From the desk of Steve Cabot:

In the 1993 romantic comedy, “Groundhog Day,” weatherman Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, was forced to live through the same dreadful 24 hours, again and again, where nothing changed – until he did. Central to the plot was that only he was aware of this repetitive phenomenon; everyone else was totally oblivious. It was an amusing film and did well at the box office.

Unfortunately, employers – and the rest of America – are being forced to live through a darker, more sinister version of this movie, one in which the lead character continues to push his Big Labor “change” agenda without regard to constitutional restrictions or political precedent. Unlike the original, however, we are all very much aware of what’s going on – only nobody’s laughing, except union leaders and their allies.

The most recent and egregious examples of the president’s imperial excess can be seen in his brazen misuse of “interim appointments” to fill vacancies on the NLRB. With the Senate still officially in session, Mr. Obama ignored the vetting role of that body and simply declared that pro-union partisans Richard Griffin and Sharon Block would join Terence Flynn as new, unapproved members. When challenged by Senate leaders, the president had his Attorney General issue a lockstep ruling supporting his decision. So much for the separation of powers.

But it doesn’t stop there. For example, when Congress refused to pass legislation restricting the rights of workers, the administration promptly switched to rule-making to implement its agenda, including  authorizing “quickie” or “ambush” elections which stack the deck against employers.

The bottom line is that sensing their time in power may be limited, the forces of Big Labor in and out of government are hell-bent on reshaping workplace dynamics as aggressively as possible. I have been helping my clients prepare for the worst for three years, and every day that goes by validates the wisdom of that strategy.

I encourage you to reach out with any labor relations concerns you might have. You can call me directly on my cell phone (215-990-3423) or contact Georgetta McCabe, my administrative assistant, on her direct line: 800-655-2042.

ambush elections · bypass Congress · Cabot Institute for Labor Relations · card check · eric holder · nlrb · Obama · recess appointment · richard griffin · sharon block · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot

From the desk of Steve Cabot:

These are challenging times for optimists.  I remember writing a year ago that as disruptive as 2010 had been for millions of American workers and their employers, 2011 could well be even more difficult.  I take no joy in the accuracy of that prediction.

But as much as we may feel like frogs swimming in that famous pot on the stove as Washington continues to turn up the heat, I do believe in the core strength and wisdom of the American people.  My hope is that when it’s time to write an assessment a year from now, we will have righted this ship of state, setting the stage for real recovery, and reversing the policies that have discouraged and divided us.

In this moment, however, I prefer to set aside those concerns and reflect on those aspects of life that transcend the sorts of struggles we all face from time to time.  I’m grateful for my clients – for their confidence and constancy – and for my family and friends who deepen my experience of living and bring joy in so many ways.

Yes, there will be opportunities soon enough to address the issues that confront us as employers, and I will be returning in a month to write on those important matters.   Until then, I hope you will find ways to offer and receive the love and support that is central to the significance of this season.

As always, for assistance with any labor relations issues, I encourage you to call me directly on my cell phone (215-990-3423) or contact Georgetta McCabe, my administrative assistant, on her direct line: 800-655-2042.

afl-cio · cabot institute · decertification · EFCA · Labor Relations

From the desk of Steve Cabot:

I wasn’t too surprised when Organized Labor decided to throw in with the motley mobs currently laying siege to cities across the country. After all, they have a lot in common. The anti-capitalist, redistributionist rhetoric coming from the agitators is standard fare at union rallies, and the paramilitary tactics of intimidation, disruption, and forcible occupation of public and private property are right out of the SEIU handbook.

The truth is, this is a natural – if unholy – alliance:  the demonstrators want to weaken corporations and demonize profits, and the labor unions are more than happy to provide logistical and financial assistance as a means of building their own public support and political power. For them, this is simply another step toward their goal of reestablishing workplace hegemony.

This is an ongoing saga, one with significant long-term implications. If you’re interested in learning more about the state of Organized Labor today and its impact on our economy, I invite you to read a compelling special report just released by Human Events entitled, “The Big Labor Stranglehold:  Killing Jobs & Hurting America.” Written by Dr. Carl F. Horowitz, project manager for the National Legal and Policy Center, this 26-page report looks beyond the well-publicized but misleading statistics about declining union membership and documents the strategies, goals, impact, and prospects of Big Labor in America.

To receive your complimentary copy, simply click here or on the image below to go to the Human Events website. Once you register, a pdf version of the report will be sent directly to the email address you specify.

For assistance with any labor relations issues, I encourage you to call me on my cell phone (215-990-3423) or contact Georgetta McCabe, my administrative assistant, on her direct line: 800-655-2042.

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From the desk of Steve Cabot:

One of the truly unfortunate aspects of Organized Labor is how workers are regularly robbed of their rights by union leaders claiming to have their interests at heart. It happens when employees are denied secret ballot elections, sometimes with the complicity of management. It happens when union dues are funneled to causes or candidates antithetical to the preferences of individual members. And it happens when workers are punished for daring to question or object to union policies or decisions.

