Center for American Progress

House Republican Attacks on the National Labor Relations Board Hurt All Workers
Article

House Republican Attacks on the National Labor Relations Board Hurt All Workers

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House Republicans are using every tool available to them—including their budget, regulatory, and legislative-oversight powers—to wage a coordinated attack on workers’ rights by trying to eviscerate the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB. This effort jeopardizes the basic rights and well-being of all workers, not just those who are in unions.

The NLRB protects workers’ rights to join together in unions and collectively bargain, which helps build a strong middle class. And the NLRB directly helps nonunion workers by protecting their right to speak up about workplace problems without fear of employer retribution.

When state governments in Ohio and Wisconsin passed laws stripping public-sector workers of their collective-bargaining rights this past spring, union and nonunion residents stood together in dramatic displays of opposition because they understood that the effort was an attack on all workers. Republicans in Congress are displaying a similar disdain toward workers’ rights but instead of a single bill they are using a number of targeted attacks to launch a coordinated assault.

Read the full issue brief (CAP Action)

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Authors

Karla Walter

Senior Fellow, Inclusive Economy

David Madland

Senior Fellow; Senior Adviser, American Worker Project