Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
A new rule streamlining and modernizing union representation elections is set to go into effect in April—if congressional Republicans and corporate lawsuits don't block it.
The rule, passed by the National Labor Relations Board in December, would prevent bosses from stalling the election process by withholding information and filing frivolous lawsuits, stall tactics management commonly uses to buy time to intimidate workers away from the union. The Chamber of Commerce has sued, and now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a resolution blocking the rule:
Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can block a regulation from taking effect if a resolution of disapproval is passed by a majority vote in each chamber. If Congress passes the resolution, it goes to the president, who may veto it. Congress can override a veto of a resolution with a two-thirds vote of both houses.
Only one regulation has been blocked under the Congressional Review Act since it was enacted in 1996. In 2001, a Labor Department regulation on workplace ergonomics was blocked by a resolution that Congress approved and President George W. Bush signed.
Funny, isn't it, that the only other time a regulation has been similarly blocked by Congress, it was also a regulation intended to protect workers?
If both the Senate and House pass the resolution—which is likely, since it only requires a majority vote in the Senate and Republicans there are gung-ho for it—President Obama could veto it. The question is, would he? The administration isn't saying, but in 2012, when Congress threatened a resolution blocking an earlier version of the same rule, the White House did suggest a veto was likely. In the past six years, Obama has only vetoed three bills. But it looks like Republicans are determined to drive that number as high as they can.
10:33 AM PT: The White House has issued a veto threat on the current resolution.