House GOP Budget Threatens Workers? Safety, Union Rights

Federal programs protecting workers' safety and health on the job, as well as their right to organize, are targeted for cuts or elimination altogether in a 2012 budget proposal from House Republicans.

Introduced by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, the budget proposals would seriously diminish the regulatory authority of the Labor Department, OSHA, and the NLRB.

In the area of workplace safety, for instance, the proposal would bar development of a rule requiring employers to record workers' job-related musculoskeletal disorders. It would also block OSHA from moving forward with a prevention program that requires employers to develop plans to address workplace hazards and reduce worker injuries.

The NLRB, meanwhile, would be barred from enforcing much of the National Labor Relations Act. Specifically, the budget would kill a proposed rule to expedite union representation elections; it would bar any rule allowing electronic voting in union representation elections; it would repeal a new rule requiring employers to post notices informing workers of their right to join unions; and it would reverse other rule changes that have attempted to level the playing field for workers seeking union representation.

The GOP proposal also seeks to prevent the NLRB from having any authority over the majority of working Americans, about 56 million people who are employed at "small" businesses. The Small Business Administration defines small businesses as having as many as 499 employees.