News

Legislation Introduced to Nullify NLRB Quickie Election Rule

Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to nullify the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures. Visit AGC’s Legislative Action Center and write to your elected officials urging them to support this legislation.  The AGC-opposed rule will go into effect April 14 unless Congress acts or a litigation challenge is successful. AGC opposes the rule because expediting the union representation election cycle to as little as 14 days denies employers due process and ample time to prepare. It also effectively limits workers’ access to information and provides an inadequate opportunity for them to consider whether they want to be represented by the union. This rule will be particularly difficult to apply and will have a detrimental impact on the construction industry due to the complexity of identifying the appropriate bargaining unit, determining voter eligibility in the industry, and the decentralized nature of construction workplaces operated by the same employer. Additionally, in construction, the rule can directly affect employers with unionized workforces, as well as those whose workers are not yet organized, by putting their current pre-hire agreements in jeopardy. Historically, both union contractors and building trade unions have benefitted from the ease, convenience, and flexibility of 8(f), or pre-hire, agreements unique to the construction industry. The quickie election rule would enable unions to more readily convert their 8(f) relationships to 9(a) relationships in order to restrain a union contractor's flexibility or restrain a rival union from taking over its jurisdiction. In addition, a rival union might use the election process to take jurisdiction from a union with an 8(f) relationship. AGC is concerned that the rule could have substantial unintended consequences and destabilize an industry that is struggling to recover from depression-like conditions. The rule is also a change in direction from over 50 years of U.S. labor law where the NLRB has almost never issued regulations and has frequently recognized the unique and complicated aspects of the employer-employee relationship in the construction industry. Visit AGC’s Legislative Action Center and write to your elected officials urging them to vote in favor of legislation blocking the NLRB’s rule. For more information, please contact Jim Young at youngj@agc.org or (202) 547-0133.