NLRB overreach: Illegitimate edition

Rep. John Kline (R-MN)

Will the legitimacy of the President Obama's recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board be a drag on our economy? A Minnesota congressman thinks so.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The partisan clash over President Barack Obama's NLRB recess appointments was on full display at a House hearing Tuesday: Democrats called the meeting a waste of time and Republicans called it instructive.

Republicans said they scheduled the hearing of the House Education and the Workforce Committee to assess the implications the recess appointments will have on workers and employers.

Chairman John Kline (R., Minn.) said the hearing established the recess appointments are "going to cause difficulties throughout our economy." The reason? In the coming months, businesses will struggle over whether board decisions are legitimate and should be followed, he said, citing witness testimony on behalf of employers.

MLive on the decline and fall of the United Auto Workers in Flint, Michigan:

Officials with Flint's UAW Local 599 are moving ahead with plans to put their union hall on the auction block. The decision comes after nearly a year of trying to sell the building outright.

The building was home to tens of thousands of Buick workers over the past 60 years. Its auction reflects the dramatic change for Local 599 membership, which was once was the largest union local in the world.

"We've downsized in our workforce from 27,000 to less than 500, so we're going to downsize the size of our hall," said UAW Local 599 President Bill Jordan.

On March 17, the union will auction off the majority of the contents and the building.

Finally, some National Mediation Board news from The Hill:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is claiming victory in a fight union rules that had tied up a multiyear funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The House and Senate have approved legislation that provides nearly $16 billion per year to the FAA through fiscal year 2015. President Obama is expected to sign the bill, which is the first long-term funding measure approved for the agency since 2007.

The debate over FAA funding dragged on for months as lawmakers squabbled over union-election rules set by the National Mediation Board (NMB) for workers covered under the Railway Labor Act.

Boehner's office said the compromise that ended the standoff is a victory for union reformers.

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