{"id":6301,"date":"2013-07-16T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T21:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=6301"},"modified":"2013-07-16T16:25:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T21:25:09","slug":"unions-call-for-senate-action-on-labor-relations-board-appointments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2013\/07\/16\/unions-call-for-senate-action-on-labor-relations-board-appointments\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions Call for Senate Action On Labor Relations Board Appointments"},"content":{"rendered":"

The APWU and the entire labor movement are demanding that a minority of senators stop blocking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from protecting workers\u2019 rights on the job. \"APWU-NLRB\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t let Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans shut down the federal agency that protects the rights of American workers,\u201d said APWU President Cliff Guffey.<\/p>\n

Standing in the way of action on pending nominations to the board is the ongoing abuse of the Senate\u2019s filibuster rules, which in recent years have become \u201ca weapon of partisan obstruction and unending delays,\u201d Guffey and Legislative and Political Director Gary Kloepfer wrote in a letter to local presidents.<\/p>\n

For 78 years, the NLRB has safeguarded the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain to improve their wages, benefits and workplace environment.<\/p>\n

But the panel\u2019s work will be brought to a standstill in August, when the term of one more NLRB member expires \u2014 unless GOP lawmakers permit the Senate to fulfill its duty by acting on pending nominations to the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout an NLRB, there is no agency in place to enforce the rights of workers on the job,\u201d the ALF-CIO warned in a recent alert to union members. \u201cBig corporations are the only ones that benefit from this gridlock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frustrated by Republican attempts to prevent a vote on President Obama\u2019s five nominees to the NLRB and a recent court decision challenging the validity of President Obama\u2019s recess appointments, 201 House Democrats sent Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) a letter on July 9<\/a> [PDF] urging him to allow a vote on the nominations and end attempts to shut down the board and strip it of its ability to enforce our country\u2019s labor laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NLRB provides critical protections to American workers and gives businesses much needed labor certainty,\u201d the House lawmakers wrote, adding:<\/p>\n

\u201cEach day that the Board sits idle is one in which workers’ lawful rights are put at risk. This continued ideological obstructionism is denying hardworking Americans the crucial worker protections that the NLRB provides. We urge you to withdraw this partisan demand and allow the Senate to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to consider presidential appointments, and to do so without continued delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guffey and Kloepfer called on union leaders in 18 states and the members they represent to urge their Democratic senators to \u201cto restore fairness and honor to the confirmation process for executive and judicial nominations\u201d by supporting reform to the filibuster rule that is being use to block the NLRB from protecting workers rights.<\/p>\n

The AFL-CIO is also for immediate action to end the Washington gridlock, urging members to call their senators. Click here to place a call<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source: APWU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The APWU and the entire labor movement are demanding that a minority of senators stop blocking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from protecting workers\u2019 rights on the job. \u201cWe can\u2019t let Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans shut down the federal agency that protects the rights of American workers,\u201d said APWU President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking","category-apwu-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6304,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions\/6304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}