Some Workers Change Collars

NLRB Rules That Nurses Are Supervisors, a Potential Blow to Unions
The National Labor Relations Board ruled yesterday that nurses with full-time responsibility for assigning fellow hospital workers to particular tasks are supervisors under federal labor law and thus not eligible to be represented by unions.

The 3-to-2 decision, long awaited by unions and businesses, sets a new standard for determining who is a supervisor in the modern economy, and could have significant implications for efforts by labor unions to organize nurses in the fast-growing health-care sector. Under federal law, supervisors do not have the right to belong to unions.


Labor leaders decried the ruling, with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney saying it "welcomes employers to strip millions of workers of their right to have a union by reclassifying them as 'supervisors' in name only." The labor-backed Economic Policy Institute said the new definition could affect 8 million workers who give direction to fellow workers in fields ranging from construction to accounting.

Business organizations applauded the decision, arguing that it will not have sweeping effects. "The business community thinks the standard is reasonable, but this is not a sea change," said Steve Bokat of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301535.html

U-N-I-O-N--B-U-S-T-I-N-G?