The trucking industry is criticizing a federal regulation issued last week that will require employers to hang posters informing workers about their rights to form and join unions.
“I find it somewhat difficult to believe that people are not aware of these rights today,” Prasad Sharma, deputy chief counsel at American Trucking Associations, told Transport Topics.
Effective Nov. 14, employers will be required to post the notices in places where other federally mandated notices are posted, including ones about disability and minimum-wage laws, the National Labor Relations Board said in a statement following its Aug. 25 vote.
“The board believes that many employees protected by the [National Labor Relations Act] are unaware of their rights under the statute and that the rule will increase knowledge of the NLRA among employees, in order to better enable the exercise of right under the statute,” NLRB wrote in the regulation.
The rights to be outlined on the notice include rights to bargain collectively for wages and conditions, to distribute union information and to refrain from union activities, the agency said. It is to be similar to a notice required for U.S. government contractors, and agricultural, rail and airline employers are exempt.
