Today I was interviewed on the Reid Mullins show about the Employee Free Choice Act. Click on the link to listen to the interview.
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Download a PDF of this issue with links here.
“Big Labor” Secretary Solis
A NYTimes article put it quite succinctly: “Ms. Solis has championed a bill, called the Employee Free Choice Act, that is the No. 1 priority of organized labor… She is the only member of Congress on the board of American Rights at Work, a pro-union group pushing for the bill.” Some insiders believe Continue reading INK: January 6, 2009 One common misconception with labor unions is that unions themselves are responsible for higher wages, better health care, more fruitful pensions, etc. The is that while unions can agitate for such things, it’s ultimately up to the company to provide these types of things. We are reminded of this basic truth when we read a Wall Street Journal story today that paints a very grim picture of contract negotiations with major employers in the upcoming year. The bottom line is that right now is quite possibly the worst time to negotiate with a company. The end result is that a lot of these contract negotiations are probably going to go poorly for organized labor. Companies are simply not going to be able to afford to give more and more in tough economic times. This is doubly bad for labor unions because their entire foundation is premised upon Continue reading Tough Year Ahead for Organized Labor Contracts? The blog over at the AFL-CIO has an interesting posting from a few days ago. One big problem with EFCA is that despite being told by labor organizers that the legislation is great for business, no major business leaders have come out in favor of EFCA. Enter Joe Diecedue. Mr. Diecedue wrote an op-ed in the Arkansas Democratic Gazette recently, strongly in favor of EFCA. The AFL-CIO describes Mr. Diecedue as a businessman in favor of EFCA, since he is a general agent with the American Income Life Insurance Company. What the AFL-CIO conveniently forgets to mention is that the American Income Life Insurance Company is well-known for providing insurance services to union members. Check out this description of the company: “American Income is the only 100% wall-to-wall union insurance company providing supplemental benefits to union members and their families. Every person who works for American Income is Continue reading A Businessman Supports EFCA….Sort Of It is always fascinating to watch how unions treat their employees! We see Unfair Labor Practice charges almost weekly against a union, as in this example: It is also interesting that union employees must file a petition and undergo the standard NLRB process to be able to join a union (as in this recent example). You would think that all union Locals would operate with neutrality agreements automatically in effect, or even offer at the time of employment an opportunity to sign an authorization card. Instead, in typical hypocritical fashion, unions will fight with all they have to defeat Right-To-Work laws, and yet not make it any easier for their own employees to organize. While a lot of third-party groups are cropping up on both sides of the EFCA debate, one that is worth watching is the new organization SOS Ballots. The group is headed by former Oklahoma Congressman Ernest Istook and went live right before New Years. Basically, SOS Ballots (Save Our Secret Ballots) is trying to promote state-by-state constitutional amendments that would mandate secret ballot elections on labor issues. The proposed constitutional amendment would read: “The right of individuals to vote by secret ballot is fundamental. Where state or federal law requires elections for public office or public votes on initiatives or referenda, or designations or authorizations of employee representation, the right of individuals to vote by secret ballot shall be guaranteed.” There are some tricky legal issues with such an idea, most notably whether the NLRA would pre-empt any state level constitutional amendments. But, the work of SOS Ballots Continue reading Giving Secret Ballots a SOS CNBC recently interviewed Obama advisor and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, about the Obama teams efforts on economic stimulus plans. When pitched a question about whether she sees the Employee Free Choice Act as part of a stimulus program, she ducked any commitment to what her advice to Obama would be, but did infer that it might be hard to push such a “divisive” piece of legislation forward. I would say so! Although she is referencing simply the political division in her comments (ie., how Congress divides on the issue), she would be more honest to take into account the wishes of the American workforce. As has been indicated in various polls recently, most Americans, including those already working in a unionized company, do NOT believe that the secret ballot should be eliminated in the union organizing process. Go here to view the video – and forward to about 10:30 Continue reading Obama Advisor Admits EFCA is a Divisive Issue Happy New Year. LRI was quoted in the Capitol Hill Beacon about the Employee Free Choice Act. Sorry for the alphabet soup in the title of this post! Anyway, the New York Times wrote an editorial yesterday, fully supporting EFCA and urging the new labor secretary (in all probability), Hilda Solis, to push for the legislation. What’s amazing though is just how thin the Times arguement was in favor of EFCA. The Times takes the position that any increase in unionization would be great for America, thus, we should support EFCA right away. But this really misses the larger point of what has irked EFCA’s opponents — namely that the elimination of the secret ballot coupled with neutrality agreements and interest arbitration is a radical and unfair departure from what is traditional labor relations in the United States. The Times makes no defense of the card check method, neutrality, or interest arbitration — it almost seems as if organized labor decided to pass a Continue reading The NYT on EFCA Check out our article on the Employee Free Choice Act. You know what they say about the Sapulpa Herald – if you can make it there, you can make it… well, you can probably make it in Broken Arrow. |
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Labor Relations
It is no surprise that Obama would appoint a Labor Secretary that is strongly in support of Big Labor. The comments of several from the Labor sphere can be read