From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Though Republican congressional representatives have expressed their displeasure at the overtly pro-union rules and regulations issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), they failed to cut the Board’s budget.
The vigorously negotiated budget deal that was recently agreed upon has exempted the NLRB from the budget cutter’s scalpel, thus leaving intact a major obstacle to the economic well-being of Corporate America. There had been vigorous lobbying to cut the Board’s budget, but union lobbyists may have outspent their opponents, leaving former union attorney Craig Becker to direct the NLRB’s actions in accordance with the wishes of organized labor.
The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier this year that the GOP intended to cut the Board’s annual budget by $50 million, which would have amounted to 1/5 of its overall budget.
Not only has the proposed budget cut not materialized, but the Board has actually experienced an increase in funding. The result, unfortunately, will be that that Board will be energized by the unfulfilled threats of its opponents and its increased budget; it will continue on its pro-union, anti-management war path. Its actions, no doubt, will prove pernicious to the economic growth of the country.

anti-management · budget · cabot institute · congress · corporate america · craig becker · funding · Labor Relations · National Labor Relations Board · nlrb · pro-union · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · union · Unions · workers

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

If there was ever any doubt that the Obama Administration is pro-union, that doubt can now be extinguished. The President’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has stated it wants all companies to post notices and perhaps even disseminate e-mails informing employees of their right to join unions.
So determined is the administration to do big labor’s bidding that this is the first time since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 that the NLRB has demanded that employers post such a pro-union notice.
Organized labor, which supported the election of President Obama to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, has been frustrated that congress has not passed the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). As a result, the NLRB has been diligently working to enhance opportunities for unions to organize the workers of as many companies as possible. This latest move by the NLRB is just one of many acts designed to promote the ongoing unionization of American workers.

administration · American · cabot institute · congress · EFCA · Employee Free Choice Act · Labor Relations · national labor relations act · National Labor Relations Board · nlra · nlrb · organized labor · President Obama · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · unionization · Unions · workers

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

While the political and ideological composition of Congress was dramatically altered by the election on Tuesday, the composition of the National Mediation Board remains the same. It is decidedly pro-union and dominated by President Obama’s ideological allies

The Board had recently made it easier for unions to organize air carriers by altering a rule of the Railway Labor Act so that fewer workers need to vote in favor of union representation than had been previously required.

And while Delta Airlines employees wisely rejected union representation after doing a side-by-side comparison of union and non-union benefits. (Unionized employees would have received lower salaries than non-unionized employees!).
Unions, however, have not been discouraged by the employees’ rejection of unionization at Delta. In fact, organizing drives at numerous small regional carriers have begun, and the momentum of those efforts is rapidly increasing, fueled by the NMB’s decision to encourage such actions.
A portentous example is one that has occurred at small Allegiant Airlines, where a majority of nonunion flight attendants have petitioned the National Mediation Board for an election to choose representation by the Transport Workers Union of America (TWUA).
That is just one of many organizing drives that have begun and will continue over the next two years. While Corporate America has won a major battle by electing many Republicans to Congress, it still has a war to win, if it’s going to change the pro-union agenda that currently exists in the Obama Administration. The election of 2012 could be the one that gives Corporate America a conclusive victory.

air carriers · airlines · Allegiant Airlines · cabot institute · congress · corporate america · Delta · employees · flight attendants · Labor Relations · national mediation board · nmb · Obama Administration · organizing drives · President Obama · Railway Labor Act · Republicans · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · Transport Workers Union · TWUA · unionization · Unions

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

The fight to pass card check legislation has stalled in congress, much to the anger and dismay of organized labor. It, therefore, turned its efforts to individual states, such as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oregon, which have passed card check legislation, permitting union organizers to bypass secret ballot elections and increase union membership. More than ten states have now passed legislation permitting the use of card checks. The use of card checks invites union intimidation, harassment, and coercion, not just to employees, but also to their families.

