Fed Ex Buys an Exemption From Labor Laws

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.counterpunch.org/macaray03262010.html

By DAVID MACARAY

One of the more devious means by which corporate America has kept labor unions at bay is by narrowing membership eligibility requirements. For example, because the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) restricts “supervisors” from joining a union, businesses are busy redefining workers’ job duties to have them appear as supervisory in nature.

Even though it’s a transparently naked power-play—one that likely wouldn’t fool a middle-school student—under George W. Bush’s administration (with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao leading the charge), businesses were nonetheless able to convince the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) to cheat American workers out of their right to organize.

The most notorious of these exemptions was the so-called “Kentucky River decision.” Under Kentucky River, “charge nurses” (nurses who act as lead persons) were reclassified as supervisors, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of health care employees of their legal right to join a union.

Predictably, organized labor was stunned by the ruling, realizing its full potential. The Kentucky River decision isn’t restricted to the health care industry. It has across-the-board implications, affecting anyone in any industry (the construction trades come to mind) who is a lead person, a designated go-to person, a team captain, or “straw boss” (a term used in the NLRA).

Clearly, lead persons, including charge nurses, have none of the supervisory responsibilities that “real” supervisors have, and those distinctions were explicitly laid out in the federal statutes. It’s as simple as that. Lead men cannot hire or fire employees, they cannot establish or alter seniority, they cannot issue mandatory work directives, they cannot adjust wages, and they cannot mete out discipline.

In short, charge nurses were no more than quasi-administrators. Their authority could, in principle, if push came to shove, be challenged at any time by fellow employees. And it was this critical principle that defined them, for 70 years, as “non-supervisory,” allowing them to be part of a union. Until Kentucky River.

FULL story at link.

[unhappycamper]

1. The death of unions is the death of the middle class.

k&r

[Earth Bound Misfit]

2. Fuck-Face's (Shrub) NLRB was the **WORST** in history, no doubt.

Led by Mrs. McConnell (or is HE Mr. Chao?) & Robert Battista :puke:

September Massacre: The Latest Battle in the War on Workers’ Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act by Anne Marie Lofaso

[Sanity Claws]

3. FedEx is covered by Railway Labor Act

and not subject to the NLRB. As the article pointed out, they got this special treatment back during the Nixon administration.
It's much harder to organize under the RLA.
I wouldn't make too much of Obama's saying he admires Fred Smith. If I were Freddie, I'd be concerned that Obama has him in his thoughts. Give Obama some time; he can't undo in 1.5 years all the damaged wrought by 30 years of Republican policies.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

4. The next few months are crucial, IMO

If I hear "now is not the time...wait till after midterms...blah, blah, blah..." my f@#$ing head will explode.

ETA: "IMO" in subject line.

[Sanity Claws]

5. It's crucial to get the NLRB back up to speed

with good appointees. That should get immediate attention.
However, Fred Smith's exception can wait until next year. Obama really does have a lot on his plate. Getting two more major pieces of legislation this year, at least one of which is financial/banking reform, will be, as Biden put it, a big fucking deal.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. Thanks for reminding me.

If I hear "now is not the time...wait till after midterms...blah, blah, blah...he really does have a lot on his plate...yadda yadda yadda..." my f@#$ing head will explode.

Get the NLRB back up to speed? Recess appointments= Done.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

7. He must have heard me. lol

Scolding G.O.P., Obama Makes 15 Recess Appointments
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/27/us/AP-US-Obama-Recess-Appointments.html?_r=1

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fed up with waiting, President Barack Obama announced Saturday he would bypass a vacationing Senate and name 15 people to key administration jobs, wielding for the first time the blunt political tool known as the recess appointment.

The move immediately deepened the divide between the Democratic president and Republicans in the Senate following a long, bruising fight over health care. Obama revealed his decision by blistering Republicans, accusing them of holding up nominees for months solely to try to score a political advantage on him.

''I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government,'' Obama said in a statement.

The 15 appointees to boards and agencies include the contentious choice of union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Republicans had blocked his nomination on grounds he would bring a radical pro-union agenda to the job, and they called on Obama not to appoint Becker over the recess.

Obama went ahead anyway, while also choosing a second member for the labor board so that four of its five slots will be filled. The board, which referees labor-management disputes, has had a majority of its seats vacant for more than two years, slowing its work and raising questions about the legality of its rulings....