Fighting the Attack on GOOD JOBS: Millions of Jobs In NLRB’s Hands

Worker rallies in Washington, D.C., at right, and other cities around the country in July helped draw attention to three pending National Labor Relations Board cases that could cost millions of people their right to union representation. Known collectively as the "Kentucky River" cases, they involve management's attempt to reclassify nurses as supervisors, who would lose their union representation rights. The cases went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001, which sent them back to the NLRB. A decision could come before the end of summer. If the NLRB finds for management, researchers say at least 8 million workers in a wide variety of jobs could be designated as supervisors and lose their union rights, whether they have supervisory duties or not. The anti-worker majority on the NLRB has refused to hear oral arguments in the cases. "It is outrageous that the NLRB would consider deciding to disenfranchise millions of people and not hear from the workers most affected," AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff said during the week of demonstrations.