Check out Chris Bowers’ post on Open Left regarding the ideological shift of the National Labor Relations Board. It should more aptly be called the “No” Labor Relations Board. With four of its five members appointed by President Bush, the board has made it harder for workers to join unions but easier for employers to block unions and fire workers for organizing.

Chris, a former union organizer, also covered the recent House and Senate hearings on the NLRB for the AFL-CIO Now blog.

Richard Womack, an assistant to AFL-CIO Pres. John Sweeney, is the latest recipient of the Bill Lucy Lifetime Achievement Award.

As Womack said:

“I was surprised and honored that they were considering me. I consider Bill Lucy to be the consummate labor statesman because of the stands he has taken over the years to enhance the lives of working people both in this country and around the world.”

Named after AFSCME International Secretary-Treasurer and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) Pres. William Lucy , the recognition is given to a trade unionist whose life work demonstrates a commitment to activism and engagement on behalf of working people. It is presented by the Memphis, Tenn., regional chapter of the CBTU .

To read more, see the post on the AFL-CIO blog.

Corrections officers, child care providers, first responders, health care workers and now bank employees. That’s right, bank employees. Meet the new members of the 1.4 million AFSCME family in one of our latest Online Xtras detailing how 500 tellers and other white-collar employees of U.S. Bank in Milwaukee voted overwhelmingly to join AFSCME Council 48.

While you’re at it, check out the latest on AFSCME members in action as corrections officers from Local 3361 (Council 75) in
Oregon fight to secure safer conditions at work – and win.

NPR has a good story this morning on why workers have reason not to be thankful for the National Labor Relations Board under the Bush Administration.

Click to listen: Unions Find Labor Relations Board Ineffective

Over the past few years, the misleadingly-named National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has made sure to let workers know which side its bread is buttered on. Officially charged with governing relations between unions and employers, the NLRB has all too often stacked the deck in favor of management. That’s why some people think a better name for the NLRB is the “No Labor Relations Board.”

With four of its five members appointed by President Bush, the board has made it harder for workers to join unions but easier for employers to block unions and fire workers for organizing. In one of its more infamous rulings, the NLRB reinterpreted the definition of “supervisor,” expanding the number and type of workers who could be barred from joining a union. The decision affected thousands of workers, including the nearly 60,000 nurses represented by AFSCME in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Today, Nov. 15, thousands of workers, union leaders and activists in over 20 cities will rally at NLRB offices to protest the board’s egregious actions. Participants will call for the board to be “closed for renovations” until it is capable of operating in an unbiased and responsible manner.

The rallies are part of a nationwide week of action to raise awareness of the NLRB’s assault on workers’ rights. More than 1,000 people are expected to converge in front of the NLRB headquarters in Washington, D.C. For more information on events in your area, contact your central labor council.

Why did the AFSCME delegation to Oregon’s AFL-CIO convention walk out just before Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) arrived to address the union members? Because they were protesting salary increases that the governor approved for all state managers that were, in some cases, triple what rank-and-file employees – members of Council 75 – are scheduled to receive under a recent settlement with the state. Learn more at the Oregon AFSCME site.

It was only a year ago that the Bush-appointed and Republican-dominated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) denied millions of men and women the chance to bargain for a better future. The infamous party-line vote on the so-called “Kentucky River” cases reinterpreted the definition of “supervisor,” expanding the number and type of workers who could be classified as such – and be barred from joining a union.

The decision affected numerous workers, including thousands of nurses who coordinate the work of other employees to deliver services. According to NLRB-speak, they are now “supervisors,” a decision that does not bode well for the nearly 60,000 nurses represented by AFSCME in 35 states and the District of Columbia. The sheer absurdity of the situation prompted this outrageous spoof by comedian Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”

Enter the RESPECT Act, a bipartisan initiative to redress the NLRB’s decision and allow more than eight million workers to regain their right to join a union. The Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers Act was recently passed by the House Education and Labor Committee and is now headed for debate in the full House of Representatives. It presently has 149 co-sponsors (and counting).

It’s time to restore the American Dream for working families. After all, it’s just a matter of RESPECT.

More and more workers want to assert their right to bargain for a better future. Like the song says, “Who you gonna call?” The answer, for many companies, is simple: Union busters!

As the cover story of the latest issue of In These Times reports, union busting “has become a multibillion-dollar industry encompassing more than 2,500 lawyers and consultants offering their services.”

One such outfit is Jackson Lewis, which Steve Perez describes in his Daily Kos diary as “one of the go-to law firms” in the blossoming field of “union prevention” (a.k.a. denying workers their right to organize).

To find out more about Jackson Lewis and the dirty tricks of union busters, check out this must-read In These Times article.

Never mind the doomsayers. In spite of the Bush administration’s repeated efforts to undermine union membership, the labor movement remains strong.

According to documents filed with the U.S. Labor Department, between 2004 and 2006 AFL-CIO unions grew by a combined 1.42 percent, a net growth of 136,000 members. Leading the pack is AFSCME, which gained more than 120,000 members. Numerous workers joined AFSCME during the period, including child care providers in New York, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, bus drivers in Indiana and thousands more across the country.

Imagine what would happen if workers were actually free to join unions and didn’t have to fight tooth and nail to assert their right to bargain for a better future. Just take a look at some examples of organizing amid employer intimidation from this recent issue of AFSCME WORKS magazine. Remember that over 60 percent of Americans approve of labor unions and some 60 million workers say they would be part of one if they could.

This is why we support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), an initiative to allow people to join unions – either by ballot elections or majority sign-up – without employer interference. This is also why supporting a candidate that’s friendly to working families will be so important in ’08.

Next week, the U.S. House is expected to vote on the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would make it illegal to fire someone because of his or her sexual orientation. It is a national disgrace that in more than 30 states, competent and qualified workers can still be fired simply because of their sexual orientation.

In his statement on ENDA, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said, “Congress now has an opportunity to right this wrong. Immediate enactment of ENDA will send a clear message that the American Dream belongs to all of us… It is time to pass ENDA. It is the right thing to do.”