The very federal employees charged with protecting workers [note: including postal workers] against unfair labor practices are embroiled in a labor dispute of their own. Attorneys at the National Labor Relations Board, and independent agency in Washington, are contemplating filing an unfair labor practice grievance on their own behalf over their agency’s handling of benefits negotiated in the union’s last contract, said Leslie Rossen, president of the NLRB Professional Association. The association is angered by:

– cutbacks in the number and location of detail assignments 

 – short-term positions at NLRB offices around the country

– as well cuts to performance awards offered to attorneys.

The NLRB is a Federal agency that administers the National Labor Relations Act by:
- conducting elections to determine whether or not employees want union representation;
- investigating and remedying unfair labor practices by employers and unions (including postal unions)

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 Higher Court Calls Bush NLRB Out on a Bad Decision
 A federal appeals court recently joined the growing chorus of critics of the National Labor Relations Board’s Republican majority. The Seventh Circuit Court issued a harsh assessment of the Board last month when they ruled to overturn its finding that an employer’s partial lockout of pro-union workers was legal. The decision wasn’t handed down by “liberal activist judges,” as you might have expected. Rather, a trio of Republican-appointed judges denounced the Bush Board. Public scrutiny over the policies of the Bush administration is at an all-time high, but the extreme decisions and willingness of the Board to undermine workers’ basic legal protections are still under the radar. Now that Republican-appointed federal judges have sharply rebuked the views of the Bush Board, will more eyes be on the NLRB? American Rights at Work (11/21/05)