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The NLRB Is Doubling Down On An Already Aggressive Pro-Union Agenda
Joe Biden’s well-advertised union-friendly stance has, to briefly sum things up, hit some roadblocks along the way. Midterm elections loom in the not-so-distant future, and the Senate’s still gridlocking on bills that are laced with pro-union measures from Democrats. Biden may also already be running out of time to meet his goals of revamping labor law through executive means, and his administration’s tactics with the NLRB border upon looking dicey.
As we detailed last month, Biden’s termination of then-NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb was unprecedented and possibly illegal (although a federal judge gave the greenlight). However, that hasn’t stopped freshly installed NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo from hitting the ground running with an aggressive pro-union agenda. In a new video shared by the More Perfect Union group, Abruzzo previewed her plan to lay more ground for broader unionization among workers.
In the video, Abruzzo confirmed that she will push to reinstate the Joy Silk doctrine (which we previously analyzed). Essentially, the doctrine would require employers to recognize a union if employees can prove majority support. This can mean that card-check recognition could be enough without an election even happening; and bargaining orders could then come from the NLRB, as a result of an employer’s unfair labor practice or even if the employer simply can’t prove why majority status may not exist.
If Abruzzo is successful in her plans to make the Joy Silk doctrine effective, that could result in a groundswell of rapid unionization, and there’s an ongoing event that she hopes will make this happen. Abruzzo may be able to use a case involving California port truck workers. The group wants Joy Silk to be put into place due to alleged unfair labor practices by XPO Logistics, which has so far declined to recognize the Teamsters despite supposed majority support from workers who claim they are misclassified as independent contractors.
Further developments should be expected, although it’s worth noting that (at least in this video) Abruzzo doesn’t mention the possibility of overruling Ex-Cello and putting penalties (by another name) on the table. Yet that hangs in the balance too, should the PRO Act ever pass.
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Phillip Wilson, PO Box 1529, Broken Arrow, OK 74013, United States
