Marathon Pundit: NLRB overreach, Rick Perry edition

Monday, August 15, 2011

NLRB overreach, Rick Perry edition

Governor Rick Perry entered the presidential race on Saturday--announcing in South Carolina. He used that opportunity to knock NLRB overreach.

From USA Today:

Perry also tucked in a special message for South Carolina, which hosts the first southern primary in next year's Republican race. The Palmetto State is also locked in a dispute with the National Labor Relations Board, which has blocked the opening of a Boeing plan near Charleston because of what it calls anti-union activities. Accusing Obama of stacking the National Labor Relations Board with "anti-business cronies," Perry said, "no president should kill jobs in South Carolina, or for any other state for that matter, simply because they choose to go to a right-to-work state."

Writing for MLive, Chuck Hadden of the Michigan Manufacturers Association:

Union organizers are still licking their wounds over the inability to get Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

They haven't given up, however. They have regrouped and are counting on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to give them what Congress would not. And, with the addition of two new very pro-union Democrats on the NLRB, the effort to make sweeping EFCA-like changes to established election procedures has been given a second lease on life.

On July 21, the NLRB proposed new regulations that would allow for "snap" or "quickie" elections that would effectively deny employees the ability to make fully informed decisions about whether to join a union by narrowing the timeline between filing of a petition for certification and a union election. If adopted, unions would be allowed to begin organizing a workforce secretly and then surprise an employer once enough signatures are collected. Employers would then have as little as 10 days to communicate with their employees, as compared to the 38 days (on average) that occurs under current law.

Flashback:

IAM Filed Charges With The NLRB Against Boeing:

Boeing announced in 2007 that it planned to assemble seven 787 Dreamliner airplanes per month in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, where its employees have long been represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The company later said that it would create a second production line to assemble an additional three planes a month to address a growing backlog of orders. In October 2009, Boeing announced that it would locate that second line at the non-union facility. In repeated statements to employees and the media, company executives cited the unionized employees' past strike activity and the possibility of strikes occurring sometime in the future as the overriding factors in deciding to locate the second line in the non-union facility. The NLRB launched an investigation of the transfer of second line work in response to charges filed by the Machinists union and found reasonable cause to believe that Boeing had violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act because its statements were coercive to employees and its actions were motivated by a desire to retaliate for past strikes and chill future strike activity." (Press Release, "National Labor Relations Board Issues Complaint Against Boeing Company For Unlawfully Transferring Work To A Non-Union Facility," NLRB, 4/20/11)

IAM Benefited From The NMB's Rule Change:

AirTran Airways' 2,900 fleet employees and passenger service and reservation employees have voted to be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union and the National Mediation Board said Monday. The union would have lost under the old NMB rules governing union representation elections, rules that were changed last year. They won under the new rules. The NMB said 2,904 employees were eligible to vote. Under the old rules that required a union to get a majority of the eligible votes, the Machinists would have needed 1,453 votes in favor. Instead, it won by a 978-870 vote. Under the new rules, the union needs only to get a majority of the votes cast, not a majority of the votes eligible to be cast. (Terry Maxon, "Bolstered By New NMB Rules, Machinists Win Election To Represent AirTran Employees," The Dallas Morning News, 3/28/44)

Investor's Business Daily:

The Obama administration is quietly pursuing a labor policy that would make it harder for employers to seek advice on countering union organizing bids.

The change would require new disclosures when management hires consultants to fight organizing drives. That may dissuade some companies from seeking outside advice and force many consultants out of the business.

Consulting firms "are really worried," said Michael Eastman, executive director of labor law policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "If these disclosure rules go through, they are going to be required to report their client list and the fees they charge."