Obama’s Pro-Union Labor Board Trampled Union Members’ Rights

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal government’s top labor arbiter, was sanctioned by the Federal Labor Relations Authority for refusing to include its union in discussions about an office relocation. The union called for two days of bargaining over potential locations and office furniture, but labor officials found themselves ambushed with denials and counter-proposals from the agency’s negotiating team.

The union alleged that “the Agency unilaterally made decisions about the design and layout of the new headquarters” and refused to continue negotiations after the two-day session.

Administrative law Judge Richard Pearson ruled that the agency used “arbitrary” deadlines to bypass union input and refused mediation in bad faith.

The NLRB and union president John Mantz did not return requests for comment.

The National Labor Relations Board Union represents 122 employees who work for the agency, including 65 who were forced to relocate to the new headquarters. The unaffiliated union’s most recent filings with the Department of Labor revealed that it collected about $20,000 from its members last year and spent more than $50,000 on professional fees in 2014.

Labor watchdogs said that the punishment is poetic justice.

Since 2010 the NLRB has been staffed by a majority of pro-union Democratic appointees by the Obama administration. During that time the agency has overturned decades of precedents to allow for “ambush elections,” micro-unions, and liability for franchisers—all of which have been criticized by labor attorneys and Congress as hand outs to labor unions.

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