Not another stimulus!

Yesterday morning I numbly watched as President Obama held a press conference with his Big Labor buddy at his side, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, where he dropped hints about his vaunted jobs address--it will include "infrastructure" improvements. Which means he wants to pay off his union cronies.

And yes, it's another stimulus. The first one was a colossal failure. Why not fail again?

The Heritage Action America blog has more.

Technorati tags: Democrats politics Obama Barack Obama democrat boondoggle photography photos recovery summer afl cio

Attn. Quad Cities residents: Tea Party Express rally at 5pm today

The Tea Party Express is headed to Bettendorf, Iowa this afternoon for a 5pm rally at Leach Park--on the banks of the Mississippi. Americans for Prosperity, another great patriotic group, is providing a Jumbotron. For more information, visit www.teapartyexpress.org.

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Report from the bloggers' call with Gov. Nikki Haley on the NLRB-Boeing case

Boeing HQ, Chicago,
August 30, 2011

Boeing thought it was performing a good deed by opening up a $750 million plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, bringing 1,000 new jobs to the Palmetto State to build the new Dreamliner 787. The Chicago-based aviation giant has major manufacturing facilities in Kansas and Washington state, but no jobs were lost in either place. In fact it has added 2,000 jobs in Washington state since plans for the South Carolina facility were announced. But President Obama's radicalized National Labor Relations Board ruled that because South Carolina was a right-to-work-state and the Seattle-area Boeing factory has been plagued with strikes, it viewed the construction of the new plant as a retaliatory move.

Earlier this morning I participated in a bloggers' conference call with South Carolina's governor, Nikki Haley.

I'm going to start with my question, which came at the end of the call. I queried the governor if she was aware that the NLRB was even investigating the opening of the plant in her state. "No," she replied. "I think we were shocked. And in all honesty, when this ruling came down I thought it was funny--I didn't even believe it. And then the next day I realized that this was actually real." Boeing was shocked too, "They don't understand how this could happen."

Gov. Nikki Haley

OF the NLRB, Haley said, "What you have is a rogue agency that is doing the most un-American thing imaginable to our country." She continued, "And as we are looking at President Obama to give his speech [next Thursday] on jobs, the only thing I want to hear from him, the only thing the people of this country want to hear from him, is that he is going to disband the NLRB or get them to step down from the great American company that chose to do business in South Carolina as opposed to going overseas."

Haley vows not to give up on this struggle and she says Boeing won't quit either. "Boeing is fighting this on behalf of every company in this country," the Republican said, "and I am fighting this on behalf of every governor in this country."

Obama has been pretty much mum about the NLRB-Boeing controversy, only commenting that the NLRB is "independent," although board member Craig Becker and NLRB general counsel were placed in their jobs by the president utilizing recess appointments.

In regards to Obama and NLRB overreach, Haley told us, "He either needs to agree or oppose, but he can't stay silent. Not at a time when our number one issue is jobs."

The August jobless figures will be released tomorrow.

Technorati tags: politics Democrats gop Republican unions news organized labor jobs economy law legal business Boeing aviation nlrb south carolina nikki haley unemployment Obama Barack Obama

NLRB overreach report, stealth card check edition

The overreach continues And guess what is back? Union card check. From Big Government:

Outgoing NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman and the of the Obama Appointed NLRB Board members, Craig Becker & Mark Pearce, voted to eliminate secret ballot election protections. Now, when employers make secrets deals with a union bosses agreeing to recognize a union without allowing his employees a secret ballot vote; employees no longer have the right to force an NLRB secret ballot election and allow workers to decide if they want the union or not.

Unable to pass EFCA, Card Check Forced Unionism, through a Democrat-controlled congress, Obama is paying off Big Labor through his handpicked NLRB Board. He is doing all this at the expense of worker freedoms and worker paychecks. And, the NLRB Decision is applied retroactively to bar even elections that have already been held but not counted.



Employees can now be forced to pay for an undisclosed arrangement between employers and labor union bosses without having the right to put it to a secret ballot election.

From the Daily Caller:

House Education and Workforce committee chairman Rep. John Kline demanded Tuesday that President Barack Obama stop the National Labor Relations Board from moving forward with a pro-union agenda.

In response to three controversial new rulings the NLRB announced late Tuesday, Kline said Obama can "no longer stand idle as his labor board wreaks havoc on the nation's workforce."

