Marathon Pundit: Obama's radical NLRB: Now attacking secret ballot

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Obama's radical NLRB: Now attacking secret ballot

"So I owe those unions. When their leaders call, I do my best to call them back right away." Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope.

And the payback for Big Labor continues. Obama's radical NLRB is assaulting one of America's most revered rights--the secret ballot.

From a WFI press release:

Obama Labor Agency Attacks Secret Ballot

Washington, D.C. (April 26, 2011) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) today released the following statement in response to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suing states to undo constitutional amendments protecting the secret ballot:

"The decision by President Obama's labor board to sue states for defending the secret ballot once again demonstrates the union boss agenda is alive and well in regulatory agencies. Instead of applauding states for supporting a hallmark of free and democratic societies, government bureaucrats have undertaken an all-out assault against them,” said Katie Gage, executive director of the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). "The ownership of this ill-conceived and misguided action – along with numerous others on the part of the National Labor Relations Board – rests solely with President Obama and an administration more interested in paying back Big Labor bosses than creating jobs for all Americans."
BACKGROUND:

"The National Labor Relations Board has told state officials that it will soon file federal lawsuits against Arizona and South Dakota in seeking to invalidate those states’ constitutional amendments that prohibit private sector employees from choosing to unionize through a procedure known as card check. In a letter sent on Friday, the labor board told those states that it would invoke the United States Constitution's supremacy clause in asserting that the state constitutional amendments conflict with federal laws and are pre-empted by those laws. One federal official said the lawsuits would be filed in the next few days. The Arizona and South Dakota constitutional amendments were promoted by various conservative groups worried that Congressional Democrats would pass legislation allowing unions to insist on using card check in organizing drives, meaning that an employer would have to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed pro-union cards. Under current law, private sector employers can insist that secret ballots be used when unions are trying to organize." (Steven Greenhouse, "Labor Board Plans To Sue 2 States Over Union Rules," The New York Times, 4/25/11)