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Congressional Republicans are invoking a little-used oversight tool to try to overturn a National Labor Relations Board rule aimed at speeding union-organizing elections, an early indication of their plans to challenge the Obama administrations regulatory agenda.

House and Senate leaders Monday introduced a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act,a 1996 law that allows Congress to overturn certain actions by government agencies.

To block the NLRB rule, which was completed in December and scheduled to take effect on April 14, both chambers must approve the resolution and President Barack Obama must sign itsomething hes unlikely to do since the rule was approved by a board he appointed. Congress has only once used the review act to successfully overturn a regulatory action, in 2001.

Still, the resolution reflects the GOPs continuing frustration with the NLRB under the Obama administration. The board in recent months has been active issuing decisions it says are needed to address the evolution of the workplace and balance the rights of employers and employees, such as its December ruling that employees with access to their employers email system have the right to use it for union organizing and other communications about wages and working conditions during nonworking time.

Republican lawmakers and business groups, however, say the boards Democrats act more as union advocates than umpires.

Under the presidents watch, it has pursued a culture of union favoritism that is detrimental to Americas workers and job creators, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in a statement about the resolution.

A Senate GOP aide said the resolution, which would only need a simple majority to pass and cant be filibustered or amended, would likely be brought to the Senate floor after next weeks congressional recess. If the rule were overturned, in most cases it couldnt be promulgated again unless its authorized by a law thats enacted in the future.

The Senate labor committees chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), said in a statement that the NLRB rule allows a union to force an election before an employee has a chance to figure out what is going on.

The rule would streamline and speed union-organizing elections, in part by allowing petitions and other documents to be filed electronically instead of by mail and by generally delaying legal challenges from employers until after a union vote occurs. It was adopted on a 3-2 vote, with the boards three Democrats in place at the time supporting it and the two Republicans dissenting.

Some legal experts have said the rule would shorten the time between a formal call for a union-organizing election vote, and the election itself, to 25 days or less almost two weeks less than the 2013 median of 38 days in uncontested elections.

Original post:
Republicans Try to Overturn NLRB Union Election Rule