Could it be that the place where I buy cheap bananas is about to sink the National Labor Relations Board?
Well, I suppose stranger things have happened. But this story is pretty strange in its own right.
For the uninformed: After being cited for unfair labor practices, Trader Joe’s is going after the NLRB. Among the grocer’s alleged affront to workers? Barring them from wearing union pins on their company-provided Hawaiian shirts. Oh, the humanity!
As for Trader Joe’s response? Attorneys for the firm are alleging that the NLRB is unconstitutional. This counterattack comes at a time when more Americans are questioning the validity of federal agencies. In fact, the Supreme Court is currently mulling three related cases. The plaintiffs are using different strategies to make the same general point. Namely, that these regulators lord it over the rest of us with too much power.
One consequence is that they often act like courts as they insert themselves into private disputes. But unlike courts, they lack safeguards such as independent judges and juries. At least, that’s the critics’ story. And they’re sticking to it.
I don’t think it would take much to convince most operators about the merits of that argument. Especially regarding the NLRB.
For the better part of a century, the board has had a heavy hand in some notable labor-related matters. These include issues such as who can join a union, and when. It has also ruled on when union organizers may enter private property, and when people may or may not bargain about their own employment.
By any measure, those are pretty major issues.
Moreover, the board makes its various rulings in very partisan ways. Democratic members universally support the union side, while Republican members reliably do the same for management. What should be a weighing machine all too often becomes a voting machine.
The result is often an odd pendulum-like effect whereby a practice may be temporarily lawful, then unlawful, then lawful again. And in a heavily-regulated industry like long-term care, the constant change can lead to dizziness.
Having written earlier that the board has a serious credibility problem, it’s not really a secret where my views lie on this matter. The NLRB is seriously flawed, and needs to be either abolished or made more fair.
John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s.
Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.
