INK: July 21, 2011

In this issue:

• Union Bailout Update
• Insight by Phil Wilson
• News From the Global War on Employers
• Teamsters in Vegas: “At least no one is getting beat up this year”
• The PLA Squeeze on State and Local Budgets
• SEIU Watch, Scoreboard, Sticky Fingers and more…

The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. View the web-based version of this newsletter (including links and graphics) by visiting: https://lrionline.com/ink-july-21-2011 NOTICE:  You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post.  Click here for instructions on how to do so. https://lrionline.com/easy-way-to-make-our-posts-and-ink-issues-into-pdfs ********** Insight by Phil Wilson

I hate to be a nag, but have you submitted your comment to the Department of Labor about the proposed rule on limiting the “advice” exception? I bet you haven’t. How do I know? Because as of this minute, only 42 people have. That’s not a typo. Only 42 people have commented, with only one month before the comment period comes to an end. There have been nearly 7,000 comments filed already on the NLRB “quickie election” rulemaking, and yesterday the AFL-CIO reported that they turned in 15,000 signatures in support of that rule (it would be funny to know how many of those were “voluntary” signatures from someone who actually knew what they were signing – but we all know that’s not a big priority for unions anyway). I’m a procrastinator myself (I just got our comment posted earlier this evening – you can download a copy for yourself by clicking the picture on the left). But please don’t wait. This issue is way too important to be completely ignored by the employer community. It is YOUR company who will have to report. It is YOUR relationship with your law firm and consulting firm that unions are trying to destroy. I estimate the actual economic burden on this regulation on American employers to be around two days per year. Using the DOL’s own financial estimates that means that the rule will waste nearly a quarter of a billion dollars annually just in compliance costs. In a week where everybody is thinking about debt ceilings and how many trillions of dollars of spending we can cut from the deficit that may not seem like much. But at a time when companies are struggling just to survive, burdens like these can be devastating. If this was an investment in innovation or productivity that’s one thing. But this is money that will be summarily flushed down the toilet. You cannot wait or put this off any longer. Go to this web page. Type in something from the heart. If you need some inspiration try this (but try to put it in your own words):

I would like to comment regarding your Notice of Proposed Rulemaking narrowing the “advice exception” under Section 203(b) of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. This proposed rule is unnecessary, an extreme over-reach and a direct threat to job creation in the United States. It is effectively a tax on the free speech rights of employers and is intended to interfere with the relationship of companies and their counsel. It is political payback to labor unions at the expense of small businesses and entrepreneurs, who will be harmed by these new regulations at a time when job-creation is claimed to be the top priority of the Department. There is nothing in the text of the LMRDA or the legislative history that suggests that Congress intended employers to have to report basic HR activities like seminars, employee surveys, or training sessions as potential “persuasion” activity. The Department has overstated the need and vastly underestimated the costs of this rule. This is due in large part to the one-sided and clearly limited investigation that went into the proposal. The Department has dramatically overstepped its regulatory authority, not to mention basic common sense, in suggesting these reporting requirements. The proposed rule is clearly driven by doing what is best for labor unions, at the expense of employers and, most important, the working people who depend on those companies for their livelihood. I strongly urge that the rule be withdrawn and that the current, common-sense and bright line interpretation remain in place.

