Olsen: NLRB oversees labor pacts

[Omaha Steve]

http://thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080408/BUSINESS/804080332/1046

The National Labor Relations Board administers the National Labor Relations Act, which covers most private businesses where materials, products or services cross state lines. Agricultural employees are specifically excluded from the act's coverage.

The act gives employees a statutory right to select and bargain with their employer through representatives of their own choosing, usually unions, to engage in other concerted activities for their mutual benefit, or to refrain from such conduct.

One of the NLRB's functions is to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by employers, unions, or their agents who interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of those rights.

Another NLRB function is to conduct elections among employees in appropriate bargaining units to protect their rights to full freedom of association, self organization and designation of representatives of their own choosing. The most common types of election are these:

# An "RC" petition is one that is supported by at least 30 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit. The petition triggers an election in which the employees vote to be represented by a union, or not.

If a majority of the employees vote in favor of the union, the employer will be required to collectively bargain with that union over wages, hours and working conditions. A petition for such an election may be filed by a union, a group of employees, an individual or an employer.

FULL article at link.