The city of Oakland had passed an ordinance that forced franchisees that provide “significant ongoing revenue” to agree to the unionization of its employees via card checks rather than through secret ballot elections. A target of the ordinance was Comcast.
Now The National Labor Relations Board has demanded that Oakland provide a detailed explanation of how the card-check ordinance, which Comcast opposed, benefits the public interest while not abrogating the authority of the NLRB.
The NLRB rightly believes that the ordinance makes the rights of the NLRB, as well as Corporate America, superfluous.
While the NLRB has asked for justification of the ordinance, the only justification is obvious: to help unions organize ever larger pools of workers without having to hold secret-ballot elections, which might not support union representation. Wherever card checks are permitted, workers are frequently coerced into supporting union representation.
Comcast has filed an important suit against the City of Oakland. All of Corporate America is awaiting the outcome.
