There's an important new bill in Congress that hasn't gotten much attention as of yet. Senators Dodd, Durbin, and Kennedy, and Reps. Rob Andrews and Don Young have just introduced the Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act, S. 969 in the Senate and H.R. 1644 in the House. Here's the short summary. The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act -- legislation meant to emasculate the 1935 National Labor Relations Act -- excluded employees classified as "supervisors" from the protections of the NLRA. Back in October of 2006, a National Labor Relations Board's decision in what's known as the Kentucky River cases opened the gates on employees exempt from labor protections by deciding that charge nurses are indeed "supervisors." These are RNs, you see, who have the responsibility to assign other nurses, LPNs (licensed practical nurses), and other medical staff to take care of certain patients, and who may generally oversee patient care in their units during their shifts.