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NLRB Allows Temps to Join Unions.

A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) will allow many of the nation's 35 million temporary (i.e. Labor Ready etc.) workers to join the same union that represents the regular non-temporary workers.

This essentially puts these temporary workers in a position to bargain for medical benefits and other compensation and if they don't get it go out on strike. And if they go on strike the other workers are likely to help them.

Only temporary workers who are supervised by company employees are eligible, and the worker would be allowed to bargain with both temp agency unions and those of their assignment company.

The ruling will place temporary workers and regular employees in the same bargaining units - when the temporary employees are jointly employed or co-employed by the agency and the client company. A finding of joint employment is common when temps work alongside regular employees and are supervised by a client company manager.

This new 3-1 decision overrules the 1990 NLRB decision Lee Hospital, which held that a bargaining unit consisting of regular and temporary workers at a single "user" employer requires the consent of both the user employer and all the "supplier" employers involved.

Stephen A. Bokat of the National Chamber Litigation Center stated that now employers will have to treat temporary workers "pretty much like regular employees." Unions praised the ruling and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the ruling "an important step" in addressing the rights of temporary workers.

The Unions can thank the Clinton appointed NLRB.

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