National Labor Relations Board Definition Violates Freedom of Association Principles

For Immediate Release
Contact: Alison Omens 202-637-5018

International Labor Organization Finds National Labor Relations Board
Definition of Supervisors Violates Freedom of Association Principles
Decision comes from AFL-CIO complaint on NLRB action

(Washington DC, March 19)  The International Labor Organization (ILO)
released a decision by its Committee on Freedom of Association today
holding  that the National Labor Relations Board’s recent
interpretation of the term  “supervisor” “appear[s] to give rise
to an overly wide definition of  supervisory staff that would go beyond
freedom of association principles” by  excluding such workers from the
protections of the National Labor Relations  Act.  The Committee issued
its decision in response to the AFL-CIO’s  complaint that the National
Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decisions in the  Oakwood Trilogy
violate principles of freedom of association that bind the  United
States by virtue of its membership in the ILO.  

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney welcomed the decision.  “The
Bush-dominated  NLRB has taken every opportunity to arm U.S. employers
with the tools to  defeat the attempt of workers to gain a voice at
work.  The ILO’s decision  in this case vindicates workers’ rights
of freedom of association and  collective bargaining, despite the
attempts at spinning it by U.S.  employers.  We will continue to expose
the shameful conduct of the U.S.  government in every forum available to
us as we seek to strengthen the  ability of workers to form and join
unions.”  

The Committee reiterated that under internationally accepted core labor
standards, the term “supervisor” must encompass “only those
persons who  genuinely represent the interests of employers.”  The
Committee agreed that  by interpreting the National Labor Relations Act
to exclude from its  protections employees whose work simply involves
the authority to “assign”  or “responsibly to direct” others on
a sporadic basis, the Board’s decision  is not in accord with these
standards. 

As employers begin applying Oakwood where their employees seek to form
and  join unions, “this definition might lead to the exclusion of wide
categories  of workers from protection of their freedom of association
rights,” the  Committee stated.  The Committee also recognized that
the definition may  well lead “to a clogging of the representation and
collective bargaining  process through an increase in appeals filed by
employers with a view to  challenging the status of employees in
bargaining units.”  It called upon  the U.S. Government to “take all
necessary steps to ensure that” the  exclusion of supervisors is
limited to those individuals who genuinely  represent the interests of
workers, and requested to be kept informed of  progress made.

The ILO is a United Nations agency dedicated to strengthening the
rights of  workers.  Its decisions, including those of the CFA, are made
on a  tripartite basis among government, employer, and worker
representatives.   Since its creation more than 50 years ago, the CFA
has examined over 2,300  cases involving violations of internationally
accepted workers’ rights.