Harley Shaiken: NLRB Decisions Could Polarize Economy, Mute Democracy

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/10/25/harley-shaiken-nlrb-decisions-could-polarize-economy-mute-democracy/


Harley Shaiken: NLRB Decisions Could Polarize Economy, Mute Democracy

by James Parks, Oct 25, 2006

When the Bush-dominated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its recent decision in the Oakwood case, it slashed long-time federal labor laws protecting workers’ freedom to form unions and opened the door for employers to classify millions of workers as supervisors. Under federal labor law, supervisors are prohibited from forming unions.

But the decision’s impact may extend far beyond union members. It could result in a more polarized economy and a less democratic society. Here’s what University of California-Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken says in the most recent AFL-CIO Point of View guest column:

Throughout the economy, new forms of work organization and new forms of information technology are giving workers increased input on the job. It is ironic, not to say undemocratic, to think that more input could result in fewer rights. The result could be a back-to-the-future scenario where we return to the labor protections of the early 1930s as we enter the 21st century.

The NLRB’s decision is so egregious that the AFL-CIO this week filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO), an arm of the United Nations.

FULL story at link above.