Worker standards board

The Board is especially useful in industries with low union density and where traditional collective bargaining is unusually difficult.

[4] Depending on design, the Board can have multiple roles including: to hold hearings that create labor policy recommendations, to conduct education outreach that increases public participation,[4] and to conduct research to identify industry-centric labor practices that are in dispute.

Workers in these industries have had difficult labor conditions without FLSA protections for work hours, minimum wage, and collective bargaining.

For example, it was a Worker Standards Board's recommended public policy that resulted in package labeling regulations, which industry now widely supports.

[4] The Board differs from most commissions because their recommendations carry significant weight and trigger governmental review and action.

Its organization is typically a tri-party Board with a steering committee of representatives from three stakeholder groups: workers and labor unions, employer firms and associations, and governance (the public).

[1] For a Board to function, the related elected public policymakers must provide it with the authority to gather relevant information through hearings and investigations.

While workers organize around and participate in Board activities,[1] there is also a need to create strong enforcement mechanisms to ensure employer compliance.

[1] One of those mechanisms is giving funding to worker organizers to help ensure compliance with Board decisions as co-enforcers.

[10] The concept of a Worker Standards Board exists internationally and throughout time, often gaining in popularity during political unrest, as demonstrated by the following examples: