On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board proposed new rules that would significantly shorten the time between the filing of a petition for a union election and the election date. Under current rules, 95 percent of all initial elections are conducted within 56 days of the filing of the petition. In fact, in 2010, initial elections were conducted in a median time of 38 days from the filing of the petition. Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon has recently described this achievement as “outstanding.” Yet, the Democrat majority of the Board, by administrative fiat, seeks to impose organized labor’s much-sought-after “quickie election” option. Under the proposed rules, most disputes concerning the eligibility or inclusion of voters that might affect the results of the election would be deferred until after the election. The result would be that a union election could be held as early as 10 to 21 days after an election petition has been filed.

With the shortened time between petition and election, employers would have less time to express their views about unions and collective bargaining. Thus, employees would not be able to make an informed decision on union representation based upon information from both the employer and the union.