Next, send a link to this post to everyone you know and ask them to comment. Very few people are paying attention to this, and it is much more devastating to employer free speech and direct relationships than anything the NLRB is considering at the moment. Time is running out. What are you waiting for? ********** Union Bailout Update This week, the NLRB conducted two days of public meetings on its proposed “common sense” changes to the representation election process.  (For expert analysis of those changes visit https://lrionline.com/nlrb-streamlined-elections) Over sixty speakers participated from the labor, legal, business and academic communities, along with several former Board members and agents.  This was the only opportunity for public input beyond written comments now being accepted through August 22. Those speaking in opposition to the changes universally challenged the need to fix something that by any objective or quantitative measure simply is not broken.  Unions have long explained away declining membership with the myth of an election process weighted heavily against them.  And yet over two thirds of union petitions result in elections where unions then go on to prevail 65% of the time.  (Granted, this might seem unfair to union presidents who are accustomed to reelection win rates of at least 100%.)  Russ Brown presented LRI analysis that showed the median time from petition to election is only 38 days and falling, while 95% of representation cases are closed within 56 days, well above the Board’s own target of 85%.  Clearly, those campaigns that drag out months or years are outliers where union blocking charges, not employers, stall the process. Former NLRB member Charles Cohen dared to wonder aloud about the current Board’s “phrenetic timeline” for such a sweeping and unprecedented rewrite of fundamental labor rights and processes. He expressed doubt the changes were about “efficiency and savings” suggesting instead “the inference of outcome determinative rule-making”.  Cohen also reprimanded his colleagues for overcorrecting as if “the entire employer community is assumed to be on the wrong side of the law.” Other participants raised concerns for employee privacy, electronic signatures and the post-election deferment of firm unit definition and spoke on how difficult – if not impossible – it will be for small businesses to meet new quickie requirements and deadlines. And one other objection – will the new quickie election model result in a better-informed electorate? Generally, the last employees to know about a union drive are those who would  voice the strongest objections to it.  Union organizers assess and map a workplace, first approaching the most troubled and then the most easily swayed.  Those employees known to be anti-union, pro-company or independent minded are deliberately shut out of the process by the organizer.  The shorter the election process the less time these disenfranchised voices of dissent, experience and reason have to be heard. Those who spoke in favor of the proposed election changes this week countered the fact, precedent and logic of their opponents with the usual soapbox unionspeak and that maddening union habit of confusing Big Labor’s agenda for the rights and will of American workers.  Most disturbing was the pervasive disregard unionists demonstrate for the intelligence, independence and sound judgment of workers who apparently cannot be trusted to act or think in their own self-interest, even within the privacy of a voting booth, unless rushed there without opportunity for second thought. In related news, the AFL-CIO is claiming that as of Wednesday July 20 the NLRB had received over 15,000 pieces of mail in support of the changes. ********** News From the Global War on Employers This week the labor community is buzzing over a possible merger agreement between the United Steelworkers and Mexico’s Los Mineros union that would create in the first NAFTA-wide labor organization capable of coordinated job actions across both the Canadian and Mexican borders.   The combined union will have over one million members and a unification agreement between the two unions could go into effect as early as this August. Meanwhile, the CWA has filed international labor rights violation charges with the UN Global Union against Deutsche Telekom, the German parent company of T-Mobile.  The complaint alleges the company is engaging in anti-union activity in the United States.  AFL-CIO leader Rich Trumka has appealed to the U.S. State Department to stand behind the complaint while German unions are pressuring the German government to act. (The German government owns a third of Deutsche Telekom.) Of course, the entire T-Mobile problem will go away for everyone here and abroad as soon as U.S. regulators approve the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile.   AT&T has already declared it will push 40,000 hourly T-Mobile workers into the existing CWA bargaining unit (whether they like it or not) in return for Big Labor’s squelching of progressive objections to the merger. ********** In response to DOL and the NLRB attempts to make it nearly impossible to remain union free, LRI is giving away $1,000,000 worth of card-signing DVDs. This includes a DVD for every facility if you are a multi-location company! Even better, you can take any other videos from our entire catalog for only $179 each – that’s an 80% discount on anything in our store! We only ask that in exchange you do your part to stop the DOL/NLRB changes from becoming law by commenting against them. Don’t wait for the doors of your company to be pried open by the Feds. Act now to educate your employees on the value of a direct relationship and the realities of union representation. CLICK HERE to see the details and take advantage of our offer. ********** Teamsters in Vegas: “At least no one is getting beat up this year”

