Obama's pick for labor good for bosses, bad for rank-and-file

The best friend union members have had of late is Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, who has forced union leaders to open up the books and enforce disclosure rules.

Barack Obama's pick for the Labor Department could reverse these gains. Oh, she favors that "card check," which would, if passed, eliminate workers right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to join a union.

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal fleshes out the problems facing rank-and-file union members under the incoming Obama administration.

There is joy in Unionville this Christmas. Barack Obama ' s pick for Secretary of Labor -- Hilda Solis -- brings impeccable big labor credentials. The California Congresswoman first rode to power with labor backing against a fellow Democrat, has voted with the AFL-CIO 97% of the time, and got three-quarters of her campaign contributions from unions.

Ms. Solis says her goal is to expand the reach and power of unions in America , and she supports such union priorities as the Employee Free Choice Act, which would do the opposite of its name and end secret balloting to unionize a workplace. Look for a showdown on that legislation in 2009. Meanwhile, the other drama to watch is whether Ms. Solis will turn a blind eye to union corruption by weakening federal oversight.

From day one of the Obama era, union leaders want the lights dimmed on how they spend their mandatory member dues. The AFL-CIO ' s representative on the Obama transition team for Labor is Deborah Greenfield, and we ' re told her first inspection stop was the Office of Labor-Management Standards, or OLMS, which monitors union compliance with federal law.

Ms. Greenfield declined to comment, citing Obama transition rules, but her mission is clear enough. The AFL-CIO ' s formal "recommendations" to the Obama team call for the realignment of "the allocation of budgetary resources" from OLMS to other Labor agencies. The Secretary should "temporarily stay all financial reporting regulations that have not gone into effect," and "revise or rescind the onerous and unreasonable new requirements," such as the LM-2 and T-1 reporting forms. The explicit goal is to "restore the Department of Labor to its mission and role of advocating for, protecting and advancing the interests of workers." In other words, while transparency is fine for business, unions are demanding a pass for themselves.

The netroots, Barack Obama's far-Left supporters, have been upset with some of the president-elects centrist cabinet picks. But they like Solis.

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