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Pocan Criticizes Shameful Bill to Shut Down NLRB

April 12, 2013

WASHINGTON—U.S. Rep Mark Pocan (WI-02), an owner of a union small business and proponent of labor rights, today strongly criticized legislation that would effectively shut down the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and deny legal recourses for workers across the country. The ironically titled “Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act” would in fact promote more uncertainty for both employees and employers by preventing the NLRB from issuing any new decisions or enforcing existing decisions.

The bill, which will be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives today, arrives at the same time Senate Republicans are filibustering President Obama’s nominations to the NLRB in a transparent attempt to reduce its authority and deny rights and protections to millions of Americans across the country.

“It seems there are no limits that some will go to deny hardworking Americans with the rights and protections they are legally entitled to,” Pocan said. “By effectively dissolving the NLRB, this bill would lead to unnecessary chaos by severely damaging labor relations and creating further uncertainty for both employees and employers. Without a legal avenue for workers to pursue, employers could be emboldened to ignore existing regulations, and worker strikes could become more prevalent since unions would be left with no other recourse. We need to be working on commonsense initiatives to get Americans back to work, not wasting time on politically driven bills that deny our workers the economic security they deserve.”