Coalition of labor unions representing 24 million workers, environmental groups, and progressive advocacy organizations say new trends demonstrate need for Congress boost of NLRB funding to protect workers, structural changes to dangerously outdated federal labor laws
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Worker Power Coalition, a national table representing 24 million workers and dozens of progressive, labor, and environmental advocacy organizations, says the new revelations contained in yesterday’s NLRB report demonstrate an urgent need for Congress to immediately boost fundings for the agency mandated to protect workers rights – and for Senate passage of the landmark bipartisan labor reform legislation, the PRO Act.
The new NLRB report reveals that in 2022, workers filed 2,510 union representation petitions – a 53% spike from the 1,638 petitions filed by workers in 2021 and the highest number since 2016. The report also sheds fresh insight into the scale of corporate employers attacks in response to those filings, with Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) charges also skyrocketing this year to almost 18,000 submitted by workers – a nearly 20% surge compared to 2021. Combined, the NLRB said its caseload jumped 23 percent in 2022 and was the largest single-year increase since the 1976 fiscal year.
Illegal union-busting tactics being used by employers like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Activision Blizzard continue to dominate national headlines as more and more workers try to organize for their rights, yet the NLRB lacks the funding resource to investigate widespread harassment, retaliation, and termination of workers exerting their protected right to concerted union activity. The new NLRB numbers underscore the consequences of their funding crisis precipitating across the country – and why America’s labor movement is demanding that Congress immediately act to increase funding for the NLRB so it has what it needs to carry out its mandate to protect workers’ rights.
Worker Power Coalition National Co-Chair Sara Steffens: “Workers at companies like Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and Activision Blizzard are forming unions and leading a national wave of activism to demand better pay and job safety, but they are facing illegal retaliation and CEOs are spending millions on private union-busting firms to try to stop them. This report proves that this surge in worker organizing is the largest in more than 50 years. The NLRB’s mandate is to protect workers’ rights and encourage collective bargaining, but Congress has refused to increase funding for the agency for nearly a decade, even as multi-billion dollar companies wage ruthless union-busting campaigns to silence their workers. Enough is enough. It’s time for the Senate to wake up to this broken system and increase funding for the NLRB so that these CEOs are held accountable.”
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The Worker Power Coalition represents 24 million workers across the country and unites labor unions, grassroots organizations, businesses, worker advocates, think tanks, environmental activists, and more with the goal of strengthening labor laws, including passing the PRO Act to empower workers, strengthen their workplace protections, and increase their ability to use their voices collectively. Learn more at PassThePROAct.Org.