ICYMI: Former NLRB Chairman Calls on Board to Fix Blocking Charges

Former NLRB Member and Chairman Marvin Kaplan published an op-ed in Bloomberg Law this week calling on the current Board to finally fix its blocking charge problem, and he lays out a clear path forward.

Kaplan, who participated in more than 900 Board decisions over eight years, writes that blocking charges have created "a one-way street." The Board prioritizes speed when workers seek union representation, but allows unions to weaponize charges to delay decertification elections for months or years. He calls that asymmetry "difficult to square with the National Labor Relations Act's protection of employee free choice."

His ask to the current Board is direct: end merit-determination dismissals, guarantee workers an immediate vote, and put the Board, not regional officials, in charge of any ballot impoundment decision. Done right, he writes, these changes would "for the first time" truly protect worker free choice under the law.

The piece lands just days after Jackson Lewis filed a formal Petition for Rulemaking co-signed by Gene Hamilton, Senior Advisor to Coalition to Protect American Workers; Michael Alcorn, Visiting Fellow with Institute of the American Worker; and Thomas Beck, former Chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, making the same case directly to the Board.

CPAW Senior Advisor Gene Hamilton on the op-ed: "Chairman Kaplan spent eight years on this Board and knows better than anyone what workers are up against. He's giving this Board a gift — a clear diagnosis and a clear solution from someone who has seen this system up close for nearly a decade. The tools, the authority, and the moment are all there. American workers have waited long enough, and we're confident this Board will deliver."

Full piece here: Bloomberg Law