Responding to their political backers, the Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would undermine a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board. The bill, The Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) would alter the definition of supervisor as set forth in September 2006 by the NLRB.
That earlier definition upset hundreds of thousands of supervisory nurses who were told that as supervisors they were not permitted to join unions. The NLRB had stated that supervisory nurses “assign tasks” and carry out their “responsibility to direct others.” As a result, they are supervisors.
The proposed RESPECT Act , however, would eliminate the term “assign” and the phrase “responsibility to direct” from the definition of what constitutes a supervisor. The RESPECT Act re-defines a supervisor as someone for whom supervisory activities constitute “a majority of the individual’s work time.” The result would be that all supervisory nurses would be able to join a union.
The RESPECT Act, which is supported by the AFL-CIO and the American Nurses Association, was introduced by Senators Chris Dodd, Richard Durbin, and Edward Kennedy as well as by Representatives Rob Andrews and Rosa DeLauro.
This is another indication of what Democratic control of the Congress will mean for Corporate America. And if a Democrat wins the presidential election in 2008, then there will no longer be an executive who will veto such legislation.