Most Teamster conventions take place in Vegas and this time around, with so much hard cold reality to escape, an all expenses paid five day stay on the Strip was probably more needed than usual.  And it was going to take some serious Vegas time for IBT delegates to forget the state of their union with the Central Pension Fund teetering on collapse, concessions at every table, unionized employers going under and membership in freefall.  And then there was the nomination of Sandy Pope in her quixotic bid to unseat twelve-year IBT president Jim Hoffa. “If you got out of line at these conventions in the past, they just knocked you on your ass,” observed John Lattanzio, a Pope delegate and thirty year Teamster from Spokane.  “At least no one is getting beat up this year.”  But that’s not to say the week didn’t provide other interesting displays of union democracy, Teamster-style.   Take for example the refusal to recognize any delegate in Popewear and the repeated cutting off of the mike when anyone spoke off script.  Then there was the presentation at the podium by an International VP of an obscene Photoshop portrait of Sandy Pope, only to be topped by the orchestrated walkout of 4,900 Hoffa delegates during her nomination. And make no mistake, that pesky Pope problem was not going to dampen the spirit of Hoffa-Fest 2011.  There were still the Hoffa $100-a-plate fund raisers, Hoffa monster truck rallies, Hoffa soundtrack CDs, genuine “Team J” cheerleaders, a host of celebrity appearances with Jimmy P, the Hoffa Harley Squad and of course, 5,000 “Hoffa-Hall Team” bright red vests for delegates to wear everywhere.  (Or else.) Before it was all over several million dues dollars were spent improving the Las Vegas economy long enough to pass a list of fluff resolutions.   For example, Resolution 37 (passed unanimously in case you are keeping score) called for all Teamsters to “unite with all those who share our Vision of an America where working people have…the right to free speech and assembly…and make every effort in the course of the next six months of campaigning for International Union office to refrain from public pronouncements that can be used by the enemies of workers to undermine the strength of our union and our common fight to Stop the War on Workers.” http://labornotes.org/2011/06/real-and-make-believe-collide-teamster-convention http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/early030711.html http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/11572/viva_las_vegas_teamsters_gather_in_sin_city/ ********** Brother Biden and the Barbarians Anyone ever curious as to the role Joe Biden really plays in the Obama Administration should listen to his speech at the Teamster convention in Vegas last Friday.  While President Obama continues to posture himself as an ally of business and a stalwart champion of free enterprise, Biden travels the country throwing red meat to union convention audiences, demonizing employers in the style of the worst spit flying union demagogue. “You are the only thing that stands between the barbarians at the gate (business interests) and them taking it all over…. We can’t lose this war…  it’s a fundamental difference in vision. In their vision, you have no place at all. In our vision, you are the place. We stand with you, we stand with labor, because without you there is no American Dream. (Applause) There is no possibility. (Applause) We stand with organized labor because you stand with the people who are struggling to get a chance. (Cheers) We stand with you, organized labor, because with you we can and will restore the American Dream, so help me God. (Cheers) God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Do not give up. (Standing ovation) ********* SEIU Watch: Campaign Manual Promotes Breaking the Law A seventy page official “Corporate Campaign Manual” has surfaced as court discovery in the Federal RICO suit filed by Sodexo against SEIU.   Most of the manual is old news but the section titled “Pressuring the Employer” does lay out a plausible frame for racketeering activity. “Outside pressure can involve jeopardizing relationships between the employer and lenders, investors, stockholders, customers, clients, patients, tenants, politicians and others who the employer depends on for funds. Legal and regulatory pressure can threaten the employer with costly action by government agencies and the courts.  Community action and the use of the news media can damage an employer’s public image and ties with the community and its organizations.” The document then goes on to explain how to develop and plan pressure tactics in what seems to amount to a call for economic terrorism. “The threat of action often has more psychological effect on management officials than the action itself because they don’t know exactly what the impact will be.” The manual also contains a checklist to evaluate tactics. Does it reduce productivity?  Increase costs?  Affect a private company’s image or relationship with political decision makers? Does it directly effect the careers of members of management? Distract management from work they need to be doing to keep the business viable?  Publicly embarrass them? And if a proposed tactic might break the law?   “Union members sometimes must act in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King and Mohatma [sic] Gandhi and disobey laws which are used to enforce injustice against working people.” ********** SCORE BOARD Who are the winners (and losers) of the labor movement? Don’t guess, just check the LRI Scoreboard View this month’s scoreboard (archives also located here): https://lrionline.com/current-scoreboard/ Download a PDF of this month’s scoreboard: https://lrionline.com/wp-content/uploads/INK_Scoreboard_July_11.pdf   ********** Breaking: Union Leader Indicted for $750K Wire Fraud The president of a Cincinnati public employees union has been indicted by Federal prosecutors for defrauding the union of over $750,000. Diana Frey, president of the Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees, is accused of “knowingly and willfully creating a scheme to take money from the union from at least 2005 to June of this year.” Federal prosecutors say she wrote checks, used credit cards, withdrew money from ATMs and made wire transfers of money from the union to bank accounts she controlled Frey was the first and only president of CODE that represents 800 managers, technical employees and nurses employed by the city’s government.  Their dues generate about $200,000 a year in dues. This would not be Frey’s first brush with the law, either.  In 1983, Frey was convicted of theft by deception for stealing between $300 and $5,000, according to Cincinnati police and Hamilton County court records. In that case, she received a suspended one-year prison term, being sentenced instead to five years’ probation, a $500 fine and restitution. It was unclear Tuesday whether anyone at the city or union knew of the previous convictions – some under her maiden or previous married name – before she was elected union president in 2003.  