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 Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has introduced a bill to limit the power of the NLRB. Under H.R. 2118 the Board would retain the authority to sue individuals and companies, enforce or defend its own orders and appear in federal appeals courts. It would lose the ability to sue a state on the grounds that a state action conflicts with the NLRA. The bill is in response to the Board’s actions against Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, and South Dakota for voter approved resolutions that ban “card check” and require secret ballot elections.
“Deciding whether or not a state action violates federal law should be made by the DOJ, not a board of union friendly, politically motivated appointees,” Chaffetz said.
  
 UFCW local 99 has filed a federal complaint against the state of Arizona claiming legislation passed last month violates the Constitution. The new law bars unions from picketing only to coerce an employer into unionization and makes it easier for a business to sue a union for defamation. Union members can now immediately stop dues deduction as the new law nullifying union rules that require dues payments for a set time period or until a contract expires. The UFCW was joined in the complaint by a Plumbers and Pipefitters union local.
The UFCW contends the new law is only retaliation for the union’s aggressive campaign against Bashas grocery store chain in 2008. The local ran an nasty smear campaign, using a front organization to accuse the grocery chain
Continue reading UFCW vs Arizona
 On Cesar Chavez Day last week, the California Senate approved “card check” legislation for California farm workers. The bill, sponsored by the United Farm Workers Union, would also create stiffer financial penalties for employers who engage in unfair labor practices but not for union organizers who break the law in obtaining signed union cards. “What this bill seeks to do is to change the playing field because getting those cards signed, the so-called card check, really tilts the playing field toward the union,” said Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Solana Beach.
Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, whose engineering firm is unionized, warned that allowing a process besides the secret ballot “opens the door to worker intimidation, coercion and bullying” from union leaders. Supporters dismissed that argument, saying employers already have significant
Continue reading Card Check on Chavez Day
Teamsters unionize FedEx in Canada. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) has received an application for certification from the Teamsters on February 12. In Canada this is a card-check process similar to the proposed EFCA bill here in the U.S. meaning there was no election. FedEx, who has a long union free history, is expected to challenge the application. This is the second big win this week for the Teamsters who unionized Continental Airlines earlier.
UPDATE 3.1.10: It seems that the Teamsters have stretched the truth in their press release referenced in this paragraph. According to Fed Ex spokesperson Perry Colosimo, “Contrary to the inaccurate claims of the Teamsters’ press release, this application does not mean that the union represents any FedEx Ground employee or has majority support at this time. The company will request a hearing to challenge this application, which resulted from a
Continue reading Teamsters Again!
 I’m deeply concerned. I cannot give Big Labor credit for the meanderings that have led to this juncture, but I believe opponents of the mis-named Employee Free Choice Act have stumbled into a trap. If we (all American businesses) are not careful, the jaws of the trap will soon clamp tight around our necks.
It seems business interests have done a pretty good job of throwing a wrench in the works of the Big Labor lobby pushing for the EFCA. Many prominent Democrats have been pressured into backing away from the current version of act. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, formed by more than 500 business and conservative organizations, coordinated the effort to fight the card
Continue reading False Security Of EFCA Opponents
I hate to sound like Rush Limbaugh and say “I Told You So,” but we did! The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act is only a small tip of the iceberg of the radical new environment American companies will face. There are so many additional ways that the Obama administration and Big Labor (working together, obviously) are changing the landscape.
Witness this week alone:
* An appeals court just nullified 300 NLRB decisions made last year
* Obama appointed two attorneys to the NLRB who have been in bed with Big Labor for decades, one of whom is on record via law review articles in favor of drastic changes to labor law in favor of unions.
* Obama gave the UAW (vs. the private investors) majority control of Chrysler, which will also present an interesting conflict of interest twist.
It ain’t pretty
Continue reading 300 NLRB Decisions Voided!
Newt Gingrich recently added his two cents to the Employee Free Choice Act debate, and highlighted the issue we’ve been warning of as the more insidious: mandatory arbitration. He has this to say:
In the history of this country, government has never proved its capacity or capability to exceed the performance and productivity of those engaged in private enterprise. Why, then, should we trust government to know enough about the nuances and market forces at play in a particular industry to set wages and benefits for workers?
Not to mention the fact that negotiations over these issues are detailed, and typically have never been completed within the EFCA-mandated time frame. On that point, we have had NO RESPONSE at all to our $10,000 reward offer for any government arbitrator who can show they have negotiated a first contract within 90 days, ever.
Arlen Specter announced today that he would vote against cloture and – sort of goes without saying – is opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act. Even though I am home fighting the flu I can still hear the cheers from here. You can watch his speech here.
Specter says it is the most heavily lobbied issue he can recall in his Senate career. He also mentions his law review article (we’ve written about that before here – now would be a very good time to read it if you haven’t already, and if you have read it before now would be a good time to read it again).
Specter states in his speech that he supports the idea of arbitration of contracts with “baseball arbitration” – i.e. limiting the arbitrator to awarding either one or another final offer. Specter refers to his law review article a
Continue reading Specter Opposes EFCA – Why Now Would be a Bad Time to Relax
Another confirmation of Specter’s willingness to move along with the Dems on the Employee Free Choice Act. Even though several Democrat Senators have been making noise like they may shy away from the card check bill, when it comes down to fish or cut bait, politics will rule, the Dems will most likely toe the line, and Specter should be enough to send it over the edge.
Come on 2010!
(meanwhile – brace yourselves…)
Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas seems to be connecting the dots in the brouhaha over the Employee Free Choice Act, along with a few others. Let’s follow Senator Lincolns plausible stream of thought: the largest employer in Arkansas is…WalMart. Analysts at Citigroup in New York downgraded their WalMart recommendation to a hold instead of a buy because…passage of the EFCA could force increased labor costs and limit expansion. I want to be seen on the side of the Employee Free Choice Act because…I’m for loss of jobs for my constituency???
Although Lincoln was in favor of the EFCA in the 2007 debate, she is now hedging her bets. “Right now, my number one priority is strengthening our state’s economy and putting 90,000 jobless Arkansans back to work,” Lincoln said in a statement.
Even if reason doesn’t seem to prevail, if opponents of this horrible legislation can focus the
Continue reading Dose of Reality?
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has introduced a bill to limit the power of the NLRB. Under H.R. 2118 the Board would retain the authority to sue individuals and companies, enforce or defend its own orders and appear in federal appeals courts. It would lose the ability to sue a state on the grounds that a state action conflicts with the NLRA. The bill is in response to the Board’s actions against Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, and South Dakota for voter approved resolutions that ban “card check” and require secret ballot elections.
