Lawmakers introduce RESPECT Act to amend federal labor law

Lawmakers are acting to reverse a decision that would cost millions of workers their union rights. On March 22, the Reempowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act was introduced. The bill amends the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to clarify the difference between supervisors and employees. Under current law, supervisors cannot join a union or collectively bargain.

AFT president Edward J. McElroy applauds the measure. "This bill will overturn the ill-advised National Labor Relations Board decision stripping thousands of nurses of their right to a union by classifying them as supervisors," he says. "It will ultimately help avoid generating bedlam in our workplaces and unsafe conditions for patients. The AFT is happy to see Congress moving so quickly to fix this mistake."

The measure is being co-sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). It was introduced in the House by Reps. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) and George Miller (D-Calif.).

In October 2006, the NLRB issued a broad interpretation of the term "supervisor," which would lead to more employees being deemed supervisors. The ruling on a group of cases, known collectively as Kentucky River, says employers can label workers as supervisors if they assign an employee to a particular location, to work at a certain time or to perform a task. They also may be called supervisors if they're held accountable for the tasks they assign.

The main case, Oakwood Healthcare Inc., was decided on a 3-2 vote. It says permanent "charge" nurses are supervisors under the NLRA, while rotating charge nurses may not be. In the other two cases, Croft Metals Inc. and Golden Crest Healthcare Center, the board said the nurses did not exercise supervisory authority.

"The RESPECT Act will right a wrong done to millions of Americans when the Bush-dominated labor board stripped away their right to bargain for better wages and benefits," AFL-CIO president John Sweeney says.

The bill would amend the definition of supervisor under the NLRA by deleting the terms "assign" and "responsibly to direct," because these are the terms the labor board used to justify its rulings. The bill also would require that, to be classified as a supervisor, an employee would have to spend the majority of his or her day in a supervisory capacity.

According to the AFL-CIO, this legislation could help break a procedural logjam that is denying countless workers the right to join a union. Currently, the NLRB is holding up dozens of cases that address the definition of supervisor, and 60 of those involve union elections. In some of the cases, workers who voted several years ago to form a union still are waiting for their ballots to be counted.

"We welcome this legislation. It will help in the fight against the ongoing attack by the Bush administration to strip the rights of union workers, particularly healthcare workers," says Ann Twomey, president of New Jersey's Health Professionals and Allied Employees and an AFT vice president. "Union members have to stand up to these attacks. We have to stick together and voice our objections and support for each other."

Members of HPAE and AFT Connecticut lobbied aggressively to get the bills introduced. The AFT is expecting the House of Representatives to have hearings on this issue in May. In the meantime, the AFT is asking you to use the union's online legislative action center (www.unionvoice.org/afteactivst ) and click on "Fight for the Right of Workers To Form and Participate in Unions" to ask your representatives to co-sponsor this new legislation.