Issue Profile: The National Labor Relations Reorganization Act

Blog Articles · Mar 7, 2012 · Regulation

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was originally created to enforce the National Labor Relations Act that was enacted in 1934. Unfortunately, under the Obama Administration, the NLRB has become empowered to tell businesses where they can and cannot locate, and deny businesses adequate time to build a case against unionization.

The NLRB has clearly switched from an agency of enforcement to one of activism. To counteract this overreach, Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) introduced the National Labor Relations Reorganization Act (H.R.2926):

"The National Labor Relations Board has become a sycophant for labor unions and has lost all pretense of objectivity. The NLRB has outlived its usefulness and needs to be dissolved. The Department of Justice oversees a wide variety of civil, criminal, and administrative issues including anti-trust, voting rights, and major mergers and acquisitions; the DOJ can surely handle disputes between employers and employees and claims of unfair labor practices and do so without the bias and partisanship endemic to the NLRB."

While the National Labor Relations Act does need to be enforced, an unaccountable activist agency is not the right way to go about it. We can't have a quasi-independent board for every single law on the books, especially if they're going to start rewriting the law and passing new rules that only serve a special interest group. The NLRB appears determined to use its power to increase union membership. According to the Republican Study Committee (RSC):

"Despite congressional intent and clear Supreme Court jurisprudence, union leadership and unelected NLRB attorneys are now managing partners in the business affairs of American companies."

Union membership is down in America; only 8% of the workforce belongs to a union and only 1 in ten union members even voted to be in the union. The NLRB is trying to change that by force. In the end, it hurts American workers and our country as a whole. Congressman Gowdy believes eliminating this board (and allowing the Department of Justice to enforce existing law) is the solution. It would save taxpayers over $280 million a year and businesses would no longer have to fear reprisal for simply trying to run their business.