Final Rules Governing Consent-Election Agreements

On July 22, 2004 the National Labor Relations Board published in the Federal Register proposed changes to its rules to provide a mechanism to have preelection disputes decided with finality by the Regional Director as part of its ongoing efforts to address the needs of employers, individuals and labor organizations and to further the fundamental purposes of the Act. One comment was received in response to this publication. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, AFL-CIO, supported the proposed changes, but expressed the view that the changes did not address what it considered to be major problems in the Board's representation process. Upon consideration of that comment, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is adopting the proposed changes and publishing the rules as final.