The failure of the Employee Free Choice Act to become law does not mean that unions are giving up, or that their elected and appointed officials are throwing in the towel on their efforts to increase unions’ ever-shrinking share of the American work force. Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took a giant step in that direction.

What The Board Wants

The NLRB is presently composed of four members. (Normally there are five.) Three of the four current members of the Board have on their own motion proposed a number of changes to NLRB election procedures which are not helpful to employers but which are very beneficial to unions and their efforts to organize employees. The Board has published these proposed changes in the Federal Register, and we are now in a 60-day period where members of the public have the ability to submit comments.