National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons delivered the following video statement on the National Labor Relations Board’s upcoming decision to drastically change longstanding labor policy and dramatically shorten the time-frame for union elections.
"Economic growth, job creation and opportunity. These are all critical issues that impact so many livelihoods. You’d think federal officials would want to promote and preserve a fair opportunity for workers to gather the facts and to make the right decisions on these issues. But the National Labor Relations Board isn’t doing that—it’s getting ready to trample the rights of American workers and job creators everywhere.
Any moment now, the National Labor Relations Board is expected to brush aside legitimate concerns of job creators and workers, when it issues its Ambush Elections Rule. This measure is driven purely by politics. It will hurt the people that it claims it’s trying to protect. And it seeks to fix a problem that doesn’t exist—since the Board’s own data shows that they've met their goals to complete elections within the time prescribed for the past ten years.
What the Rule will do is infringe on the privacy rights of employees and the free speech rights of employers—and take away what workers expect when they have to make these important decisions: just a reasonable amount of time.
It’s not right. The Board is supposed to be a fair arbiter of the law, not a supporter of a partisan agenda. That’s why the National Association of Manufacturers has all options on the table, including litigation, to prevent the expected rule from taking effect. If we need to go to court, we’re going to do so — to protect manufacturers and our employees—and all Americans—from the NLRB’s extreme agenda.
There’s going to be more coming from us soon—you can count on that.”
