Officials Say Decisions Could Wrest Workers’ Rights from Millions

Saying the Bush-appointed National Labor Relations Board’s “Kentucky River” decisions “destroy workers’ collective power by denying their right to form and join trade unions and to bargain collectively, in violation of the principles of freedom of association,” the AFL-CIO filed a complaint today with the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the United Nations. In the complaint, the AFL-CIO alleges that the U.S. Government violated international labor law standards in the “Kentucky River” decisions – a set of NLRB rulings that may strip millions of workers of their union organizing and bargaining rights.

The complaint to the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association challenged the NLRB’s September 29 decision expanding the definition of “supervisor” in U.S. labor law. By a 3-2 vote, the NLRB majority -- all appointed by the Bush administration -- transformed workers with sporadic oversight over coworkers into “supervisors” even when such oversight is far short of genuine managerial or supervisory authority.

"Through these decisions, the Bush Administration has stripped millions of America's working people of a fundamental human right recognized all over the globe - - the freedom to bargain collectively and have a voice on job," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

The NLRB decision involved the status of “charge nurses” who coordinate the work of other nurses in a hospital unit. But the decision has ramifications for millions of workers who act as group leaders, line leaders, lead persons and other non-management workplace coordinators, as well as professionals who work alongside non-professionals. The two dissenting NLRB members said, “Today’s decision threatens to create a new class of workers . . . who have neither the genuine prerogatives of management, nor the statutory rights of ordinary employees.”

 The AFL-CIO told the ILO Committee the NLRB’s will allow employers fire such “supervisors” for any trade union activity, such as helping to organize a union at their workplace, holding union office, or merely joining a union. Employers could take such action with complete immunity under the law because employees classified as supervisors are not “employees under the Act” – that is, workers protected by the NLRA against discrimination for union activity or membership.

The AFL-CIO said the Board’s ruling violates ILO standards specifying that all workers “without distinction whatsoever” have the right to freedom of association, including union organizing and collective bargaining. All ILO member countries, the United States among them, are bound to respect these principles.

The AFL-CIO complaint cited earlier rulings by the Committee on Freedom of Association in cases from other countries involving supervisory status of employees. In those cases, the Committee declared that “the expression ‘supervisors’ should be limited to cover only those persons who genuinely represent the interests of employers,” and that changing employees’ status to undermine the membership of workers' trade unions is contrary to the principle of freedom of association.

Composed of 19 respected labor law specialists from around the world, the Committee does not have enforcement power to change national labor laws. But the AFL-CIO asked the Committee to add its “authoritative voice and moral weight in the international community” to a movement for legislation to restore the traditional, more balanced test for supervisory status, limiting it to genuine supervisors and managers.

The U.S. labor federation also asked the Committee to send a special delegation called a “direct contacts mission” to the United States to investigate the effects of the NLRB’s decision. Such direct contact with workers, union representatives, employers and their representatives, and labor law authorities, said the AFL-CIO, will provide the Committee with “on the ground” understanding of the issues and will “give life” to the Committee’s review of documents in the case.

The full text of the AFL-CIO complaint is available at www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/upload/ilo_complaint.pdf

Information on the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association is available at www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/norm/applying/freedom.htm

Contact: Katrina Blomdahl (202) 637-3921