HR Policy’s Roger King Testifies on Labor Law Reform

HRPA Senior Counsel Roger King testified in the U.S. House of Representatives and urged Congress to restore balanced, effective, and efficient decision-making and regulation at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The hearing: “Restoring Balance: Ensuring Fairness and Transparency at the NLRB” was held before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

• Mr. King testified alongside Vincent Vernuccio of the Institute for the American Worker and Aaron Solem of the National Right to Work Foundation. Biden-era NLRB General Counsel Abruzzo testified on behalf of Committee Democrats. 

HRPA testimony: The Association’s written testimony highlighted several problematic decisions and practices of the Biden-era Board and argued for a fully functioning, efficient, less-partisan, and balanced NLRB moving forward:

• The Biden-era Board failed to push back against a wave of state labor laws clearly preempted by federal labor law, leading to a dozen new captive audience bans and other measures that complicate employer compliance.

• Former General Counsel Abruzzo’s rigid settlement procedures resulted in more litigation and fewer settlements at significant cost to the agency.

• Several radical, precedent-changing Biden Board decisions, including Cemex (which allows unions to gain representation without an election) and Amazon, Inc. (which banned most mandatory employer meetings), must be overturned to restore balanced labor relations.

• Recently introduced legislation by Sen. Josh Hawley would further tip the scales towards union interests and does not represent effective and balanced labor law reform.

• The current Administration and Congress should work expeditiously to nominate and confirm NLRB members to re-establish the Board’s quorum and enable it to resolve the above issues.

The bottom line: Costly practices and radical changes to longstanding labor policy have damaged the NLRB’s credibility and destabilized labor relations for both employers and unions.