Marathon Pundit: NLRB overreach, post-Labor Day edition

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

NLRB overreach, post-Labor Day edition

Boeing HQ, Chicago

Labor Day is over but the overreach goes on.

The National Labor Relations Board has two vacancies. Union radical Craig Becker's term ends on December 31. What should President Obama do?

From a Chicago Tribune op-ed:

For the Obama administration, the backlash against NLRB over-reaching has become a burden on the campaign trail. How can the president make jobs the centerpiece of his re-election bid when his appointees have put such an indefensible blot on his record?

His administration retorts that its hands are tied because the NLRB is an independent agency. Right now, though, Obama can defuse this controversy by working with Republicans to fill the NLRB vacancies with sensible policymakers. GOP members of Congress are confident they have the procedural means to stop Obama from unilaterally filling these seats with recess appointments.

Or he can try to fill the three slots with appointees driven by pro-labor orthodoxy — and spend the 2012 campaign explaining why he did so.

His choice.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

New pro-union, anti-business rulings announced just after its Obama-appointee chairwoman left are further evidence that when Big Labor says "Jump," the National Labor Relations Board asks, "How high?"

A ruling in a nursing-home case -- but with implications far beyond the health-care industry -- allows unions to organize smaller groups of workers. It "makes it easier for unions to gerrymander who is in a bargaining unit to help them be successful in organizing," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's executive director of labor law told The New York Times.

Even worse, another ruling goes a long way toward achieving something Big Labor couldn't through a Democrat-controlled Congress: replacing secret-ballot union-certification elections with "card check."

SHOT:

Obama: "I Have Continued To Underscore The Importance Of Reducing Regulatory Burdens"

CHASER:

Calls For More Regulatory Restraint Come After Obama Halts EPA Ozone Plan

Even though there was no formal complaint regarding the posting workers' rights in regards to joining a union, the NLRB said businesses need them anyway.

From the Western Free Press:

WASHINGTON (DC) Congressman Ben Quayle (R-AZ-03) introduced legislation Friday that would reverse a new rule announced last week by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that forces private-sector employers to display notices describing the National Labor Relations Act.

Mr. Quayle released the following statement on his bill, HR 2833, The Employee Workplace Freedom Act:

"Over the past two and a half years, American businesses—both small and large—have dealt with an onslaught of new mandates, regulations and taxes. The National Labor Relations Board piled on another rule last week when it announced that employers must display 11-by-17 inch signs outlining the 76-year-old National Labor Relations Act. This needless requirement—which falls outside the NLRB's statutory authority —opens the door for legal action by the NLRB against companies that don't comply."

The Hill:

House Republicans plan to move on legislation in the coming weeks to block a proposed rule by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that will speed up union elections.

The proposal, backed by labor but heavily criticized by business groups, was tagged as one of the 10 most harmful regulations proposed by the Obama administration in a memo sent by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to House Republicans this week.

"The hope is to move forward in the coming weeks with a proposal that will rein in the NLRB, and protect employers’ right to free speech and workers' ability to make a fully-informed decision in a union election," a House Republican aide told The Hill.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes about the Boeing case and more:

But it's part of a pattern of recent rulings that, supporters and critics agree, clearly favor unions. While the labor board historically bends with the prevailing political winds because its members are appointed by the president, experts say such pro-union leanings haven't been this pronounced since the 1970s.

"Without a question this is the most activist NLRB in at least 30 years," said Peter Rachleff, professor of history at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., who has taught and written extensively on labor issues and says he is supportive of organized labor. "They're trying to change the political climate for labor."

In recent weeks, the board has issued several pro-union rulings, including one that overturned a Bush administration decision that made it easier for employers to challenge union organizing and another that forces employers to post notices informing workers about their legal rights to form a union.

The board's case against Boeing, Rachleff said, is a signal that the Obama appointees are trying to establish a "a more level playing field" for unions. "The playing field has for decades now been tilted heavily in favor of corporations to block unions and move work to nonunion states or out of the country altogether," he said.

Forbes:

Friday morning, many on Wall Street were stunned by the big fat zero put up by the August jobs report, the worst showing in 11 months. The data convinced many previously optimistic economists that the United States will slip back into recession.

I believe that we have been in one giant recession all along that was only temporarily interrupted by trillions of useless and destructive deficit and stimulus spending. Unfortunately, the August numbers will increase the talk of government efforts to stimulate the economy.

As President Obama prepares to unveil a new plan for the Federal Government to create jobs, evidence is rapidly piling up on how his administration is actively destroying jobs with stunning efficiency. Recent examples of this trend are enough to make anyone with even a casual respect for America’s former economic prowess hang their head in disgust.

The assault on private sector employment began in April when the democrat controlled National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a complaint seeking to force Boeing aircraft to move Boeing’s newly opened non-union production facilities in South Carolina back to its union controlled plants in Washington State. Although Boeing simply says that it is looking to open a cost effective domestic manufacturing facility (an endangered species) to employ American workers, the NLRB alleges that the company was punishing union workers in Washington for past strikes.