Earlier today, the Workforce Fairness Institute held a conference call with Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson and an assortment of bloggers all concerned about maintaining fairness in the workplace.
The call highlighted Sen. Isakson’s introduction of S. 1843: the Representation Fairness Restoration Act. Along with 28 cosponsors, Sen. Isakson introduced this legislation in a courageous effort to overturn the NLRB decision allowing unions to organize “micro units.”
Earlier this year, the NLRB made a decision that could allow as few as three workers to form “micro units” for the purpose of collective bargaining. This decision, which overturned 77 years of precedent, was a huge gift to Big Labor. Instead of having to convince a large number of workers to unionize, this ruling lets union bosses cherry-pick workers during unionization drives. This dramatically strengthens Big Labor’s ability to unionize a workforce – even if the majority of workers in a business don’t want to be unionized.
During the call, Sen. Isakson noted that this issue “has gotten the biggest response” he could remember in his years in Congress. It’s spurred action from small business owners, workers and lawmakers alike.
As Sen. Isakson pointed out, the ability of unions to form “micro-units” would hurt both business owners and their workers. In many retail stores, workers often cross-train, moving from section to section and learning new skills. This gives them a greater opportunity to advance in the company.
Under a “micro-units” scheme this would change for the worse. Not only would worker opportunities be limited, but employers would have created different pay and benefit packages for every “micro-unit” in a workplace. This outrageous overreach on the part of government bureaucrats would increase employers’ overhead during these tough economic times and result in less jobs and more business closures.
We agree with Sen. Isakson: letting the NLRB decision stand “… will create the potential for chaos” in our economy. “Micro-units” may be good for union bosses, but they are bad for workers, small businesses and our economy.