PSLC President Urges NLRB to Reconsider Upcoming Changes to Union Election Procedures

Aug. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- CONTACT:
Bob Carroll
Executive Vice President of Business Development
Permanent Solutions Labor Consultants, Inc.
734.536.7829
bcarroll@pslabor.com
www.pslabor.com

August 3, 2011 - Brownstown Township, MI – Ricardo Torres, a former high-level union official, who is now the President and CEO of Permanent Solutions Labor Consultants of Brownstown Township, MI, has clearly expressed his concern regarding the proposed changes currently being entertained by the National Labor Relations Board.

The NLRB changes include reducing the amount of time between a petition with the Board and an election for representation.  Many members of corporate leadership view this as unfair to the employees, as it reduces the amount of time that management can deliver their side of the facts.  Unions often spend many months talking to employees prior to the filing of a petition.  Under these changes, the amount of time management would have to communicate would be limited to approximately 10-20 days (vs. 38 day average under the current system).

Torres, who left the union to provide alternative solutions to third-party representation of employees by assisting employers with the promotion of positive employee relations in 2001 has worked with some of the largest companies and healthcare systems in the country (both on the union side and while assisting management).  Torres has seen the good and bad of both sides and has developed several training programs designed to boost productivity and morale without the need for union representation. Because of his experiences on both sides, Torres feels that he has unique insight to share with the NLRB.  

In the letter, Torres states, "If the NLRB truly wants to protect the employees when making their personal decision whether to vote for a union or not to vote for a union, you should allow them access to all the tools available to them, give them the respect to vote based on all the facts not on just a piece of the puzzle, and come down hard on either side that’s in violation of these rights.   The result of cutting the time for elections could be an employee going on strike, walking a picket line, or losing money in contract negotiations they couldn’t afford, or any one or a hundred reasons which could lead to an employee asking themselves why no one explained it could happen with their “Yes” vote.  The NLRB would be tipping the scale too much in the favor of unions and against the best interest of employees as unions already have an unlimited time line to persuade employees before an election petition is filed. Cutting the timeline for the management to give another viewpoint is violating the very principles the NLRB was founded upon."  
 
The six-page letter can be found in its entirety at http://www.pslabor.com/Main/NLRBLetter.html

Torres is urging those who do not agree with these changes to write the National Labor Relations Board and give their opinion.  Torres states, "If corporate leadership, human resource professionals and employees do not agree with these changes they need to speak up.  The NLRB is hearing from supporters of change, it’s time they hear from supporters of what is truly fair to the workers.  The freedom to make their own choice with as much information as possible is the only fair choice for the employees."

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