Federal Legislative Action Alert

YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED!  Please e-mail your U.S. senators and representative and ask them to co-sponsor the Enzi / Gingrey Joint Resolution! 

Former HR professional and SHRM member, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), have introduced Senate Joint Resolution 36 and House Joint Resolution 103 in the Senate and House, respectively. If adopted by Congress, these joint resolutions would nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new “quick election” rule, which will shorten the time employers have to respond to union petitions.

Please Take This Action:
Write your members of Congress using SHRM’s HRVoice program by following these steps:

1.    Log onto the SHRM Advocacy Action Center by clicking HERE

2.    Personalize your message with your own story

3.    Include your home mailing address.

Background

Since the demise of the Employee Free Choice Act following the 2010 midterm election, the Obama Administration has increasingly advanced labor-management relations policy through the executive branch. Throughout 2011, the NLRB was active in issuing case decisions and substantive regulations.

Issue

One of the recent NLRB actions is its election case procedures rule, otherwise known as the “quick election” rule. The final rule was published on Dec. 22, 2011, and it intends to shorten the time employers have to respond to representation petitions to as few as 10 days. The quick election rule is scheduled to take effect on April 30, 2012.

Congressional Republicans are working to repeal the NLRB’s quick election rule before it takes effect. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), introduced a joint resolution that, if passed, would nullify the NLRB’s quick election rule.  The joint resolutions are based on the Congressional Review Act of 1996 (CRA), which allows the Senate and House to consider a joint resolution of disapproval that features the full force of law to stop a federal agency from implementing a rule or regulation.

Outlook

Senate supporters of the Enzi/Gingrey joint resolution are likely to force a vote on the resolution in late March or April. The joint resolution needs only a simple majority (51 votes) to pass the Senate, not the 60 votes it usually takes to defeat a Senate filibuster. If the resolution passes both the House and Senate and is not vetoed by President Obama, the quick election rule would be repealed.

SHRM Position

SHRM supports the Enzi/Gingrey joint resolution based on the belief that the quick election rule’s reduced timeframe is unnecessary. A recent NLRB annual report revealed that the median time from a representation petition to an election was 38 days in Fiscal Year 2010. This reasonable 38-day average period gives employees ample time to hear both the union and employer perspectives on collective bargaining prior to a representation election.

Should you have any questions regarding the Enzi/Gingrey joint resolution, please contact Michael Layman, SHRM Government Relations Senior Associate, at michael.layman@shrm.org.