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.”

The House of Labor must be doing something right. According to the latest Gallup poll, sixty percent of Americans approve of labor unions.

That’s right. Sixty percent, even though unions are under constant attack by one of the most anti-worker administrations in recent history.

And here’s why: When it comes to fair wages, better health care and pensions, a union makes all the difference. Union members earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Likewise, 80 percent of union members are covered by pension plans versus just 47 percent of nonunion workers. Furthermore, nonunion employees are five times more likely to lack health insurance coverage.

It is not surprising that 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could. So, what’s the hold up? Employer intimidation. Our nation’s labor laws are enforced so feebly that employers routinely get away with breaking them.

Anti-worker lawmakers recently derailed Senate passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, an initiative that would allow workers to join unions – either by ballot elections or majority sign-up – without employer interference.

Despite clear approval from the American public, George W. Bush seems to think it’s fine that workers aren’t free to join unions or bargain for a better future for their families. He’s promised to veto the bill should it reach his desk.

Just one more reason for us to lead the battle to elect a pro-working family President in 2008!

Labor Day has barely ended and we are already witnessing new examples of employer abuse. This time it’s the University of Minnesota, which refuses to give its nearly 3,500 clerical, technical and health care workers a decent wage increase.

Represented by AFSCME locals 3937, 3800, 3801 and 3260 (Minnesota Council 5), these hardworking members are now on strike. Picket signs went up across the university early Wednesday morning after frontline staff workers overwhelmingly rejected the administration’s meager salary raise offer.

Over the past five years, workers at the U. of Minnesota have seen inflation steadily outpace their wage increases. Meanwhile, administrative salaries have grown an average of 27 percent. Faculty wages have likewise grown by 19 percent. Learn more by watching this video.

Take a stand and support the workers – call the strike hotline at 612-234-8772 or visit the Local 3937 site for more ways to help.

We’ve come to expect greedy execs at for profit corporations (Home Depot, Enron, etc.) but you’d expect better from a Catholic non-profit hospital.

Unfortunately, Resurrection Health Care, a Catholic hospital system in Chicago, seems to be taking on the worst traits of corporate America. Read all about it in the report “Coming Up Short: Resurrection Health Care’s Distorted Pay Priorities.”

Released by AFSCME Council 31 last week, the report documents the stark disparity between the compensation of top executives and the low wages paid to patient-support staff on the frontlines of hospital health and safety.

You can listen to a story about the report and Resurrection workers’ struggle on the Workers Independent News radio network.

Father Larry Dowling, a supporter of the workers trying to form a union at Resurrection and interviewed in the WIN story, said it well:

Catholic social teaching is very clear about the need for employers to pay a living wage and respect workers’ rights to organize a union. These low wages are an embarrassment - an embarrassment - for a Catholic institution.

The tide cannot be stopped. Slowly but surely, public employees across the country are gaining a voice at the bargaining table.

In Delaware, nearly 13,000 state workers won collective bargaining rights. Their fight to gain a voice at their job culminated when a bipartisan majority passed a bill in the state Senate and Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) signed the initiative into law.

As AFSCME Council 81 Pres. Michael Begatto explains in this radio interview, this triumph marks the culmination of a 20-year struggle to win the right to bargain for a better future.

Delaware is but the latest among a streak of recent wins for state workers nationwide. In Oregon, the state legislature passed a bill allowing public employees to join a union via card-check. Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) signed it into law along with legislation codifying an executive order to grant bargaining rights to child care providers. New York, Kansas and Pennsylvania providers won collective bargaining shortly thereafter. In New Hampshire, majority sign-up for state workers became law while both the Massachusetts House and the Vermont House passed card-check bills earlier this year.