I'm not arguing. Are you mistaking my "is" for an "ought"?
Sure, I think the NLRB *should* use its powers under the law to help unions. Then again, I think we *should* be living in a society where such bodies as the NLRB aren't even necessary. Etc. ad infinitum. Should, should, should. I've got plenty of more shoulds, if you care. Though I can't see why you or anyone on this list... should care.
Oh, and I'm not implicitly arguing that unions, including Wobs, shouldn't fight for what few rights are nominally available under the law. Just to cut off a potential disagreement with a point I am not making.
Now, do you know of cases where the NLRB nowadays does *in fact* use its powers to "force the employer to recognize the union and bargain with it in good faith"? Because I don't. I *do* know of other cases where workers fight for recognition, try to go through the election process, the employer breaks every law on the book (often on perfectly reasonable advice from its attorneys or some management consultant), workers file with the NLRB, and the end result after much effort, anxiety and possibly terror is that the employer must post a sign (in a prominent place!) saying that it was a very very very bad boy and will never ever do that again. This is where I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Is my understanding of the contemporary reality incorrect? Do you have more hopeful contemporary counterexamples? This is still unclear to me.
Or are you just arguing shoulds?
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 4:54 PM, Mark Rickling Something that can
> potentially make a difference in workers lives, right? And the Board
> has the power -- absent a winning vote and given egregious enough
> violations -- to force the employer to recognize the union and bargain
> with it in good faith. Hence, its decision is anything but a win for
...