The National Labor Relations Board could soon make it much easier for workers to unionize. The board plans to re-establish the Joy Silk Doctrine, which would force employers to recognize and bargain with their employees' union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards.

This would turn the tables in favor of workers and eliminate a key union-busting tactic employers use to stifle organizing. By enabling workers to unionize via card check and preventing employers from dragging out the process into a time-intensive union election, the decision would make it vastly easier for workers to win a union.

Steven Greenhouse explains. Greenhouse is a journalist and the author of The Big Squeeze and Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor.