The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today (June 22, 2011) is publishing in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to amend election rules that will allow for electronic filing and speedier voting time-frames and result-publishing.
“Resolving representation questions quickly, fairly and accurately has been an overriding goal of American labor law for more than 75 years,” said NLRB Chairwoman Wilma Liebman in a statement announcing the rules.
Not unexpectedly, labor activists praised the proposal, and business interests slam it. Left unsaid in all this is how much more quickly elections can be held given the new rules; election cycles currently run from 45 to 60 days.
Board Member Brian Hayes was the sole dissenter from the Board’s proposed rules. Among other things, he noted that the proposed rules would “provide a more expeditious pre-election process and a more limited post-election process that tilts heavily against employers’ rights to engage in legitimate free speech and to petition the government for redress.”