DeLauro, Miller Convene Forum on Reforming NLRB

DeLauro, Miller Convene Forum on Reforming NLRB

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - U.S. Representatives Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) and George Miller (Calif.-7) today held a forum to explore the best ways to improve the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and to educate the public on the inadequacies of the law that created the board. DeLauro invited Miller, the top member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, to New Haven, which has ongoing labor disputes at Chef Solutions, Cintas and Yale New Haven hospital.

"The National Labor Relations Act granted employees the freedom to form or join unions of their choice and to designate representatives to negotiate condition of employment. These were democratic principles at work, supposedly overseen by an impartial NLRB," said DeLauro. "Today, the system is broken - and the NLRB is failing to protect employees. This forum will explore the reasons why and what changes Congress can make."

Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act 70 years ago, which created the NLRB as the administrative entity charged with enforcing the law. Increasingly, NLRB decisions have resulted in labor disputes over many settlements siding with employers. Congress is considering changes to the procedures under which workers choose to join, or not join, a union.

Connecticut has several ongoing disputes in which a strong and impartial NLRB would make a difference - disputes at Chef Solutions, the Yale New Haven Hospital, at Cintas in Branford, and with graduate teaching assistants at Yale University. The dispute at Chef Solutions in North Haven has generated national attention, with the company being charged 29 violations, including coercion, threats of deportation, physical assault, and death threats. Sexual abuse charges were also filed in U.S. District Court. "Nothing exemplifies the board's ineffectiveness more than the case of Chef Solutions," said DeLauro.

George Miller has led the fight in Congress for the essential rights of employees. He introduced The Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that is the leading proposal in the U.S. House to reform the National Labor Relations Board.

"Working men and women have a fundamental right to freely organize and bargain collectively," said Miller. "When we undercut the ability of working men and women to join unions, we abandon our own history and ideals, send a terrible message to the rest of the world, and hurt the economic security of all Americans."

Panelists at the forum included: Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is currently bringing charges against Cintas for pollution; New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who stood with the workers at Chef Solutions to ensure fair treatment by their employers; CT AFL-CIO President John Olsen, an advocate for all of Connecticut's working families; and David Bonior, chair of America Rights at Work, an organization that promotes worker rights. Workers from Cintas, Chef Solutions, and Yale New Haven Hospital brought their local stories to the forum.

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2005/June/nlrb_forum_06_13_05.html