NLRB Union Staff Protests NLRB General Counsel's 'Coercive' Management
”Instead of serving as a model of healthy labor relations, @NLRBGC has put her foot on our necks." National Labor Relations Board Union
On Thursday, unionized field staff of the National Labor Relations Board protested National Labor Relations Board management outside the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
The union, in a series of tweets on Twitter last week, announced the protests and one of the issues why the union is protesting—NLRB’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s alleged insistence that NLRB field staff return to work inside the agency’s offices, as opposed to working remotely.
”Instead of serving as a model of healthy labor relations, @NLRBGC has put her foot on our necks. The voices of hundreds of NLRB staff demanding continued modest workplace flexibilities have been coldly ignored, just to gain leverage at the bargaining table.” — National Labor Relations Board Union
While the protest, announced last week, seems to be directed at NLRB GC Abruzzo, the underlying issue stems from what the staffers claim is a lack of funding at the agency.
In a November letter to Congress, Abruzzo wrote that the “Agency’s current funding level is impairing our ability to maintain staff capacity, both in headquarters and across 48 field offices.”
At this point, the Agency has exhausted its ability to absorb cost increases through staff attrition and operational efficiencies. Labor costs already comprise 80 percent of the NLRB’s budget. The Agency has already implemented a hiring freeze and, without additional funding, will likely be forced to pursue furloughs.
In her letter, Abruzzo warned of furloughs several times, stating that, without funding, “we will be forced to reduce our operational capacity, including likely furloughs of the dedicated career employees at the agency.
However, in its series of tweets, the NLRBU claims that Abruzzo is also being coercive, rigid and engaging in ‘hard bargaining’
"Instead of serving as a model of healthy labor relations," the union stated, "Abruzzo has put her foot on our necks.”
