MARCHERS HIT NLRB RULINGS
BY BUSH-NAMED MAJORITY

Chanting, singing and waving signs--and promising they’d be back again from now through November 2008--more than 1,000 unionists marched Nov. 15 on the National Labor Relations Board headquarters in Washington, protesting a slew of anti-worker rulings by its 3-person majority installed by anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush.

The protest, organized by the AFL-CIO, drew unionists, religious allies, a wide range of supporters and sympathetic honks from D.C. drivers, cabbies and truckers all along the parade route. The Washington protest was one of more than 25 nationwide, including in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Workers carried yellow umbrellas with the word “Shame” emblazoned in red, and signs with a closed door for the NLRB. A Change to Win sign echoed Bush’s disastrous emergency director during Hurricane Katrina, saying “You’re doing a good job, Battista!” referring to Bush-named NLRB chair Robert Battista, a management-side labor lawyer.

Chants included “What’s disgusting? Union-busting!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Bush’s board has got to go!”

“We’re here because the Bush NLRB has made broken labor law even worse,” declared Voice@Work Director Fred Azcarate before the marchers started off from AFL-CIO headquarters for the blocks-long half-mile parade.

“This is not the NLRB. This is George Bush’s board. This is Dick Cheney’s board. This is the Chamber of Commerce’s board. This is the National Association of Manufacturers’ board. And it sure as hell ain’t the Labor Board!’ declared Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts.

The marchers protested 61 NLRB decisions, virtually all by party-line 3-2 votes, starting in late September and continuing, that stripped away many workers’ rights. They included rulings making it easier to oust unions through what are called “decertification petitions,” rulings making it harder for workers illegally fired for pro-union work to get back pay, and rulings making it easier for firms to break labor law.

Other NLRB rulings that the unionists protested weakened the already weak right to strike, opened the door to retaliatory lawsuits by companies, let employers get away with illegal threats to workers, and let employers evade the law’s mandate that they must bargain with the union once it is certified to represent the workers.

The stream of anti-worker rulings is so bad that last month, the AFL-CIO formally filed a complaint about the NLRB with the International Labour Organization. The marchers said the board is so bad it should be shut down.