Page 559 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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National Labor Relations Board

both the public and private sectors of business. Its motto The NLRB is made up of three principal parts: the
is “Educating for Success in Business and Life.” board, the general counsel, and the regional offices. The
The NBEA is administered by an executive board board is made up of five members who serve five-year
that includes four officers (president, president-elect, sec- terms. It acts as a quasi-judicial body in deciding cases on
retary-treasurer, and past president) and an executive formal records. The general counsel is independent of the
director. Additionally, the executive board consists of rep- board, and is responsible for the investigation and prose-
resentatives from each of the five regions (Eastern, South- cution of unfair labor practice cases, as well as overseeing
ern, North Central, Mountain-Plains, and Western) and the regional offices. Members of the general counsel serve
the president of each of its five regional affiliates. The four-year terms. Both the board and general counsel are
executive board also has representatives from two organi- appointed by the president with Senate approval. The
zations, the National Association for Business Teacher regional offices and its subdivisions serve certain geo-
Education (NABTE) and the International Society for graphic areas, and they are dispersed throughout the
Business Education. United States—mainly in or near large cities.
The NBEA’s official publication is the Business Edu- The function of the NLRB is twofold. First, it deter-
cation Forum, which is published four times a year. Arti- mines and implements, through secret ballot elections, the
cles are submitted and reviewed by editors from the choice by employees as to whether or not they wish to be
NBEA membership under one or more of the following represented by a union (and if so by which union) in deal-
topic areas: accounting, basic business and economics, ing with their employers. Second, it prevents unlawful
communication, entrepreneurship, international business, acts (unfair labor practices), either by employers or by the
marketing, methods, research, student organizations, unions.
technology, and NABTE. The NBEA also publishes an Congress, through the National Labor Relations Act,
annual yearbook as well as several newsletters throughout regulates labor-management relations, thereby giving the
the year, which focus on a particular business-related NLRB its authority. The NLRB, though, has no inde-
topic. pendent power to enforce its mandates; instead, enforce-
The NBEA holds an annual convention that rotates ment is done through the courts of appeals.
from region to region. The convention program incorpo- One example of what the NLRB does was provided
rates a combination of general sessions featuring well- in 1995, when it helped bring a speedy end to the baseball
known speakers, group meetings on a variety of topics, strike. The NLRB secured a 10(j) injunction requiring the
and hands-on workshops emphasizing specific uses of owners to withdraw their one-sided imposed changes to
technology. One of the features of the convention is an the negotiated system of setting baseball wages.
exhibit area offering the latest in publications, equipment
SEE ALSO Collective Bargaining; Labor Unions; Negotia-
and software, and teaching aids. Awards are presented to
tion
outstanding business educators, including the most pres-
tigious award, the John Robert Gregg Award, in honor of
founder of Gregg Shorthand. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gross, James A. (1981). The Making of the National Labor Rela-
The NBEA may be contacted at its executive office:
tions Board. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
1914 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1596; or
http://www.nbea.org.
Tod W. Rejholec
SEE ALSO Professional Education

Dorothy A. Maxwell
NATIONAL RETAIL
FEDERATION
NATIONAL LABOR The National Retail Federation (NRF) strives to protect
and advance retail industry interests by providing services
RELATIONS BOARD and conducting programs in government affairs, informa-
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an inde- tion technology, education, training, and research. In
pendent federal agency. Its creation in 1935 by Congress 2005 NRF members represented more than 1.4 million
was in response to the National Labor Relations Act (the leading U.S. merchandise, independent, specialty, dis-
Wagner Act). Later acts, such as the Taft-Hartley Act, have count, and mass-merchandise stores; key suppliers to the
amended the original NLRB. retail industry; and more than a hundred trade organiza-

536 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION