NEW: Trump's NLRB is considering killing a legal doctrine that has protected unions since FDR was president.
The request came from the National Right to Work Committee Legal Foundation...in a union's dispute with a Trump megadonor.
tyt.com/stories/4vZLCH…
Trump megadonor Ron Cameron owns a chicken company that employs 800 union members at a Delaware plant.
Many are immigrants. Two-thirds needed Spanish or Haitian Creole translation.
Cameron won a vote--taking place right now--to kill the union.
Then the Right to Work Committee got involved, asking the three members of the National Labor Relations Board--all Trump appointees--to kill or at least narrow what's known as the contract bar doctrine.
Here's how the contract bar doctrine protects unions...
If a union and employer sign a contract, the NLRB has said--since the 1930s--that the contract BARS most attempts to hold a decertification vote...
In effect, the contract bars do-over votes on whether the union can represent the workers... for 3 years or til the contract ends.
Ironically, both the AFL-CIO and a labor-law prof. told me that contract bar doctrine also protects employers!
How?
Unions don't fear do-overs all the time--which means they can actually AGREE with employers without fear of instant reprisal in the form of a do-over vote.
So what happens if Trump's NLRB kills the contract bar doctrine?
No one knows.
But constant do-over votes could strain union finances...
...especially if the NRTWC is funding a constant torrent of them.
So now what? The NLRB is about to solicit briefs on the issue--legal filings from interested parties on how they should rule.
That solicitation, the AFL-CIO lawyer told me, could hint at the scope of just how extremely the NLRB is considering undoing contract bar doctrine.
The NLRB is also, right now, holding a mail-in vote on whether to decertify the union--United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27.
Votes are due July 14, but if UFCW 27 wins its challenge of the election, the votes won't be counted.
Either way, contract bar could still go.
Last month, Sen. @ChrisCoons publicly backed UFWC 27...
...after we reported that he had been staying silent while the union fought against the the chicken company's law firm--Coons' #1 donor.
And if you want to know what all this has to do with the National Prayer Breakfast, Maria Butina, and Russia...
...happy rabbit hole...
tyt.com/stories/4vZLCH…
Join me for a live Q&A on this story in today's TYTI Daily at 11:30am eastern time...
Typo.... UFCW 27. Sorry!
BREAKING: Trump's NLRB just issued its request for briefs on its review of the contract-bar doctrine.
It includes flat-out rescinding the doctrine, which has protected unions (and employers!) from constant do-over votes on union representation while contracts are in effect.
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