Associate General Counsel, Division of Enforcement Litigation

Associate General Counsel, Division of Operations Management

Director, Division of Administration

Director, Equal Employment Opportunity

LINDA R. SHER

B. ALLAN BENSON, Acting

GLORIA J. JOSEPH BARBARA T. GAINEY

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency created by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act) (29 U.S.C. 167), as amended by acts of 1947 (TaftHartley Act), 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act), and 1974 (Health Care Amendments).

The act affirms the right of employees to self-organization and collective bargaining through representatives of their own choosing, to engage in other protected, concerted activities, or to refrain from such activities. The act prohibits certain unfair labor practices by employers and labor organizations or their agents. It authorizes the Board to designate appropriate units for collective bargaining and to conduct secret ballot elections to determine whether employees desire representation by a labor organization.

As of July 1, 1971, the Postal Reorganization Act (39 U.S.C. note prec. 101) conferred jurisdiction upon the Board over unfair labor practice charges and representation elections affecting U.S. Postal Service employees. As of August 25, 1974, jurisdiction over all privately operated health care institutions. was conferred on the Board by an amendment to the act (29 U.S.C. 152 et seq.).

Activities

Under the act, NLRB has two principal functions: preventing and remedying unfair labor practices by employers and labor organizations or their agents; and conducting secret ballot elections among employees in appropriate collective

bargaining units to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by a labor organization in bargaining with employers about their wages, hours, and working conditions. The agency also conducts secret ballot elections among employees who have been covered by a union-security agreement to determine whether or not they wish to revoke their union's authority to make such agreements. In jurisdictional disputes between two or more unions, the Board determines which competing group of workers is entitled to perform the work involved.

Two major, separate components comprise NLRB. The Board itself has five members appointed by the President and primarily acts as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases on the basis of formal records in administrative proceedings. The General Counsel, also appointed by the President, is independent from the Board.

Under the general supervision of the General Counsel, 33 regional directors and their staffs process representation, unfair labor practice, and jurisdictional dispute cases. (Some regions have subregional or resident offices.) They issue complaints in unfair labor practice cases; seek settlement of unfair labor practice charges; obtain compliance with Board orders and court judgments; and petition district courts for injunctions to prevent or remedy unfair labor practices. The regional directors direct hearings in representation cases; conduct elections pursuant to the agreement of the parties or the decision-making authority

Office/Address

San Diego, CA (555 W. Beech St., 92101)
San Francisco, CA (901 Market St., 94103)
Seattle, WA (915 2d Ave., 98174)

St. Louis, MO (611 N. 10th St., 63101)
Tampa, FL (201 E. Kennedy Blvd., 33602)
Tulsa, OK (111 W. 5th St., 74103)

Washington, DC (2120 L St. NW., 20037)
Winston-Salem, NC (251 N. Main St., 27101)

Sources of Information

Contracts Prospective suppliers of goods and services may inquire about agency procurement and contracting practices by writing to the Chief, Procurement and Facilities Branch, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, DC 20570. Phone, 202273-4040.

Employment The Board appoints administrative law judges from a register established by the Office of Personnel Management. The agency hires attorneys, stenographers, and typists for all its offices; field examiners for its field offices; and administrative personnel for its Washington office. Inquiries regarding college and law school recruiting programs should be directed to the nearest regional office. Employment inquiries and applications may be sent to any regional office or the Washington personnel office.

