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NLRB

Labor Relations

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): Overview

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): Overview

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was created by an act of Congress in 1935, and according to the agency's website the NLRB's mission remains "to protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy" (Act, 2011, NLRB). Its original, main intended purpose was to protect the rights of workers to unionize, although its mission has since expanded to protect the rights of all employees and additionally to reign in potentially abusive practices by unions within certain workplaces.

As an independent federal agency, the NLRB is "vested with the authority to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have a union as their collective bargaining representative, and to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions" (Act, 2011, NLRB). For example, a NLRB judge recently ordered an employer to reinstate members of a union after breaking off negotiations with its employees' union, and declared it in violation of federal law for refusing to reinstate striking workers when they offered to return (NLRB Judge finds Daycon Products violated labor laws, 2011, NLRB). Another recent settlement mediated by NLRB required an employer to more clearly define rules about discussing wages, hours and work conditions, after an employee was fired, based upon private Facebook posts made during non-work hours. The employer was also violated the law when disciplining the worker when she requested union representation during the dispute (Settlement, 2011, NLRB).

"The National Labor Relations Act forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity. Similarly, labor organizations may not restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of these rights" (Employee rights, 2011, NLRB). The NLRB protects both union members and union employees. Employers cannot interfere with worker's membership in unions; employees cannot be coerced to perform certain union actions against their will, like engaging in an illegal strike. On a state-by-state basis, some states have 'right to work' laws, prohibiting closed shops (enforced union membership) and it is up to the individual employee at every workplace, regardless of location "to decide whether or not to join the union and pay dues, even though all workers are protected by the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the union" (Employee rights, 2011, NLRB).

Nurses often struggle under difficult working conditions, such as long shifts, and having a union act as an advocate can be a vital component of the nurse's ability to receive fair treatment in the workplace. The NLRB gives employees the ability to "act with co-workers to improve working conditions by raising complaints with an employer or a government agency" (FAQ, 2011, NLRB). The NLRB's powers include investigating complaints, seeking resolution through mediation, making decisions, and enforcing charges.

However, in recent history, the NLRB has not always been a 'friend' to nurses. Precisely who constitutes a supervisor and an employee is of critical importance in determining who has the right to engage in collective bargaining under the law. In 2006, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) "dealt a severe blow to nurses' and other workers' rights to join unions and bargain collectively….the board ruled that many charge nurses were supervisors, and therefore excluded from the protections under the National Labor Relations Act" (NLRB, 2006, AFSCME). The relative ease of defining certain employees as supervisors has been used to limit the ability of nurses to strike. According to the current terms of the National Labor Relations Act, a supervisor is "any individual having the authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection with the foregoing the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment" (NLRB, 2006, AFSCME). By holding that a supervisor need only perform ONE of these actions, many ordinary staff nurses were subsumed under the category of 'supervisor,' simply because they direct other employees as part of their nursing duties.