Marathon Pundit: 7/7/11 NLRB overreach roundup

Thursday, July 07, 2011

7/7/11 NLRB overreach roundup

O'Hare Airport, Chicago

More overreach. First from The Hill:

Republicans took advantage of the chance to blast President Obama Wednesday before the first White House Twitter town hall.

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman publicized South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley's question to Obama:

Why is your administration supporting the NLRB's job killing policies in South Carolina? #AskObama
The field of Republican presidential candidates have spoken out about the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) lawsuit against Boeing in the past, all opposing the NLRB's action in the case. Romney, Pawlenty and Huntsman retweeted Haley's question. Romney added his own hashtag: #ObamaIsntWorking.

The Washington Times:

American workers, entrepreneurs and other concerned people have correctly expressed outrage at the Obama National Labor Relations Board's persecution of the Boeing Co. for creating more than 1,000 new jobs in South Carolina over the objections of union bosses 3,000 miles away.

It’s not every day that federal labor board proceedings catch the media spotlight, but there's good reason for all the attention. The complaint against Boeing by Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon is as preposterous as it is unprecedented, and the sought-for remedy is unfair and punitive, all of which has been well covered on these pages.

While the Boeing case is a visibly egregious assault on our free-enterprise system, it's hardly the first, or even the latest, forced-unionism power grab launched by the Obama labor board.

Through its decisions in cases and in internal "rule-making," the board effectively has taken up Big Labor’s agenda, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, were unable to get through Congress. In particular, the board is pushing card-check unionization, an aggressive organizing tactic in which union operatives harass or intimidate workers - often at workers' homes - to sign “union authorization cards" and install the union in the workplace without a secret-ballot vote.

Workforce Fairness Institute:

Linda Puchala was recently elected chairwoman of the National Mediation Board, succeeding Harry Hoglander. The NMB, a little know agency to most Americans, is responsible for overseeing collective bargaining in the airline and railroad industry.

Recently, however, the NMB made major news when they decided to give Big Labor a bailout at the expense of worker’s rights. For 75 years, forming a collective bargaining unit in the airline and railroad industry required a majority of the workforce to vote in favor of unionizing. This precedent existed through Republican and Democratic administrations. Led by Hoglander, the NMB decided to change the rules and require only a majority of those voting to form a collective bargaining unit, rather than a majority of the entire workforce.

For instance, in a 100 person workforce, if 50 workers participated in the union-organizing election, only 25 would be needed to form the collective bargaining unit – subjecting decisions regarding pay, worker conditions and benefits to a minority of the workforce.

The NMB, stacked with supporters sympathetic to union bosses, believe forcing workers into unions is the appropriate thing to do. They know that more union members mean more union dues to funnel campaign contribution to candidates who support an agenda of forced unionization – chiefly President Obama. President Obama nominated both Hoglander and Puchala to serve on the NMB.

Fortunately, Congress is holding the NMB accountable. This spring the House of Representatives voted to overturn this biased ruling in the FFA Reauthorization and Reform Act. It's beyond time that Congress send the President a bill repealing this ruling to see if he stands with unions bosses or workers.

The Daily Caller:

The National Education Association's (NEA) early endorsement of President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election bid has sparked speculation about what motivated the nation’s biggest teachers'union.

Some experts speculate the premature endorsement may be a sign that the NEA is terrified. The union has just witnessed a slew of school choice victories and experts surmised it could be a confirmation of the union's ncreasingly weak political position across the country.

Sarah Longwell of the Center for Union Facts told The Daily Caller the union normally would've forced a candidate to give into more demands before handing out an endorsement. But, faced with what Longwell describes as a "losing PR battle," the NEA needed national help now.

"They could have held out and won some concessions from the administration, which has been, admittedly a little hard on teachers; unions," Longwell said, adding that Education Secretary Arne Duncan hasn't "seen eye to eye" with the unions on lots of policies.

"Right now, they [teachers' unions] are so under attack from Republican governors across the country that they feel like they need the [Obama] administration now more than ever."

Meanwhile, Hot Air writes that collective bargaining restraints have led to reforms in a Wisconsin school district.

The Tampa Tribune:

President Barack Obama is trying to tiptoe around the National Labor Relations Board's effort to block Boeing Co. from opening a $750 million plant in South Carolina and bringing that state nearly 1,000 jobs.

The president has good reason to want to distance himself from an asinine decision that threatens to kill jobs, hamper productivity and drive corporations overseas.

But the president can't hide from the facts. His pro-union NLRB appointees are responsible for this outrage.

The board, acting on the complaints of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, has charged Boeing with unfair labor practices.

Its offense? The company, which had suffered a series of strikes in Washington state, built a new, nonunion plant in South Carolina. The NLRB is trying to make the company do similar production work in Washington, which Boeing says would force it to close the plant altogether.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports what I call Obama Winter continues:

Many big public companies are likely to report strong second-quarter profits, but that isn't the story on Main Street, where small businesses are grappling with jittery customers, rising costs and tight credit.

Obama Winter

The owners of many small businesses say economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures have led them to delay hiring and capital expenditures. Seventy percent have no plans to expand their staffs over the next 12 months, according to a recent U.S. Bancorp survey of 1,004 U.S. companies with annual revenue of $10 million or less.

While about half projected higher revenue a year from now, 78% said the U.S. economy is still in a recession, and many expected it to remain there next year. In May, for the third month in a row, the optimism index of the National Federation of Independent Business declined.

At big public companies, cost-cutting and a rebound in sales, particularly overseas, have provided a boost. But because small businesses account for more than half of private-sector employment and gross domestic product, their owners' caution bodes ill for the broader economic recovery.