Relief – or at least the prospect of it – is now at hand in the form of the recently-introduced Employee Rights Act. This legislation protects the rights of workers while leaving intact the appropriate prerogatives of management and labor. It is truly a win/win proposal and has our wholehearted support.

Included among the major provisions are:

• Secret Ballot Elections – Employees are guaranteed the right to a secret ballot election when choosing whether or not to join a union.
• Union Recertification Elections – Unionized workplaces must hold a secret ballot referendum every three years to determine whether employees wish to remain represented by their current union.
• Paycheck Protection – Unions will need to get written consent from members before spending their money on matters unrelated to collective bargaining (e.g. the support of political candidates or causes).
• Standardized Election Timing – Employees must be given at least 40 days prior to a ratification election to receive and consider information from both management and union representatives.
• Decertification Coercion Prevention – The NLRA provisions protecting workers from intimidation or coercion in exercising their rights (including the right to decertify the union) are strengthened.
• Secret Ballot Strike Vote – Employees have the right to a secret ballot vote before union leaders can declare a strike.
• Criminalizes Union Threats – Unions are forbidden to use violence, or threats thereof, as a means of coercing employees.

Passage of this legislation is unlikely before the 2012 elections, but employers seeking assistance now in these or other labor relations matters should call me on my cell phone (215-990-3423) or contact Georgetta McCabe, my administrative assistant, on her direct line: 800-655-2042.

decertification · employee rights act · Labor Relations · nlrb · paycheck protection · SEIU · union coercion · union secret ballot elections

From the desk of Steve Cabot:

Maybe it’s arrogance, as Organized Labor feels increasingly emboldened by its protectors and enablers in the Administration and Congress. Or maybe it’s desperation, as union leaders sense a political sea change that threatens those cozy relationships and their delusional demands at the bargaining table.

Whatever the motivation, what is clear is that employers are being confronted increasingly by labor tactics as old as extortion and physical violence and as new as cyber attacks and a range of dirty tricks impacting companies and their customers alike.

One current high-profile illustration of over-the-line union thuggery involves a broad campaign of blackmail, extortion and other criminal acts against Sodexo USA, which has filed suit against SEIU in federal court under the RICO Act. A U.S. district judge recently denied the union’s motion for dismissal, thus green-lighting the case for immediate prosecution.

One of the documents discovered as this case has unfolded is a 70-page “how-to” intimidation manual (click here to download) which encourages, among other things, targeting board members and their families for public harassment and personal embarrassment within their community. You may remember an example of this in May when SEIU drove 14 busloads of screaming, bullhorn-equipped, placard-carrying protestors to the home of Bank of America’s deputy general counsel in suburban Washington, DC, terrifying their teenage son who was alone in the house.

It has been equally alarming to watch the union tactics in the Verizon strike. You may have seen the viral video of a picketer pushing his young daughter in front of a moving Verizon truck while shouting obscenities at the nonunion employees trying to get to work. In a related incident, police in Uniontown, PA reported an act of “criminal mischief” in which the power was cut to all land lines in the area,  including those to state police barracks and other emergency services. All indications are that it was an inside job.

This is disturbing stuff. And while Organized Labor may take comfort knowing they are being given a long leash by the pro-union NLRB and Department of Justice, 2012 is coming – and the American people will be heard.

Bank of America · CWA · extortion · Labor Relations · labor violence · management-labor · picketers · pro-union Department of Justice · pro-union NLRB · RICO · SEIU · Sodexo · strikes · verizon

From the desk of Steve Cabot:

With his Congressional rubber stamp privileges revoked by the decisive loss of the House of Representatives last November, President Obama continues to use the rule-making and regulatory powers of the Executive Branch to work his will on employers.  He seems emboldened by the push-back from the American people, and is doubling down on his efforts to “transform” the country in his remaining time in office.

Previously, we described how the Democrat-dominated NLRB recently proposed rules which would significantly impact management’s ability to makes its case leading up to a union ratification election. Now it’s the Department of Labor which has stepped in to influence and intimidate employers who seek advice from outside attorneys and consultants (officially known as “persuaders”) as they prepare for these elections.

Specifically, the DOL has proposed a rule related to the reporting requirements under Section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, which would broaden “advice” to mean any “oral or written recommendation regarding a decision or course of conduct.” The rule stipulates that both the company and its consultants must open their books to report any of the newly-covered activities – and, even more intrusively, the details of any compensation involved.

As usual, the devil is in the details, as found in the language of the rule:

“For example, persuader activities may additionally include: Training or directing supervisors and other management representatives to engage in persuader activity; establishing anti-union committees composed of employees; planning employee meetings; deciding which employees to target for persuader activity or discipline; creating employer policies and practices designed to prevent organizing; and determining the timing and sequencing of persuader tactics and strategies.”

The rule goes on to state that even “union avoidance” seminars and conferences offered by lawyers or labor consultants to employers will constitute “reportable persuader activity.”  The proposed rule was  published on June 21, 2011, in the Federal Register. Public comments can submitted until August 22, 2011.

Cabot Institute for Labor Relations · consultant disclosure · corporate america · Department of Labor · employer disclosure · Labor Relations · new rule · organized labor · persuader advice · President Obama · section 203 lmrda 1959 · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · union elections · union organizers · unionization · Washington

From the Desk of Steve Cabot:

Having failed to get congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), organized labor is now benefitting from proposed new rules issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The new rules will ease the way for organized labor to win union elections by dramatically truncating the period of time from petition to election. It currently takes an average of 57 days from petition to election; under the new rules that period would be reduced to from 10 to 21 days. Of course, union organizers often spend months convincing employees to vote for unionization, prior to the filing of a petition. Now, the newly imposed brief interregnum will significantly curtail a company’s ability to educate employees about the disadvantages of unionization.

As if that were not sufficiently injurious to Corporate America, the NLRB rules would also permit the electronic filing of election petitions, defer litigation about voter eligibility until after an election, require employers to provide a union with the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all employees prior to an election, consolidate all litigious matters into a single post-election appeals action in order to eliminate individual actions that could delay an election.

One can only speculate what additional pro-union rules and regulations the NLRB may issue in the coming months. Certainly issues of wages and benefits will be an enticing subject for the NLRB ideologues to consider.

Corporate America has, thus far, been too complacent, believing that because the number of union members has decreased over the years that unions have been rendered ineffectual. In fact, unions are vigorously preparing for an aggressive assault on Corporate America, and its chief advocate and front-line ally is the NLRB, which is proposing a number of radical threats to Corporate America that should not be ignored.

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From the desk of Steve Cabot:

Businesses across America are suffering at the hands of an aggressively pro-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As a result, 86 national business associations and 131 state and city associations have formed the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. The Coalition’s mission is to amend the National Labor Relations Act, so that businesses can operate at maximum rates of productivity and profitability.

The Coalition supports the Job Protection Act, H. R. 1976, which would, according to an article in the P J Tattler, clarify the NLRA “with respect to state right to work laws, reining the agency in after a series of unprecedented actions that heavily tilt toward Big Labor.”

From allowing micro unions to organize to preventing Boeing from operating in a right-to-work state, from permitting union organizers to trespass on private corporate property to promoting card checks, the NLRB has been proving to be one of the most injurious institutions to the health and growth of American businesses.

We urge all readers of the Cabot Institute of Labor Relations blog to contact their congressional representatives and voice their support for the Job Protection Act, H R 1976.

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From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Just before Americans were to celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer over the Memorial Day weekend, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided to make Catholic educators unhappy. It declared that St. Xavier University was not sufficiently religious to be exempt from federal jurisdiction. That ruling followed an earlier one against the Christian Brothers’ Manhattan College.

Though a Court of Appeals has twice ordered the NLRB to cease harassing religious institutions, the NLRB – in its aggressive pro-union actions – has ignored the court. It hasn’t mattered to the Board that in 2002 and 2008, the court reversed the NLRB, thus exempting religious institutions from the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. The Board insists that it has the right to determine if a religious institution has a “substantial religious character.” And if it doesn’t meet the Board’s criteria, then the Board can impose its policies. This dispute is likely to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

It becomes increasingly apparent that the NLRB will do whatever is necessary to advance the agenda of organized labor, even if that means obviating federal law when it comes to religious institutions. College faculty members, after all, represent a huge pool of potential dues-paying union members.

1935 Act · cabot institute · Catholic · Catholic colleges · Catholic educators · Catholic universities · Court of Appeals · federal court · Labor Relations · national labor relations act · National Labor Relations Board · nlrb · religious · religious freedom · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · Washington · workers

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

The National Labor Relations Board’s decision to prevent Boeing from opening a new out-of-state manufacturing facility has apparently inspired other workers to file complaints with the Board.

The American Guild of Musical Artists has now filed a federal complaint against the New York City Opera, which wants to move out of its famed Lincoln Center home after 45 years. The opera company is in serious financial difficulty and deeply in debt. Not only will the company move to a more affordable space, but it plans to reduce the number of operas it will stage next year, from five to three.

The opera company’s 200 members, including fifty choristers and ten production workers, are claiming that the move to a less expensive venue and the company’s intention to produce fewer operas than last season will result in reduced pay.

Of course, it will: that’s the point of restructuring. If the company is to survive and continue providing first-class opera performances to opera goers, it must cut costs. And one of its major costs is its labor expenses.

One can now expect that unionized workers of any company that wants to relocate to file a complaint with the NLRB. The Boeing decision has opened a Pandora’s Box of complaints that will continue to place obstacles against new opportunities not only for increasing profitability and productivity, but also (in this case) against a corporation’s very survival.

Corporate America can only hope that the NLRB does not approve this latest operatic complaint. It is an aria sung out of tune with logic.

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