WASHINGTON, DC - Glenn Spencer, Senior Vice President of the U.S. Chamber’s Employment Policy Division, released the following statement supporting the National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel Bill Cowen for criticizing state laws that would regulate private sector labor relations.
“Today, the Acting General Counsel made it clear: States cannot act like a shadow National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by enacting legislation that gives states enforcement power that falls clearly under the authority of the NLRB. If states decide to undermine the NLRB, the U.S. Chamber will consider all options, including litigation.”
Some states, including New York, California, and Massachusetts, are considering legislation that would allow state enforcement agencies to take over the role of the NLRB in instances where the agency lacks a quorum, does not issue rulings in a time frame preferred by the states, or takes action to which states like California object.
In today’s release, Cowen states: “These measures purport to assume jurisdiction over private sector labor disputes covered by the [National Labor Relations Act]…states are not permitted to regulate conduct ‘that the NLRA protects, prohibits, or arguably protects or prohibits…This type of legislation cannot be reconciled with the Supremacy Clause, found in Article IV, Clause, 2 of the U.S. Constitution.”
