NLRB overreach: Not impartial edition

An impartial NLRB? No. From Judicial Watch: NLRB Attorney Cheers Union Attack on Boeing: "Hooray for the red, white and blue."

Richard Trumka sure likes to trash talk. From Reuters:

The country's largest labor federation warned the Obama administration and congressional Democrats not to take their support for granted and said they would work against any elected leader who supports pending free trade agreements.

"Every elected leader will be held accountable," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters, as anti-Wall Street protests spread across the United States.

"Working families will be demanding action to promote a real job creation agenda. They are not going to go away," he said.

Unions have started joining protesters angry about home foreclosures, high unemployment, executive compensation and the 2008 financial services bailout. The demonstrations, which started in New York a few weeks ago, have since spread to Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Florida, Chicago and other cities.

Oh, why isn't the "impartial" NLRB ordering posters at union shops informing workers about the rights to decertify unions?

From Publius Forum: Unions in for Anti-American, Anti-capitalist "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

From Forbes:

The National Labor Relations Board is postponing the effective date of a new rule requiring most private businesses to put up a poster that explains workers' rights to form unions.

The board says there has been so much confusion about which businesses are covered under the rule that officials want to conduct more outreach, especially to small and medium sized companies.

The Washington Post writes about George Allen's pushback against Big Labor:

Former senator George Allen unveiled his "Freedom to Work" agenda Wednesday, releasing a collection of proposals that would make it easier for workers to avoid joining unions and for the government to avoid having to strike labor deals or pay “prevailing wages” on public works projects.

Allen, who unveiled his agenda at Dynax America Corporation in Roanoke, is the likely Republican nominee in the contest to succeed retiring Sen. James Webb (D). Ex-governor Timothy M. Kaine is expected to win the Democratic nod.

Allen has sought to make labor policy a focal point of his campaign against Kaine, putting particular emphasis — as many Republicans have nationwide — on a controversial decision by the National Labor Relations Board to sue Boeing for allegedly deciding to open a new plant in South Carolina rather than Washington state in retaliation for worker strikes in the latter location.

Arguing that the state's right-to-work laws "give Virginia a crucial competitive economic advantage," Allen said in a press release that the Obama administration "through executive fiat and government intrusion ... is waging war on private employers under the guise of protecting workers."

The GOP wants to prevent "quickie" union elections. From The Hill:

Republicans are moving forward with legislation to roll back regulations coming from the National Labor Relations Board.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, introduced a measure Wednesday intended to bolster employer cases before the NLRB, which has become a top GOP target ever since it filed a complaint against aerospace giant Boeing.

Rep. John Kline (R-MN)

Kline's bill would give employers at least 14 days to prepare their case for a NLRB election officer. It would also change the law so that no union election could be held until at least 35 days after a petition is filed. The provisions are in response to a rule intended to speed up elections

The measure also would void a recent NLRB decision that allowed smaller bargaining units to demand union elections. Kline's bill would go back to the earlier standard.

More from Kline. From his op-ed in the Washington Times:

In the midst of a national jobs crisis, President Obama continues to insist that the answers to our economic problems are more stimulus spending and higher taxes. Meanwhile, he has turned a blind eye to the job-destroying agenda of his own National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

For months, the board charged with administering federal labor law has advanced a series of disturbing policies that hurt workers and undermine the strength of our work force. It is time for Congress to force a change of course.

On Wednesday, I introduced the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094). This responsible proposal restores key workplace protections to employees and business owners and demonstrates our resolve to remove obstacles to job creation.

As we've learned through its complaint against the Boeing Co., the NLRB's actions can send shock waves across the country and have a chilling effect on job creators. A number of steps taken by the board this year are further proof of this troubling reality.

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