But when Frey applied for another city job in 1994 she checked “no” to the question “Have you ever been convicted of a local, state or federal offense?” In both her position as spokesperson for the city’s public service department and CODE president, Frey is a recognizable public figure, most recently making a number of on camera statements against city council budget trimming measures.  Last summer, Frey was a vocal opponent of proposed changes to the city’s retirement system that would require most employees to work more years for a smaller eventual pension. “It’s so unfair than I’m almost speechless,” said Frey, who complained that the changes would force her to work to age 65 – rather than 61, as she had planned – to earn roughly the same benefits. ********** The PLA Squeeze on State and Local Budgets The Wall Street Journal published an outstanding editorial this week on Project Labor Agreements or PLAs, and how state and local budgets are squeezed by what amount to “sweetheart deals” with labor unions. Only 13% of construction workers currently belong to unions. However, unions use PLAs on government projects to apply their considerable political muscle to what amounts to temporary forced unionism.  And according to the Journal, “Proponents argue that PLAs ensure the speed and quality of construction plans. But PLAs are one of the reasons that Boston’s Big Dig was estimated at $2.8 billion but eventually cost $22 billion. Studies show that projects under PLA contracts on average cost 12% to 18% more than projects awarded by open, competitive bidding. Taxpayers pick up much of this tab.” The editors conclude, “PLAs are a form of political bid-rigging that robs taxpayers even in good economic times. Amid today’s limited fiscal resources, PLAs steal money from the likes of education and law enforcement to reward politically-connected companies and their unions. They deserve to be outlawed.” ********** The Not So Funny Side of the Maine Mural War Three artists, an attorney and two citizen art lovers are still hoping for a jury trial in their suit against the state of Maine for denying them what they are describing as their First Amendment rights to look at a mural. (And we are not making this up.)  The mural broadly reinterprets and glorifies the state’s union history while vilifying Maine employers.   Current Republican governor Paul Lepage claimed the mural was offensive to business and had it removed and stored in a “climate controlled undisclosed location” in March as all holy union hell was being unleashed in Wisconsin.  And before any dust could settle, the Daily Kos was calling the Lepage Administration the “American Taliban”, the mural had its own Facebook page (in exile) and Maine moderate Republicans were cowering in the glare of unchained union wrath. The Maine Mural Affair could slip into the annals of Leftist trivia if it were not for the decidedly unfunny downside of Governor Lepage’s poorly considered actions.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the mural flap may just have cost Maine workers their right to work free of forced unionization, and it’s doubtful a depiction of that injustice will be added to the “workers’ mural” any time soon. A number of Maine congressional Republicans were clearly stunned at the mural backlash, even going so far as to issue cloying statements at the time reasserting their appreciation and support of unions.  And soon after the mural protests were set off, the GOP majority in the Maine legislature abandoned a Right to Work push that until then had the momentum to pass, along with legislation that would have freed Maine state workers from “fair share” requirements. http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/16/politics/fight-over-labor-mural-removal-by-gov-lepage-not-over-yet/ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576430192201626146.html https://www.facebook.com/mainelabormural ********** Social Media Spotlight Jason Mann of Strategic Organizing is conducting a “New Media Bootcamp for Union Activists” this summer that is claiming enrollment of over 1,500 union organizers in the U.S. and Canada.  The course outline lays out the basics and best practices for effective organizing through social media as well as more sophisticated tricks of the digital organizing trade. “No longer are unions reliant on the old forms of media (news papers, television, radio), or on face-to-face conversations between organisers and workers. Social media allows for unmediated communication and dialogue across vast distances, and at any time of the day or night. Unions can now campaign globally, raise awareness of issues locally or build support from non-traditional regions or geographic areas.” In other words, in knowledgeable hands and pushing an attractive message, Twitter and Facebook can get through slammed doors and around impossible schedules to indoctrinate and deceive more targeted employees than ever before. ********** Here Come the Trouble Makers! Good news for those who like to get their holiday shopping done early!  The International Workers of the World (aka the IWW or “Wobblies”) have added a selection of labor music CDs for your gift giving pleasure! Titles now available include: A Wandering Minstrel Show & Flying Poetry Circus featuring Anne Feeney English Rebel Songs 1381-1984 from anarcho-punk stars Chumbawamba I Dreamed I Heard Joe Hill Last Night: A Century of IWW Songs (only a century?!) from Joe Pietaro and The Flames of Discontent Smokey Dymney’s Solidarity Is Easy including the extended play version of  “Are You a Scabby?” And our top pick Here Come the Trouble Makers with the legendary Chris Repaal on pennywhistle featuring such soon to be classic cuts as “International Flag Burning Day”, “The Thrift Store Blues”, “We’re All Clones” and, of course, “The Troublemakers Theme”. ********** Sticky Fingers Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials: Ronald and Anita Witt – UOE: $150,000 Ephram Pascall – IUPAT: $35,000 Michael Williams – IBEW: $4,906 William Wyda – NALC: $14,082 Richard Barnes – AFGE: $14,024 Michele Jean Nelson – CWA: $5,000 Stacy Sacks – USW: $7,740 Tim Fisher – USW: $4,859 http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update ********** Labor Relations INK is published semi-weekly and is edited by Labor Relations Institute, Inc. Feel free to pass this newsletter on to anyone you think might enjoy it. New subscribers can sign up by visiting: https://lrionline.com/free-stuff/newsletter-signup/ If you use content from this newsletter please attribute it to Labor Relations Institute and include our website address www.LRIonline.com Contributing editors for this issue: Phillip Wilson, Greg Kittinger, Nancy Jowske and Shaun Fanning You are receiving this email because you subscribed to receive our labor relations newsletters and updates. You can manage your email preferences by clicking the link at the bottom of any of our email communications. NOTE: if you are using Internet Explorer v. 6, read the text version, as the html will not load properly in IE6. We recommend upgrading to IE7.