A Broken NLRB

This story of a Starbucks union activist fired for her activity is pretty touching just in terms of how hard it is to go through this. But the real takeaway is how ridiculously long it takes the National Labor Relations Board to adjudicate anything at all.

The judge is expected to rule this summer on whether Starbucks will have to remove the final written warning from Rizzo’s personnel file. Even if Rizzo prevails, Starbucks can appeal that ruling. Last month, the NLRB’s New York office found merit to the charge that she was fired for her union activity and indicated that it will file a complaint seeking her reinstatement, according to the union’s lawyer.

Rizzo will have to return to court for a third trial and is likely to face the same questions from the same group of Starbucks lawyers. At best, a year — more likely two — will pass before the courts rule, the appeals have been exhausted and Rizzo is potentially eligible to get her job back.

Rizzo had believed that there were laws that could protect her and her colleagues. Now, she said,she knew how the system really worked. She rode down the elevator and rushed past the building security guards out onto the sidewalk. She was no longer crying. She was livid.

Years! You are a worker. You are fired for union activity. This is seen as illegal. The NLRB has been clear from the beginning that Starbucks’ actions against these workers are outrageous. But you are still going to be out of your job for multiple years…if you are lucky! It’s a completely broken system. It was not initially designed to take this long. Fixing the NLRB is part of what Democrats have to do if they want to empower labor. It’s fine enough for the Biden administration to promote stuff around the margins to help unions. But if you can’t fix the adjudication system to create some semblance of speed in solving problems, you have left corporations effectively in control of the process, no matter who you appoint to these various positions.