NLRB Workers Are in a Union and Protested Against their Agency

National Labor Relations Board leaders faced a rare agency staff protest on November 8, the second such employee action in the current Board’s first year. Career staffers at the NLRB protested and handed out leaflets outside an American Bar Association conference attended by Board Chairman John Ring. They say the agency is trying to make more cuts to pay and benefits despite ending the fiscal year with a budget surplus.

The protests are also aimed at efforts to reverse the direction of federal labor policy and overhaul the agency, whose mission is to enforce workplace labor law and referee union elections. Senior NLRB employees say that the Board’s efforts would hobble the NLRB and gut American workers’ ability to file charges alleging unlawful workplace practices against employers. Workers at federal agencies sign up with their employee unions at a much higher rate than workers in the private sector do. The protesters are members of the NLRB Professional Association, the union representing workers at the Board’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

Matt Austin owns Austin Legal, LLC, a boutique law firm based in Ohio that limits its representation to employers dealing with labor, employment, and OSHA matters. You can reach Matt by calling him at (614) 843-3041 or emailing him at Matt@MattAustinLaborLaw.com.