NLRB overreach: Dem switches to GOP edition

Boeing HQ, Chicago

Charleston County Councilman Elliott Summey, a South Carolina Democrat, is switching parties later this week. And the radical NLRB pushed him in that direction.

From the Charleston Post & Courier:

The party change is something he has been considering for the past few years, he said. He thinks his values -- such as fiscal conservatism and promoting economic development -- are more in line with the Republican Party. But it was the Democratic Party's response to the National Labor Relations Board's lawsuit against Boeing's nonunion plant in North Charleston that solidified his decision.

The Boeing plant will bring unprecedented job growth and economic development to the region, Summey said. "The NLRB slapped us in the face with what they tried to do with the Boeing plant, and the Democratic Party stood behind the NLRB," he said.

Are good economic times headed for Indiana? The Wall Street Journal (paid registration required) thinks so.

The labor reform story of the year is unfolding in Indiana, which Republicans who dominate the legislature are trying to make the nation's 23rd right-to-work state. Democrats are resorting to the old run-and-hide ploy, but this could be a huge economic boon to the Hoosier State.

Big Labor portrays right to work as a radical change, but it merely lets individual workers decide if they want to join a union. In non-right-to-work states, workers typically must pay union dues once their worksite is organized—whether they want to pay or not. This enhances union clout and the cash to dominate state politics.

Many industrial and manufacturing businesses only consider right-to-work states as locales for expanding their operations. The nearest right-to-work state in the Midwest is Iowa, so Indiana could set itself further apart from such high-tax, unionized havens as Illinois and Michigan.

According to Chief Executive Magazine's annual CEO survey, Indiana has climbed to sixth from 16th among state business climates, thanks to reforms since 2004 under Governor Mitch Daniels. But the state's biggest liability remains its labor market. A Forbes survey last year ranked Indiana 34th in business climate, partially because of a dismal 44th rank in labor "supply," which includes unionization.

Unions have done well under President Obama. From Investor's Business Daily:

In a telltale Friday-night document dump, the White House released records showing the latest lucky recipients of Obama-Care cost waivers. By the wildest of coincidences, 87% of them belong to Big Labor unions.

Interesting, since Big Labor pulled out all the stops to get the president's signature on health care reform passed in March 2010. But as the waivers came, it's clear they never had any expectation of paying for it.

From the very start they carved out special exemptions for themselves, showing all the earmarks of political favors in exchange for campaign contributions. The actual skyrocketing costs, reduced choices and lousy service were shoved on the rest of us.

This isn't conspiracy thinking. Judicial Watch obtained records from closed-door meetings between Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO, Andy Stern of the SEIU and other labor advocates of health care nationalization, and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Vice President Joe Biden, Majority Leader Harry Reid and ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They point to deals cut to benefit Big Labor.

About those so-called recess appointments.

Reuters:

Top Senate Republicans are weighing whether to file a lawsuit to challenge President Barack Obama's controversial use of recess appointments, but such a suit looks legally shaky and could ultimately backfire with voters.

Senators will likely make a decision on a possible lawsuit after they return to Washington on January 23, a senior Republican aide told Reuters.

"Everything is on the table," the aide said.

The Hill:

House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) has put forward a formal request for all documents related to the three National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recess appointments that were made last week, a request Kline said is warranted because two of the three appointments did not go through a formal vetting process in Congress.

"The complete departure from and total disregard for normal policies governing the appointments of these individuals to the Board raises serious questions about their qualifications, background, and the future of the NLRB," Kline wrote in a letter along with subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.).

"As members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce who are charged with oversight of federal labor law, and in the absence of any public vetting process of the new Board members, we expect you will fully respond to this request without delay," they wrote.

And finally, the Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page, once a legitimate but liberal jouranalist, writes about those recess appointments, but he neglects to mention Obama's most egregious sin of this episode: that two of his three appointments did not undergo a background check.

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