"With more than 14 million Americans unemployed, it is past time the president denounce the job-destroying actions of the NLRB and begin working with Congress on responsible policies that will put our nation's workers and job-creators first," Kline said in a statement.

With the three rulings, Kline said the NLRB "unloaded a barrage of bureaucratic activism that will devastate employees and job creators."

SHOT:

Solis: Obama Has Been Focused On Jobs

CHASER:

Obama Labor Boss Buys Canadian-Built Car

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis Says Her SUV Is Made In America. Nope, Canada.The New York Times:

The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday released a decision that would make it easier to unionize nursing home workers.

It is the latest in a flurry of moves favorable to unions that the board completed before the term of its chairwoman, Wilma B. Liebman, expired on Sunday. The board released two other pro-union decisions on Tuesday, both reversing decisions issued under President George W. Bush.

In the nursing home decision, the board ruled that the union, the United Steelworkers, could organize just the 53 certified nursing assistants at a nursing home in Mobile, Ala., as part of one bargaining unit, without including the home's 33 other nonprofessional workers, including janitors, cooks and file clerks.

Groups representing businesses and nursing home operators attacked the decision, fearing it would make the homes more vulnerable to unionization drives.

From Open Markets:

Earlier this year, President Obama proudly touted his executive order calling for federal agencies to review regulations on their books and identify obsolete rules for repeal.

That was a welcome gesture, but unfortunately it seems to have remained just that. In the case of labor policy, the administration is taking the opposite approach.

The Obama administration seems to be throwing every pro-union measure at the wall to see what sticks, in order to give union bosses something — anything — to keep them on board for the 2012 elections.

And finally, from the Wall Street Journal, paid registration required:

Nothing like the end of a week in August with a hurricane on the way to bury another political favor for unions. When not telling U.S. companies where they are allowed to locate their operations, the National Labor Relations Board will now require them to display pro-organizing propaganda.

The new rule issued last Thursday requires management to post notices about employee rights to unionize, collectively bargain and strike under the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB believes that workers are not familiar enough with that 76-year-old law "and therefore cannot effectively exercise those rights." The ostensible basis for that conclusion is "the comparatively small percentage of private sector employees who are represented by unions."

Talk about post-hoc reasoning. The NLRB seems to believe that it must promote unions because the percentage of private sector workers in unions—6.9% today, down from a 1954 peak of 35%—is too low. What would the "comparatively" correct share be? At any rate, an 11 by 17 inch broadside "in such colors and type size and style as the Board shall prescribe" is unlikely to reverse this downward trend, which is largely the result of union effects on business competitiveness and long-term job security.

The NLRB will design and distribute the notices—is Shepard Fairey, the man who did those 2008 "Hope" posters, available?—so the direct costs could be de minimis, though of course they will fall disproportionately on businesses that lack the legal departments to parse a 194-page regulation about posters in the workplace.

Technorati tags: politics Democrats economy business law legal nlrb business card check

Issa launches postal reform website: SavingThePostalService.com

Darrell Issa wants to save the postal service. From an Issa press release.

Issa Launches Postal Reform Website SavingThePostalService.com

WASHINGTON. D.C.- Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today launched SavingThePostalService.com, an interactive portal filled with information, resources and videos on the United States Postal Service and its dire financial situation. The website also features the Postal Reform App, which offers visitors a chance to review the facts and indicate which solutions to address the Postal Service's challenges they prefer.

"The USPS is fast-approaching default and without serious reforms it will collapse and be unable to meet payroll as early as next year," Issa said. "The American people will not accept the bailout of yet another failing institution which is why Congress must act to put the Postal Service on a sustainable course. Go to SavingThePostalService.com to learn more about the Postal Service, see our reforms and get involved in crafting your own solutions."

On June 23, 2011, Rep. Issa and Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy, introduced H.R. 2309, the Postal Reform Act of 2011, which would implement sweeping, structural reforms to the USPS in order to bring the institution back to fiscal solvency. Click here to get the facts on the Postal Reform Act of 2011.

The Postmaster General has announced that on September 30, 2011, he expects the United States Postal Service to default on payments to the U.S. taxpayer. Last year, USPS lost $8.5 billion and is projected to lose $9 billion in FY 2011. Find out what Postal Service default means to you here.

Visit SavingThePostalService.com for more information, including facts on the Issa-Ross Plan and the latest news on Postal Service reform.

Technorati tags: politics gop Republican news jobs economy darrell issa california california politics