Unfortunately, not so easy, given the current state of limbo the NLRB is in:
Appeals Courts Call Validity of 300 NLRB Decisions into Questionhttp://blogs.findlaw.com/in_house/2009/05/appeals-courts-call-validity-of-300-nlrb-decisions-into-question.htmlTwo United States Courts of Appeals issued two wildly different opinions concerning decisions made by the National Labor Review Board today. The DC Circuit ruled that the roughly 300 decisions handed down by the NLRB in 2008
while the Board only had two active members were invalid because the Board did not have the statutorily required quorum.
The 7th Circuit, on the other hand, completely disagreed, and upheld a challenge to an NLRB decision over arguments similar to the one relied upon by the DC Circuit.
The NLRB is supposed to have five members, but three seats are currently vacant. Then-President Bush nominated members to fill the seats, but the Democrats in control of Congress refused to confirm them because of disagreements with the Bush Administration's labor policies.
The split between the Circuits makes it likely that the Supreme Court will examine the issue. Until then, the subjects of last years NLRB cases will just have to wait in limbo. What a 3-2 Democratic Party controlled NLRB can accomplish WITHOUT Congress amending the Law, (such as EFCA) "If the right case comes along" and why the "BOZO the NEOCON" obstructionist Repiglicans are blocking Pres. Obama's nominations to the board, particularly Craig Becker's:NLRB Decisions Could Make Card Check a Reality http://www.workforce.com/section/03/feature/26/52/97/265299.html If the right case comes along, the National Labor Relations Board could rule that a company must recognize a union formed through the card-check process.
By Mark Schoeff Jr.
f the card-check provision of the Employee Free Choice Act fails to survive legislative negotiations, it may not necessarily die.
There is a possibility that the National Labor Relations Board could rule, if the right case comes along, that a company must recognize a union formed through the card-check process. Card check, also known as majority sign-up, means that a company recognizes a union if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing a bargaining unit.
The five-member board is poised to have a Democratic majority now that a Democrat is in the White House, giving it a pro-union orientation. Currently, the board only has two commissioners—one Democrat and one Republican.
President Barack Obama has nominated two people for board positions. One of them, Craig Becker, is the associate general counsel to the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union.
In 1947, the National Labor Relations Act was amended so that the NLRB had to resolve representation disputes through a secret-ballot election. In 1974, the Supreme Court ruled that an employer does not have to recognize a union even if a majority of workers have signed authorization cards. Instead, it could insist on a secret-ballot election.
But in making its ruling, the Supreme Court relied on the expertise of the NLRB in reading the labor statute, according to William Gould, a professor of law at Stanford University who was NLRB chairman from 1994 to 1998.
Gould says that the board frequently reverses itself in its interpretation of labor laws. A new NLRB could take a fresh look at card check and decide that is an acceptable way to create a union.
“The board could develop new expertise based on new evidence and new facts and come to a different conclusion,” Gould says. “In my judgment, yes, the board could issue such a ruling.”snip
It’s difficult to predict whether the new NLRB will address card check. But experts agree that the board will revisit decisions made during the Bush administration.
One previous board ruling held that employees could file a decertification petition within 45 days of voluntary recognition of a union.
“That case will clearly be overturned by the Obama board,” says Charles Craver, a professor of law at George Washington University.
You can't blame this MESS on the Obama Administration. Conservative (DC) Appelate Court blocks more than 500
mostly pro-worker decisions from being implemented, Repukes block Pres Obama's PRO-LABOR nominee to the board (which effectively puts current Board decisions in the same state of limbo) and you accuse the Obama admin of being
absent?
Sorry. Gotta unrec this one, no offense intended.
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