NLRB overreach: Piggly Wiggly edition

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC)

Our most pro-Big Labor president keeps placating his union cronies, courtesy of his radicalized NLRB.

Scroll down and you will see a video of Rep. Tim Scott discussing workers' rights, and you will also learn exactly what the Piggly Wiggly grocery chain has to do with this post.

First, from a Workforce Fairness Institute press release:

Taxpayer-Funded Government Agency Does Big Labor's Bidding Promoting Unionization

Washington, D.C. (February 14, 2012) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) today released the following statement in response to news reports that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will undertake an effort to promote unionization in private sector businesses:

"Instead of working to 'avoid redundant, conflicting, or overly burdensome requirements' as prescribed just a few days ago by the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, President Obama's labor board is desperately seeking to promote Big Labor’s interests in private sector workplaces," said Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). "With our nation's debt growing, this most recent overreach by the National Labor Relations Board should send a signal to lawmakers that the so-called 'independent' agency's budget merits serious scrutiny. An effort that uses taxpayer dollars to promote the interests of union bosses who have stated they intend to spend nearly half a billion dollars this November illustrates perfectly just how misguided and irresponsible the unelected bureaucrats at the NLRB have become. While couching their latest giveaway as a means to protect workers, the reality is that it protects the interests of President Obama's political benefactors and has been timed to launch just as an another gross overreach by the agency requiring businesses to post pro-labor propaganda takes effect."

BACKGROUND:

“Worker Rights Get Promotional Drive”:

"Federal regulators are preparing a drive to tell workers at nonunionized businesses they have many of the same rights as union members, a move that could prompt more workers to complain to employers about grievances ranging from pay and work hours to job safety and management misconduct. The National Labor Relations Board will focus on workers' rights to engage in 'protected concerted activity,' which allow two or more employees to take action for their mutual aid or protection, NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce said in an interview … In the next two weeks, the NLRB is set to roll out a Web page explaining 'concerted activity' and highlighting cases involving unlawful punishment for it. It also plans pamphlets in English and Spanish that will be distributed through worker-advocacy groups and sister federal agencies, such as the Labor Department. NLRB officials will address the issue in speeches and appearances on radio and television … The timing of the new Web page is convenient for the NLRB: Its web traffic could get a boost April 30, when a rule it finalized last year takes effect. The rule requires millions of private-sector employers to hang posters at their worksites about employee rights.  The posters list the agency’s Web address and toll-free number, and advises workers to 'promptly' contact the NLRB with suspected violations." (Melanie Trottman, "Worker Rights Get Promotional Drive," The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/12)

White House Office Of Information & Regulatory Affairs Telling Agencies To Avoid Redundant, Conflicting Or Overly Burdensome Requirements:

“EXCLUSIVE: Amid criticism from the right that the administration still has too heavy a hand, the White House opens a new phase in its continuing campaign to cut back on unnecessary regulations:

"A senior Office of Management and Budget official: 'Last January, the President ordered an unprecedented government-review of existing rules. … [O]ver two dozen agencies have released ambitious reform plans, outlining hundreds of cost-saving reforms. A small fraction of those reforms, already finalized or formally proposed to the public, will save more than $10 billion over the next five years. Today, … OIRA [White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs] is issuing guidance telling agencies that they need to work on the front end, with the public and stakeholders, to avoid redundant, conflicting, or overly burdensome requirements. A rule that in isolation may seem perfectly sensible may overlap with existing requirements in problematic ways, especially for small businesses and startups. Going forward, agencies will have to keep the big picture of cumulative effects in mind when writing rules."

"From the 2-page guidance, 'Cumulative Effects of Regulations': '[T]he cumulative effects on small businesses and start-ups deserve particular attention.'"

(POLITICO Playbook, 3/20/12)

Big Labor To Spend $400 Million Dollars For Obama During 2012 Presidential Election:

"Unions are gearing up to spend more than $400 million to help re-elect President Barack Obama and lift Democrats this election year in a fight for labor’s survival." (Sam Hananel, "Unions Gearing Up To Spend Big In 2012 Election," The Associated Press, 2/22/12)

Writing for Townhall, the Workforce Fairness Institute's Wszolek takes the NLRB to task over "micro-unions."

In business, much like in most other fields, the person taking risk and branching out to start a new company or hire additional workers looks at his/her books to ensure their finances are in order, but then oftentimes makes a gut decision about how they feel about the likely success of the venture. This is what entrepreneurialism is all about: working hard, measuring success and seeking to prosper further. This cycle is repeated thousands of times every day in our nation as Americans make our economy grow one business at a time.

But the calculations made by these current and future employers largely depend on one variable: certainty. Will the rules of the game change? Are the forces in a particular state capital or Washington stacked against them? Can they have confidence bureaucrats and regulators won't make it difficult to succeed, much less survive? These are the questions people ask themselves before risking their earnings and savings and that of their families to undertake an endeavor in the marketplace.

President Obama is a well-known basketball fan and it is only appropriate to draw a parallel with the game during March Madness. A point guard needs to know the power forward is going to be on the block before he makes the pass under the basket. His teammate doesn't actually have to be there when the ball leaves his hands, but he does require the certainty that his fellow player will be there once the ball arrives. One might refer to that as confidence. Without it, that team is unlikely to win. It seems simple to understand and completely logical.

Why then does the Obama Administration continue to advance proposals through an agency stocked with unelected bureaucrats that hurt job creators and spread deep concern and uncertainty among the very employers we need to lift us out of possibly the slowest and most lethargic recovery in our nation's history?

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), who says "I'm not really anti-union, I'm pro-worker," sat down with the Heritage Foundation's Lachlan Markay about the House freshman's Employee Rights Act bill.

A grocery store executive pulled no punches with the NLRB, as Supermarket News reports. Yes, I finally got around to Piggly Wiggly!

Paul Butera, chief executive officer of Piggly Wiggly Midwest, told SN Tuesday the company disagreed with the decision and was planning a response. "I've been in business for 54 years, most of them with union stores," Butera said. "'I've never seen a union or a labor board so anti-business in my life."

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