In response to the actions taken by those ten states, four other states have proposed legislation to maintain secret ballot elections. The four states are Arizona, South Carolina, Utah, and South Dakota. To ensure that workers cannot be coerced by union organizers into signing cards declaring they want to be represented by unions, North Dakota, for example, is proposing an amendment to its state constitution that in union elections “the fundamental right of the individual to vote by secret ballot election be protected.”

Unions and their pro-union political allies fail to admit that unionization has been a disaster for their states. Over the last ten years, pro-union governors have witnessed their states’ employment decrease by 2.8%. Right-to-work states, however, have enjoyed a 3.7% increase in employment over the same period!

card check · card checks · congress · democratic · Democrats · governors · labor legislation · law · legislation · organized labor · organizers · pro-union · states · states rights · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · Unions

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

President Barack Obama, in an effort to shore up support from organized labor, said that he will push for stronger organizing rights for unions. One can assume, based upon such a promise as well as his appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, that while the Employee Free Choice might be lifeless, it will soon rise from the dead. (The EFCA is beginning to resemble a vampire that cannot be slain).
The president had made his revivifying remarks on August 4 to the executive council of the AFL-CIO. While the president received numerous standing ovations, he was warned that unions will only support those politicians who back organized labor’s multi-faceted agenda, which includes the passage of the EFCA. And the president stressed that his administration will, indeed, work to seek passage of the ACT, which – of course – he will proudly sign into law. (At that point, one can imagine another round of thunderous applause).
However, knowing that he cannot get congress to pass many of labor’s pro-union initiatives, the president not only stated that “We are going to keep on fighting to pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” but that he would use his executive powers to implement changes, ones that do not require legislative approval (e.g. the appointment of Craig Becker).
It is apparent that Mr. Obama is siding with big labor and against Corporate America. That is not only bad for American businesses, but it is also bad for the entire economy, which affects all Americans, including union members.

afl-cio · business · cabot institute · congress · corporate america · EFCA · Employee Free Choice Act · Labor Relations · National Labor Relations Board · nlrb · organized labor · President Obama · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · Unions · workers

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Many important conservative leaders have organized to have congress reject the mis-named “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.” The bill was designed to force state and municipal public safety workers to be represented by unions, regardless of whether the workers want such representation. Firefighters, police, and EMT workers who had quit unions or had refused to join unions, in accordance with the bill are denied freedom to negotiate their own contracts.
The bill puts the unelected Federal Labor Relations Authority in the position of determining what’s right and what’s wrong in each state’s labor relations with public safety workers, thus abrogating state authority to deal with its own employees. Under the bill, the best interests of states are decided by the FLRA.
The passage of the bill, promoted by unions, was designed to drive up membership in public sector unions and significantly increase their ability to wage pro-union political campaigns.
Among the eminent conservatives who have organized to reject the legislation are Edwin Meese III, Grover Norquist, Susan Carleson, Duane Parde, Dr. Herbert London, David Keene, Gary Bauer, Richard Viguerie, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Brent Bozell, and Alfred Regnery, among various other luminaries.

cabot institute · collective bargaining · congress · conservatives · Federal Labor Relaitons Authority · FLRA · Labor Relations · management · municipalities · organized labor · public safety · states · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · Unions · workers

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Without having to get congressional approval, President Obama is determined to give union leaders everything they want. It is apparent that unions will soon have many new opportunities to organize formerly unaffiliated workers, and governmental agencies will provide all possible assistance.

To begin, the National Mediation Board (NMB) has made a major alteration to its 75-year old rules so that workers at railroads and airlines can easily be organized. For three-quarters of a century, workers who did not vote in organizing elections had their non-votes counted as negative votes; now, under a new ruling, if the majority of votes are pro-union, the union will have won the right to represent workers. This would not have happened if President Obama had not appointed a pro-union advocate to the NMB

Next, all companies that do business with the federal government will have to be union friendly companies. That means that they have to pay union wages, and that rule applies to all federal agencies. If a company received stimulus funds for construction projects, that company must pay standard union wages to its workers. Such a ruling will, no doubt, drive up governmental costs, thus adding to an already burgeoning deficit.