Publications Anyone desiring to inspect formal case documents or read agency publications may use facilities of the Washington or field offices. The agency will assist in arranging reproduction of documents and order transcripts of hearings. The Board's offices offer free informational leaflets in limited quantities: The National Labor Relations

Board and YOU (Unfair Labor Practices), The National Labor Relations Board and YOU (Representation Cases), Your Government Conducts an Election for You on the Job, and The National Labor Relations Board-What It Is, What It Does. The Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, sells A Guide to Basic Law and Procedures Under the NLRA, the Annual Report, the Classified Index of National Labor Relations Board Decisions and Related Court Decisions, volumes of Board decisions, and a number of subscription services, including the NLRB Casehandling Manual (in three parts), the Weekly Summary of NLRB Cases, the NLRB Election Report, and An Outline of Law and Procedure in Representation Cases. Speakers To give the public and persons appearing before the agency a better understanding of the National Labor Relations Act and the Board's policies, procedures, and services, Washington and regional office personnel participate as speakers or panel members before bar associations, labor, educational, civic, or management organizations, and other groups. Requests for speakers or panelists may be made to Washington officials or to the appropriate regional director.

The National Mediation Board was created on June 21, 1934, by an act amending the Railway Labor Act, as amended (45 U.S.C. 151-158, 160-162, 1181–1188).

The Board's major responsibilities include the mediation of disputes over wages, hours, and working conditions that arise between rail and air carriers and organizations representing their employees; and the investigation of representation disputes and certification of employee organizations as representatives of crafts or classes of carrier employees.

Disputes arising out of grievances or interpretation or application of agreements concerning rates of pay, rules, or working conditions in the railroad industry are referable to the National Railroad Adjustment Board. This Board is divided into four divisions and consists of an equal number of representatives of the carriers and of national organizations of employees. In deadlocked cases the National

Mediation Board is authorized to appoint a referee to sit with the members of the division for the purpose of making an award.

In the airline industry no national airline adjustment board has been established for settlement of grievances. Over the years the employee organizations and air carriers with established bargaining relationships have agreed to grievance procedures with final jurisdiction resting with a system board of adjustment. The Board is frequently called upon to name a neutral referee to serve on a system board when the parties are deadlocked and cannot agree on such an appointment themselves.

working conditions. When the parties fail to reach accord in direct bargaining, either party may request the Board's services or the Board may on its own motion invoke its services. Thereafter, negotiations continue until the Board determines that its efforts to mediate have been unsuccessful, at which time it seeks to induce the parties to submit the dispute to arbitration. If either party

refuses to arbitrate, the Board issues a notice stating that the parties have failed to resolve their dispute through

mediation. This notice commences a 30day cooling-off period after which selfhelp is normally available to either or both parties.

Employee Representation If a dispute arises among a carrier's employees as to who is to be the representative of such employees, it is the Board's duty to investigate such dispute and to determine by secret-ballot election or other appropriate means whether or not and to whom a representation certification should be issued. In the course of making this determination, the Board must determine the craft or class in which the employees seeking representation properly belong. Additional Duties Additional duties of the Board include the interpretation of agreements made under its mediatory auspices; the appointment of neutral referees when requested by the National Railroad Adjustment Board; the appointment of neutrals to sit on system boards and special boards of adjustment; and finally, the duty of notifying the President when the parties have failed to reach agreement through the Board's mediation efforts and that the labor dispute, in the judgment of the Board, threatens substantially to interrupt

interstate commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential transportation service. In these cases, the President may, at his discretion, appoint an Emergency Board to investigate and report to him on the dispute. Self-help is barred for 60 days. after appointment of the Emergency Board.

Section 9A of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 159a) provides emergency dispute procedures covering publicly funded and operated commuter railroads and their employees. That section attempts to resolve contract disputes between the parties through a series of emergency board procedures with a maximum 8-month status quo period. Section 9A is invoked only after all other procedures under the act have been exhausted.

Sources of Information

Publications Available for public distribution are the following documents: Determinations of the National Mediation Board (21 volumes); Interpretations Pursuant to Section 5, Second of the Act (2 volumes); Annual Reports of the National Mediation Board including the Report of the National Railroad Adjustment Board; The Railway Labor Act at Fifty; and The National Mediation Board at Fifty-Its Impact on Railroad and Airline Labor Disputes. Reading Room At the Board's headquarters in Washington, DC, copies of collective-bargaining agreements between labor and management of various rail and air carriers are available for public inspection, by appointment, during office hours (1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday).