Marathon Pundit: NLRB overreach: Intimidation edition

Friday, February 03, 2012

NLRB overreach: Intimidation edition

Cowles Bog, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

We start off with intimidation, then we move on to Indiana. Could the Hoosier State be a bellwether for its move to become the nation's 23rd right-to-work state?

And finally, one more question. Was Harry Reid right then or is he right now?

From Investors Business Daily:

Intimidation: Union membership in the private sector has been in a long decline. Big Labor bosses are naturally desperate. What standards of decency will they violate next to reverse the slide?

Representing the union bosses within the federal government is the National Labor Relations Board. Its chairman is Mark Pearce, who wants the board to propose several new rules, including one that would require union-targeted companies to provide organized labor with a list of employee names, home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

The union chiefs, who take in more than $8 billion a year in dues and have almost $9 billion in assets, say this is simply a way to keep every eligible employee informed.

To everyone else, it's clear that unions can — and will — use such a list to intimidate workers. At the very least, the unions could use the information to annoy, harass and propagandize employees that they believe aren't on board with the union agenda.

Those illegal recess appointments may soon be tested in court.

Bloomberg:

A dispute over working conditions at a Brooklyn apartment complex may be a test case for whether President Barack Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board are legal.

Lawyers for the Flatbush Gardens apartments, including Paul Clement, a solicitor general and acting attorney general for President George W. Bush now with the Washington law firm Bancroft PLLC, have asked a court to throw out the NLRB’s complaint in the case.

"The Board lacked a quorum and has no authority to file the petition because three of its putative members have not been validly appointed," Clement alleges in the filing.

Obama appointed three members to the labor board on Jan. 4 without seeking Senate confirmation, asserting that the chamber was in recess. A president is permitted to make appointments without confirmation during a recess, though Republicans dispute that was the case on Jan. 4.

Indiana may have ignited a trend by becoming the nation's 23rd right-to-work state.

Politico:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels defended Thursday his state's newly-approved right-to-work legislation, saying that the phones have been ringing off the hook with companies wanting to come to the state since he signed the measure.

"Indiana has by every reckoning the 5th or 6th best business climate in the country, and now it gets a little better," said Daniels on Fox News. "The phone began literally ringing yesterday afternoon with companies wanting to come to our state."

Daniels dismissed concerns about the bill, arguing that the legislation would not shut down unions or have their pay cut.

"This law is aimed only at one segment of society, the folks without jobs," he said. "No one will lose pay, and no benefits are going down, and the right to organize and bargain is safe."

More...

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Republicans Set Stage for Right-to-Work Fight in Minnesota

Columbus Examiner: Ohio Ballot Board to Tak Up Right-to-Work Amendment

Daily Caller: The coming Arizona public employee union apocalypse

Hoosier Access: Right-to-Work and the Super Bowl: A Better Case

The Chicago Teachers Union continues to pick the pockets of taxpayers.

Chicago Sun-Times:

The cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools system spends tens of millions of dollars annually on a perk that few other employers offer: cash to departing employees for unused time off.

Since 2006, the district paid a total $265 million to employees for unused sick and vacation days, according to an analysis of payroll and benefit data obtained by the Better Government Association under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

By far the largest share — $227 million — went to longtime employees for sick days accumulated over two or three decades.

For teachers union outrage from the Los Angeles Times:

A teacher charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct in his classroom successfully thwarted attempts by the Los Angeles Unified School District to fire him. In the process, the teacher, who is accused of spoon-feeding his semen to blindfolded children, managed to retain lifetime health-benefits provided by the nation’s second-largest school system.

Former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt also automatically receives nearly $4,000 a month in pension from the California State Teachers' Retirement System.

Investigators were a year away from filing charges against Berndt, 61, when they brought copies of disturbing photos to the school principal on Jan. 3, 2011, according to investigators. Sheriff's investigators had pictures of boys and girls gagged with tape, blindfolded and some were being fed a milky substance from a spoon.