More than a hundred union members carried signs and chanted labor slogans as they marched to the local office of the National Labor Relations Board in downtown Nashville today.
They delivered a petition calling for public hearings on how the term “supervisor” is defined. Under law, supervisors can not unionize. Union members say employers are
now attempting to reclassify many workers, including nurses, as supervisors.
Stewart Acuff is the national organizing director of the AFL-CIO. He says if the definition were to include those who direct others and not just those who have the ability to hire, fire, promote or discipline, it could cut off 8-million workers in America from belonging to a union.
“We are concerned because the employer community, chamber of commerce, the American hospital association, has asked the board to define supervisor as another who directs the work of others, well that is every team leader, its every registered nurse, it’s every journeyman on a union construction site, it is average workers who have seniority, special expertise, or are professionals.”
The NLRB is expected to issue its definition as soon as the end of the summer.
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