Ambush Union Elections On Hold

A federal judge has overturned a National Labor Relations Board rule that streamlines the process for union elections. The rule was deemed invalid because the board didn’t follow its own rules for voting, said U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C. The NLRB lacked a quorum when it approved the rule, the judge decided, because only two members voted on it. Under the law governing the board, it takes three members to establish a quorum, even when there are vacancies on the board.

Several business groups acknowledged that the board, now consisting of three Democrats and two Republicans, may simply vote again to adopt the rule changes. The validity of a new board action on the rule changes could be challenged as well, the groups said.

But International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said in a statement “the board and the courts must reconsider this issue as soon as possible so that the board can do its job of protecting workers’ rights. NLRB said it has, “temporarily suspended” implementation of the regulatory changes and Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon has withdrawn instructions to regional offices on implementing the new rules.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce commented on Boasberg’s ruling in a blog post prepared by the chamber’s Senior Vice President Randy Johnson and Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center. Johnson and Conrad said the chamber argued that the NLRB proposal was an effort to achieve through rulemaking “a union election scheme that Congress has repeatedly rejected.”