapproval of the NLRB’s rule. For more information, please contact Jim Young at 202-547-3350 oryoungj@agc.org.