WASHINGTON DC - A recent ruling by the Obama Administration's National Labor Relations Board could put a suffocating damper on union whistleblowers. According to some interpretations, the NLRB's decision could allow union thugs to retaliate against witnesses cooperating with authorities, if a union members' economic status is affected negatively. The Labor Union Report explains:
Officially, Obama NLRB officials will deny that their ruling provides unions the ability to retaliate against witness who cooperate, in his dissent, the NLRB’s sole Republican Brian Hayes noted prior to his departure:
The Supreme Court has long recognized the dangers of releasing witness statements. In NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214 (1978), the Court held that the Board was not required under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to disclose, prior to an unfair labor practice hearing, statements of witnesses whom the Board anticipated would testify at the hearing. The Supreme Court cited several risks to the Board’s investigation that would result from such disclosure, including the “most obvious risk” of coercion and intimidation of employees who provide statements, as well as the reluctance of witnesses to participate in Board investigations and to give truthful statements. Id. at 239. [Emphasis added.]
Given that many unions have rules (in their union constitutions) that prohibit members from ‘wronging a member of the (union name) causing him/her physical or economic harm,’ a member of a union who cooperates with an employer’s investigation that leads to a fellow union member’s loss of job would arguably be causing a member economic harm.
If a member, by cooperating in an investigation, causes a fellow member economic harm, many unions have the ability to put the offending member on union trial.
If found guilty, a union trial board has the ability to subject him (or her) to possible fines, and possible expulsion from the union which, in some industries like construction, could lead to job loss as well.
This, in and of itself, is cause for alarm as more union workers learn that by cooperating in an investigation, their names could be forfeited to union bosses due to the the NLRB’s ruling.
More at Labor Union Report.
