U.S. employers must post notices informing workers about theirlegal rights to form a union and bargain on contracts, the NationalLabor Relations Board said in a rule that may help efforts toorganize employees.

Companies that use posters to tell employees about personnelrules or policies must add a notice about their collectivebargaining rights, according to a statement today from the NLRB.The posting must be completed Nov. 14.

“The notice does make it easier for labor to make inroads,”Doreen Davis, a partner in the labor and employment practice atMorgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in New York and Philadelphia, saidin an interview. “It's almost like an invitation to non-unionemployees to start thinking about joining unions.”

The board proposed the rule to spell out for employees theirrights under federal laws that let workers choose to form and joina labor union. Business groups protested the proposal and said therule shows the agency favors unions.

“It's arbitrary, it's capricious,” Peter Schaumber, a formerNLRB chairman appointed by Republican President George W. Bush,said in an interview. “It shows just how activist they're preparedto be.”

The labor board has been faulted by Republicans and businessgroups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for pushing a pro-unionagenda. Board opponents cite the April complaint against Boeing Co.that said the world's largest aerospace company retaliated forworker strikes in its Seattle-area hub by building a plant in SouthCarolina, a state where employees aren't required to join a union.

Workplace Laws
“The NLRB rule simply brings the National Labor Relations Act inline with other workplace laws that require employers to post anotice in the workplace of their employees' rights,” PeterColavito, director of government relations at the 2.2million-member Service Employees International Union, said in astatement.

The posting rule “imposes a minimal burden on employers, whilegiving employees the information they need to choose to exercisetheir rights,” Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director ofAmerican Rights at Work, a union advocacy group based inWashington, said in a statement.

The agency said it received more than 6,500 public comments andin the review dropped a requirement to have employers send thenotice by e-mail, voice mail or text messaging if they usuallycommunicate with their employees in that manner, according to thestatement.

Chamber 'Disappointed'
“We are disappointed, as we opposed the rule,” Michael Eastman,executive director of labor-law policy at the U.S. Chamber ofCommerce, the largest U.S. business lobbying group, said in ane-mail.

The final rule is better because it eliminates the delivery ofthe notices by voice mail or e-mail, he said.

Employers will find it difficult to accept that the board hasaccurately summarized all decisions involving the National LaborRelations Act on a poster, Ronald Meisburg, a lawyer at ProskauerRose LLP in Washington and the board's general counsel under Bush,said in an interview.

The rule won't help unions because many employees consider laborgroups, with declining membership, to be ineffective, J. JustinWilson, managing director at the Washington-based Center for UnionFacts, which opposes making it easier for workers to join a union,said in an e-mail.

“This is nothing more than a symbolic favor to big labor fromtheir friends at the NLRB,” Wilson said.

The board has adopted a responsible and much-needed rule,Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. laborfederation, said in a statement.

“Just as employers are required to notify their employees oftheir rights around health and safety, wages and discrimination onthe job, this rule gives clear information to employees about theirrights under this fundamental labor law so that workers are betterequipped to exercise and enforce them,” Trumka said.

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