Labor in Illinois

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a long anticipated ruling expanding the definition of "supervisor." The AFL-CIO and the Change to Win coalition immediately denounced the ruling as evidence of antiunion bias on the part of the board, and predicted the ruling would lead to many workers losing their rights to union representation.

The Board split along partisan lines with the three Republican-appointed members in the majority, and the two Democratic-appointed members writing scathing dissent. In their dissent, the minority warned that the Board's ruling could lead to the elimination of union rights for nearly all professional employees because they often perform minor supervisory tasks in their course of their jobs.

In the words of the minority: "Today’s decision threatens to create a new class of workers under Federal labor law: workers who have neither the genuine prerogatives of management, nor the statutory rights of ordinary employees. Into that category may fall most professionals (among many other workers), who by 2012 could number almost 34 million, accounting for 23.3 percent of the work force."

Read the entire ruling and dissent at: http://www.nlrb.gov/nlrb/shared_files/decisions/348/348-37.htm

Read the AFL-CIO's response at their news blog, AFL-CIO Now. And other commentary at: Working Life, SEIU.