NLRB overreach: Hypocrisy edition; AFSCME chief quitting

Kennedy Space Center

The hypocrisy is thick this afternoon. The Obama administration is trying to prevent Boeing from opening a plant in South Carolina, which its leader in the House suggests it should close if it doesn't unionize, but it is praising the Chicago-based aerospace giant for bringing jobs to Florida's Space Coast.

First the shot:

From Fox News:

President Obama has praised the creation of potentially hundreds of new jobs by a Boeing deal in Florida; a state still hurting from the loss of some 7,000 Kennedy Space Center jobs after the president ended NASA's space shuttle program.

"The next era of space exploration won't wait, and so we can't wait for Congress to do its job and give our space program the funding it needs," the president said in a statement Tuesday.

"That's why my administration will be pressing forward, in partnership with Space Florida and the private sector, to create jobs and make sure America continues to lead the world in exploration and discovery," he added.

Now the chaser:

From the Wall Street Journal (paid registration required) in April:

There are plentiful legal precedents that give business the right to locate operations in right-to-work states. That right has created healthy competition among states and kept tens of millions of jobs in America rather than heading overseas. Boeing has also expanded its operations in Puget Sound while building its South Carolina presence. Ultimately, the NLRB seems to be resting its complaint on the belief that Boeing spent nearly $2 billion out of spite, which sounds less like a matter of law than of campaign 2012 politics. Boeing says it will challenge the complaint in an NLRB hearing in June, but Big Labor also has sway at the five-member board.

Recall that President Obama gave a recess appointment last year to Craig Becker, a former lawyer for the Service Employees International Union who once wrote that the NLRB could impose "card check" rules for union organizing even without an act of Congress. Even a Democratic Senate refused to confirm him. Beyond labor politics, the NLRB's ruling would set a terrible precedent for the flow of jobs and investment within the U.S. It would essentially give labor a veto over management decisions about where to build future plants. And it would undercut the right-to-work statutes in 22 American states – which is no doubt the main union goal here. With a Republican House, Mr. Obama's union agenda is dead in Congress. But it looks like his appointees are determined to impose it by regulatory fiat – no matter the damage to investment and job creation."

And now the dessert wine, from Doug Ross:

Obama-friendly GE building aircraft factory in right-to-work Alabama; curiously, unlike Boeing, NLRB utterly silent.

The head of the AFSCME union is resigning. From a Workforce Fairness Institute:

WFI Statement In Response To Gerald McEntee Stepping Down

Washington, D.C. (November 3, 2011) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) today released the following statement in response to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) President Gerald McEntee stepping down:

"Good riddance to the architect of Big Labor 'payback,'" said Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI).

BACKGROUND:

AFSCME President Steps Down:

"The head of the nation's largest public employee union plans to step down, setting up a heated contest to guide a political powerhouse that has been among the biggest spenders in Democratic campaigns. Gerald McEntee has guided the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees since 1981. An e-mail obtained by The Associated Press shows he's informed senior union officials of his plans." (Sam Hananel, "Head Of Largest Public Employee Union To Step Down," The Associated Press, 11/3/11)

McEntee Architect Of Big Labor "Payback":

"Gerald McEntee, president of the influential American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told The Washington Times in an interview that EFCA was 'payback' for the labor movement's massive campaign effort for Mr. Obama and the Democrats." (David R. Sands, "Labor's 'Priority' On Back Burner," The Washington Times, 12/29/08)

Big Labor keeps cozying up to the radical Occupy Wall Street movement.

From the AFL-CIO blog:

AFSCME protester,
Occupy Chicago

CWA joins with Occupy activists to protest corporate greed at Verizon.

And finally, the Big Labor is sinking its fangs into Governor John Kasich's reforms in Ohio.

From Human Events:

With Ohio voters heading to the polls November 8, pundits and pols nationwide are studying the huge political story in the Buckeye State: Whether the landmark economic and labor reforms enacted by the Republican-controlled state legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. John Kasich earlier this year will go down in flames, victims of Big Labor’s massive money machine.

The Kasich-backed reforms include elimination of binding arbitration for state government employees, a requirement that government employees pay 15% of the premiums for their health insurance, and ending the right of state employees to strike. With all of the measures lumped into one ballot initiative known as Issue Two, voters must vote “yes” on Two to maintain them as law and “no” on Two to take them off the books. The most recent Quinnipiac Poll showed that, among likely voters, the “no” forces were leading by a margin of 57% to 32%.

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