The National Labor Relations Board is supposedly an independent agency created by the Wagner Act of 1935. This act affirmed the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choice. The language of the bill, however, makes it plain that the purpose of the NLRB was to reduce problems between workers and bosses which might interfere with free flow of business.

The anti-worker Labor Board has shown their partnership with big business by denying workers the opportunity to form and join unions. In 2004 the NLRB made a number of anti-worker decisions. The Bush NLRB ruled that graduate teaching and research assistants were not employees and were thus ineligible to form a union. Later that year, the Board ruled that disabled workers receiving rehabilitative services from their employers are ineligible to join a union. The same year the Bush Board ruled that temp agency employees performing the same duties as regular employees could not organize in a union without asking permission of the employer and the agency.

Later this Summer the Bush NLRB will be issuing a series of decisions that will totally eliminate the ability to organize collectively for a large number of American workers. Nurses, construction workers, painters, electricians, and welders are among the hundreds of thousands of workers at risk of having their rights stolen. The Bush NLRB at the behest of big business plans to re-classify many of these workers as supervisors, thus eliminating their right to belong to organized union representation. Any skilled or experienced worker who on occasion directs a less-skilled worker can be deemed a supervisor.

A study published by the Economic Policy Institute found this broad definition of supervisor could take away the right to join a union and bargain collectively from eight million Americans. This would be in addition to the 8.6 million workers the NLRB has already excluded from joining unions.

It amazes me how many poor people continue to support Bush and the business-owned Congress. This Congress has refused to even look at the minimum wage which has languished federally at $5.15 per hour for many years. During the same time Congress has given itself tens of thousands of dollars a year in wage hikes.

Recently staff nurses from hospitals and medical centers around the State of Washington joined nurses at Virginia Mason Medical Center in a rally to support VMMC nurses. VMMC is attempting to re-label all 600 of its registered nurses as supervisors thus attempting to take away their right to a united voice. Don't think this threat to workers is limited to the big cities. The corporate bosses are attempting to complete their efforts to destroy unions all over this country. It is truly time for the workers of the world to unite.

A recent letter in the Chronicle which was critical of one of my letters reinforces my belief that many people would rather have emotional propaganda-based opinions than knowledge based in facts.

Larry Kerschner