Perhaps the most dangerous element of the new government paradigm is the recent appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Mr. Becker had been the legal counsel to the highly aggressive Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Since he claims that the NLRB can re-write rules, one can expect him to find a way to make “card checks” legal, thus obviating the requirement for secret ballot elections.

The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, is optimistic that “card checks” will eventually become law, perhaps by attaching it to an innocuous piece of legislation, or having his ideological comrade in arms, Craig Becker, change the rules.

President Obama campaigned on “change we can believe in.” The changes he is making are ones that reality forces us to believe, but they are changes that will do significant damage to Corporate America and to the American economy.

afl-cio · cabot institute · congress · corporate america · craig becker · Labor Relations · National Labor Relations Board · national mediation board · nlrb · nmb · organizers · organizing · President Obama · richard trumka · Service Employees International Union · seui · stephen cabot · unionization · Unions

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

The Obama administration was sorely disappointed when the U. S. Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, held that limits on campaign contributions by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. The administration specifically disagreed with the Court’s decision as it related to corporations, not as it related to unions. President Obama made his displeasure apparent during his State of the Union address, when he none-too-delicately criticized the Supreme Court.

Now, Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill that would restrict the free speech of corporations, while permitting unions to spend as much as they want for political issues and campaigns.

The proposed legislation would prohibit recipients of TARP funds as well as government contractors from spending money on political campaigns. Unions that have contracts with the government, however, would be free to spend as much as they want.

This is another blatant example of the Obama administration favoring unions over corporations, of shackling corporate America with one set of rules while unleashing unions to pursue their goals. A greatly circumscribed free market, which seems to be the focus of the Obama administration, will limit the country’s opportunities for economic growth and prosperity.

Cabot · cabot institute · congress · desk · First Amendment · free speech · labor · Labor Relations · legislation · President Obama · stephen cabot · Supreme Court · Unions

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

United Parcel Service is waging a full-strength campaign to get the U S Congress to make sure that FedEx will be subject to the same onerous union rules as itself.
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, “House Transportation Chairman James Oberstar (D. Big Labor) last year slipped 230 words into a spending bill that would make it easier for the Teamsters to unionize FedEx. This ambush was included at the urging of UPS, which has been saddled with the Teamsters for decades and wants FedEx to feel its pain.”
While UPS operates under the rules of the National Labor Relations Act, which makes the company vulnerable to strikes (e.g. a 15 day strike in1997), FedEx operates under the rules of the Railway Labor Act, which discourages strikes so that there will not be any “interruptions to commerce”

FedEx delivers most of its time-sensitive packages via air, and its customers choose its services because they expected rapid uninterrupted deliveries. UPS, by other means, delivers most of its packages by truck and customers understand that delivery may take a few days.

Having failed to have itself re-classified under the Railway Labor Act, UPS would now like to have FedEx made subject to the National Labor Relations Act, which would open the doors to Teamster organizers. And that’s a potentially large dues paying number of workers for the Union: there are 125,000 FedEx workers.

Imagine, for a moment, if FedEx were to be unionized and then experience slow downs or walk outs by Teamster-organized workers. Its business model would be utterly destroyed. And so UPS is intent on lobbying Congress to make FedEx subject to National Railway Act, thus opening the door to union organizers.

Congress should ignore the lobbying of UPS and adhere to the principles of a free market economy, and UPS should work to decertify its union rather than impose restrictions on its competition. The American economy works best when companies are free to engage in unhindered competition. The answer is not to shackle one’s competition; rather, the answer is to throw off one’s own shackles and engage in a free, open, and vibrant economy.

cabot institute · congress · fedex · Labor Relations · organizers · stephen cabot · teamsters · unionization · Unions · ups