It’s official. We defeated the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) so-called poster rule, which would have required manufacturers to post a notice in their workplaces informing employees of their right to organize and strike.

After two federal appeals courts struck down the rule, the NLRB had one final chance to save its mandate. The Board had until yesterday to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case and potentially overturn the lower court’s ruling. It missed that deadline.

This victory was hard-fought. We began the litigation in 2011, but thanks to the efforts of NAM staff and our legal team and the financial support of our members, we prevailed, pushing back on the NLRB’s overreach, safeguarding our members’ First Amendment rights and saving manufacturers from an onerous and unfair mandate.

This victory is a great example of the results we can produce through strategic and well-funded legal action. With the launch of our new Manufacturers’ Center for Legal Action (MCLA), the NAM is well-positioned to take on future legal challenges. The MCLA is building on the victory in the NLRB case through a challenge to a similar poster requirement that targets federal contractors. Moving into 2014, we are evaluating challenges to a variety of regulations coming from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency and Securities and Exchange Commission.

I know that manufacturers would rather be on their shop floor than in the courtroom, but with an Administration intent on pushing its agenda through aggressive executive action, we have to be aggressive in response. This win against the NLRB demonstrates that our strategy can get results. If you wish to support our legal efforts to push back against regulatory overreach, please click here.

Jay Timmons
President and CEO