A federal court notified the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday that they are being sued for their streamlined union election rule.
Officials at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia confirmed to The Daily Caller News Foundation that the National Labor Relations Board received a summons, notifying them of the lawsuit filed Monday by several business groups.
The business groups include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, National Association of Manufacturers, National Retail Federation and Society for Human Resource Management.
Back in December, when the new rule was issued, the NLRB explained it was to help modernize the union election process but since that time opponents have argued it will deprive employers of their right to explain the impact of unionizing.
Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce said in a statement when the ruling was first made, “Simplifying and streamlining the process will result in improvements for all parties. With these changes, the Board strives to ensure that its representation process remains a model of fairness and efficiency for all.”
However, the lawsuit argues, “Like political elections, representation elections offer all participants in the process — the union, the employer, and the employees—a critical opportunity to engage in protected, lawful speech about how workers should vote in the election.”
Randy Johnson, of the Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement, “The NLRB’s rule drastically accelerates the union election process, depriving employers of their right to explain to employees the impacts of unionizing.”
“Furthermore, we question the need for the regulation given that 95 percent of all elections are now conducted within two months and that unions win more than two-thirds of them,” Johnson added.
Josh Ulman, legal strategist for the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, said in a statement, “We simply cannot allow millions of workplaces and tens of millions of Americans to be ambushed by this rule. For nearly 70 years, the NLRB’s election procedures have ensured employees have reasonable time to gather the facts before they cast a ballot for or against union representation.”
The case, which is filed as 1:15-cv-9, was assigned to Judge Amy Berman Jackson.
TheDCNF could not reach the NLRB for further comment.
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