U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) recently introduced legislation to decrease the size and scope of the authority of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to protect small businesses from big labor union special interests. Mullin’s Small Businesses Before Bureaucrats Act will update outdated revenue thresholds and release many small businesses from the purview of the NLRB. Though the NLRB was designed to be a balanced, impartial adjudicator, the Biden-Harris administration has weaponized the agency to undermine workers and job creators by bending the knee to big labor unions.

“Oklahoma is the proud home of nearly 400,000 small businesses,” said Sen. Mullin. “Our job creators have been burdened for too long by the Biden-Harris administration’s failed economic policies, increased regulations, and now – subversion of the NLRB to advance big union priorities at the expense of small businesses across America. This bill will rein in federal bureaucracy and ensure our entrepreneurs in Oklahoma and across the country can operate their businesses as they see fit.”

Background:

• NLRB is an independent federal agency that oversees unionization proceedings and enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act.
• The NLRB currently has jurisdiction over any retail business who has annual revenue over $500,000 and any non-retail business with annual revenue over $50,000.
  • These threshold limits were set in 1959 and have not been updated.
  • Adjusted for inflation, $500,000 in 1959 is just over $5.1 million today.
• The Biden-Harris administration has subverted the independence of the NLRB to advance the priorities of big unions:
  • Through litigation, NLRB revived “card check” policies which could eliminate secret ballot union elections.
  • NLRB attempted to implement a joint-employer rule which would have drastically undermined the franchise business model by making franchisors liable for actions taken by franchisees (and allow unionization of franchises).