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congressional labor caucus
A Labor Revolt Is Brewing... Inside the National Labor Relations Board
"From Congress, we demand funds, not furloughs," says the NLRB union. "From NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, we demand collaboration, not coercion."
Dec 01, 2022
Workers at the federal agency tasked with enforcing U.S. labor law are directing their ire at their own bosses and members of Congress.
"Fund the NLRB. Support our staff. Protect the agency's mission."
The union representing rank-and-file employees of the National Labor Relations Board announced Thursday on social media that it plans to hold a rally to support agency staff outside the NLRB's Washington, D.C. headquarters on December 8.
In addition to drawing attention to how "a decade of underfunding" has brought about what the NLRB Union recently called "budgetary Armageddon," agency workers and their supporters intend to protest NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo's ongoing attempt to limit teleworking, which they say is an attack on her employees' quality of life and ability to do their jobs.
"Case intake is exploding. Furloughs are imminent," the NLRB Union tweeted. "We need immediate action. WE NEED FAIR FUNDING NOW."
"But that's not all. Our own NLRB bosses will soon make our jobs even harder by restricting our ability to work remotely," the union continued. "Starting 12/26, Abruzzo will force us to waste time by commuting more to the office. Our work and lives will be needlessly burdened. Our mission will suffer."
"Instead of serving as a model of healthy labor relations," the union added, "Abruzzo has put her foot on our necks. The voices of hundreds of NLRB staff demanding continued modest workplace flexibilities have been coldly ignored, just to gain leverage at the bargaining table."
\u201c\ud83d\udea8ANNOUNCEMENT\ud83d\udea8\n\nRALLY TO SUPPORT NLRB STAFF\n\nWhen: Thursday 12/8 2PM\nWhere: NLRB HQ - 1015 Half Street SE in D.C.\n\nThe NLRB is in crisis brought on by a decade of underfunding. Case intake is exploding. Furloughs are imminent. We need immediate action. WE NEED FAIR FUNDING NOW.\u201d— National Labor Relations Board Union (@National Labor Relations Board Union) 1669913047
Calling for "immediate action," the NLRB Union wrote: "From Congress, we demand funds, not furloughs. Staff, not stagnation. From Abruzzo, we demand collaboration, not coercion."
"Run the agency with respect, not rigidity. Stop hard bargaining and simply let us do our work!" the union urged. "Fund the NLRB. Support our staff. Protect the agency's mission."
Also on Thursday, Karen Cook, president of the NLRB Professional Association--a separate union representing 122 staff attorneys and Freedom of Information Act specialists at the NLRB--sent a letter imploring congressional appropriators to allocate more money to the cash-starved agency.
The yearslong failure of federal lawmakers "to appropriate sufficient funds for the agency," wrote Cook, "has jeopardized our workforce's ability... to fulfill the mandate assigned by Congress," which is to enforce the right of workers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to engage in pro-union activity.
"Since FY 2014, the NLRB has received the same $274 million dollar appropriation," Cook noted. "That funding level actually represents a cut from FY 2010, where the board was appropriated $283.4 million. Adjusted for inflation, the agency's funding has been cut almost 30% since the 2010 fiscal year."
"As federal employees, we are constantly asked to do more with less," Cook lamented. "We work on 10-year-old computers with limited legal research tools and outdated electronic case management systems. Training funds evaporate, while headquarters personnel who've been asked to assist with cases in different regions are not able to do so in person because travel has been curtailed."
While "the number of full-time staff has dropped from over 1,700 to around 1,200" since 2010, "there has not been a corresponding decrease in the agency's workload," Cook pointed out. "Instead, representation petitions and unfair labor practice [ULP] charges have proliferated. From FY 2014 to FY 2022, the number of ULP filings per field staffer increased 39%."
"The only mechanism to enforce the core rights under the NLRA is through the NLRB," wrote Cook. "An employee does not have a private right of action to sue their employer for interfering with employees' organizational rights or retaliating against them for engaging in protected activity. Accordingly, when Congress fails to adequately fund the NLRB, it is those employees (and their workplaces) who are harmed by the delays in case processing."
Cook continued:
Ironically, the proposed raise for federal employees, although well-deserved, is no boon to employees of the NLRB. Having already made cuts in spending, the agency has no room to absorb payment of the increase without an increased appropriation. I know of no other federal agency that will be forced to furlough employees in order to raise pay, and no other federal employees whose cost-of-living increases will be clawed back in the form of unpaid, forced furloughs. In these circumstances, we are left to wonder what rational, prospective public servant would sign up for a career defending NLRA rights when Congress has made clear that those civil servants are so disfavored.
Having spent almost 40 years working for this agency, I can report first-hand that the current predicament facing the agency is without precedent. When I joined this agency, there was a consensus across the political spectrum that the rights enshrined in the NLRA are a bedrock of modern American democracy and that they bolster interstate commerce and profitability, as well as middle-class achievement of the American dream. Those safeguards and rights will not endure as an indelible feature of the 21st century social contract unless Congress maintains a commitment to them. It is with that in mind that I implore you to increase the National Labor Relations Board's appropriation to a level that will allow the board to not only avoid furloughs but also increase hiring.
