Immediately upon becoming president, President Obama issued Executive Order 1396 stating that the government would require Federal contractors to post notices notifying employees of their “rights” under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). On May 20 it was announced that, effective June 21, 2010, the notice in its final form must be posted by all contractors of the government with a contract value of $100,000 or more, or subcontractors necessary to the performance of contracts with a value of $100,000 or more. As one would imagine, all Federal contracts will contain such an obligation, and failure to meet this obligation would result in the termination of the current contract and inability to bid on future contracts.

Things could be worse, as the original proposal specifically stated that the use of pro-union contractors was the policy of the government, but now it simply states in the preamble that the NLRA guarantees the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively with their employer and to engage in other protected activities. Moreover, even though the notice now includes seven statements of illegal conduct by employers, it does temper the statements by suggesting five illegal acts by a union or a union representative. It took the government 34 pages of regulations to implement this one page notice, and they are requiring the notice appear in the color and size promulgated. This will make one-in-all posters very difficult. http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/EmployeeRightsPoster2page_Final.pdf