With the sunset of the Bush administration on the horizon, Republican appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seem to be in a hurry to hand down decisions. Sixty decisions were made in September, include several that look to severely set back workers' rights to organize a union and bargain collectively.

AFL-CIO and allies are taking action: Workers Set to Protest Bush Labor Board’s Anti-Worker Rulings.

The Grosvenor Resort and St. George Warehouse cases drastically weakened the right of workers to claim backpay if they are illegally fired, one of the few means of holding employers responsible. Now, when employers use the common tactic of firing workers for organizing, workers will find it harder to bring backpay cases against their employers if, instead of looking for new employment right away, they were, for example, leafletting or picketing to raise awareness about their struggle.

Read American Rights at Work's page regarding these cases: Labor Board Further Victimizes the Victim.

Another decision, Dana Metaldyne, reverses a 40 year precedent protecting voluntary recognition from the threat of immediate decertification. Now, even when a majority of workers in a company sign up with a union and convince the employer to recognize their union, as few as 30% of employees have 45 days to sign a petition to trigger a decertification vote. As many unions have experienced, elections under toothless labor laws offer employers more opportunities to cajole, intimidate, and scare workers to go against their co-workers.

More background: Radical Labor Board Ruling Undermines Organizing Efforts (ARAW)
NLRB Decision Cuts Voluntary Union Recognition Off At The Knees (Workers Independent News)