The letter from the NLRB Professional Association comes just two days after the co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to ensure that the NLRB receives additional funding in the final appropriations bill of the lame-duck session--before Republican lawmakers, who have demonstrated a greater hostility toward organized labor, take control of the House.
Citing another recent letter in which NLRB leadership told members of Congress that the agency "has already implemented a hiring freeze and, without additional funding, will likely be forced to pursue furloughs," the labor caucus leaders stressed that "we must heed this stark warning."
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Congressional Labor Caucus Demands More Funding for NLRB Before GOP Takes House
"Workers need the NLRB to receive funding that allows it to fully implement its mission," several Democratic lawmakers told House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer.
Nov 29, 2022
The six co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus on Tuesday implored House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ensure that the cash-starved National Labor Relations Board receives additional funding in the final appropriations bill of the lame-duck session.
"The status quo of NLRB funding is untenable."
In a letter to Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Schumer (D-N.Y.), Democratic Reps. Donald Norcross (N.J.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), Linda Sanchez (Calif.), Thomas Suozzi (N.Y.), Debbie Dingell (Mich.), and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) drew attention to the pressing need to shore up the NLRB's budget before the Republican Party, which is openly hostile to the federal agency tasked with protecting the rights of private-sector workers, takes control of the House.
"[W]e write to... express our grave concern over the ongoing funding crisis at the National Labor Relations Board," states the letter. "We consider this funding a top priority and urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to increase funding for the NLRB in the end-of-year appropriations package."
The letter continues:
The funding situation at the NLRB is dire. Despite the NLRB's vital mission, the board has received the same appropriation of $274 million since FY2014. In FY2010, [the] board received $283.4 million in appropriations, meaning that the current funding level is essentially a 25% cut in inflation-adjusted dollars since FY2010. Due to inadequate funding, overall staffing levels have dropped by 39% over the past two decades and field staffing has been cut in half.
Earlier this month, the NLRB warned members of Congress that it "has exhausted its ability to absorb cost increases through staff attrition and operational efficiencies." The agency added that it "has already implemented a hiring freeze and, without additional funding, will likely be forced to pursue furloughs."
The union that represents labor board employees put the shortfall in even stronger terms in early November when it tweeted that the agency is "facing budgetary Armageddon."
"We are desperately asking Congress to increase our budget in the coming weeks," the NLRB Union wrote on social media.
"It is increasingly possible that the NLRB will have to furlough employees at a time while our caseloads are skyrocketing. This is the crisis in labor law enforcement we have warned of," the union added. "Only Congress can prevent this catastrophe from happening by increasing the agency's budget."
On Tuesday, the co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus told House and Senate leaders that "we must heed this stark warning."
"Simply put, the status quo of NLRB funding is untenable," the lawmakers wrote in a follow-up to an April letter in which 149 House Democrats, led by Norcross, asked House Appropriations Committee leaders to approve a $368 million NLRB budget for FY2023.
\u201cAmerica\u2019s workers and economy need a strong @NLRB. Today, I wrote to Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer to make one thing clear: funding for this critical independent federal agency must be included in an end-of-year funding package.\n\ud83d\udce8https://t.co/iJb9Xr2DiD\u201d— Congressman Donald Norcross \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Congressman Donald Norcross \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1669740745
Time is of the essence, given that a funding boost is far less likely once Democrats hand the reins of the House to GOP lawmakers who have opposed increasing the NLRB's budget for nearly a decade.
Earlier this year, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the top Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor, derided the Biden administration's request for a $319 million NLRB budget for FY2023 as a "stupid idea."
"Under this administration," Foxx said, "the NLRB has become the errand boy for labor unions."
Over the past two years, the agency has seen a rise in union representation petitions as workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, Trader Joe's, Chipotle, and other powerful corporations try to organize in the face of persistent--and often unlawful--employer opposition.
Notably, the NLRB recently requested a nationwide cease-and-desist order to stop Starbucks from terminating workers for engaging in legally protected union activity. Last week, a federal judge filed a nationwide cease-and-desist order requiring Amazon to halt retaliatory firings of pro-union workers, a move that came in response to an NLRB complaint.
"More and more workers are fighting to have their voices heard, so this independent agency must have the resources it needs to give people a fair shake," Norcross tweeted earlier this month.
In Tuesday's letter, the co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus wrote that "continuing to underfund the NLRB not only puts workers' rights at risk but also subjects employers to costly uncertainty."
They continued:
The NLRB is essential to supporting both employers and employees, and the ability of the board to fulfill its statutory mission is in jeopardy without additional funding. Compounding the alarming situation, the NLRB has seen a 28% increase in the number of cases pending before the board between FY2014 to FY2022. The vast majority of these cases are noncontroversial, with the NLRB stating that 95% are settled or resolved by career staff in the field. Without additional funding, employers and employees face longer wait times to receive decisions and live longer in doubt even for the most rudimentary cases.
"Our economy, our nation's employers, and our nation's workers need the NLRB to receive funding that allows it to fully implement its mission," the lawmakers added.
The letter comes as Pelosi moves to satisfy President Joe Biden's request to introduce legislation that would preempt a nationwide rail strike by forcing workers to accept a contract that does not include a single paid sick day.
The six co-chairs of the Congressional Labor Caucus are not among the handful of progressive lawmakers who have criticized the White House's intervention on behalf of rail industry bosses.
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