The NLRB just announced that it is voting on portions of the proposed “streamlined” election rulemaking. This is a curious procedural move, obviously intended to allow the Board to ram its rulemaking through before Craig Becker’s term on the board expires at the end of this year. The full text of the NLRB press release follows below: November 18, 2011 Contact: Office of Public Affairs 202-273-1991 publicinfo@nlrb.gov www.nlrb.gov The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a Nov. 30 vote on whether to adopt a small number of the amendments to its election procedures that the Board proposed earlier this year. In mid-June, the Board published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which proposed amending the rules and regulations governing the NLRB election process in order to simplify procedures, make them more uniform across regional offices, and reduce unnecessary litigation. The Board received more than 65,000 written comments on the proposal and heard testimony from 66 speakers at a two-day hearing in July. In response to those comments, and in light of the possibility that the Board will lose a quorum at the end of the current congressional session, Board Chairman Mark Pearce will propose issuing a final rule limited to several provisions designed to reduce unnecessary litigation. The meeting of the Board’s three members, to be held at NLRB headquarters in Washington, will be open to the public, although the public may not participate. Members will discuss and vote on a resolution to accept the Chairman’s proposals, proceed to draft a final rule limited to those proposals, and defer the remainder of the proposed rule for further consideration. Members of the public and media may attend the meeting, space permitting. Requests should be sent to publicmeeting@nlrb.gov with the following text in the subject line: REQUEST TO ATTEND PUBLIC MEETING REGARDING RIN 3142-AA08. The meeting will also be webcast with a link available through the agency’s website, www.nlrb.gov.
