Where the Boeing Controversy Was Born

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page connects the dots to discover that the NLRB's complaint against Boeing and companies moving to Right to Work states is not the actions of a rouge General Counsel but the suggestion of the Chairman of the Committee Wilma Liebman. The Obama-era National Labor Relations Board has tilted so heavily toward union interests that companies might be forgiven for thinking the process is rigged against them. A recent missive from one of the agency's top lawyers shows why. In a May 10 memo to regional staffers, Associate General Counsel Richard Siegel discusses a March case in which the NLRB sided with telecommunications company Embarq Corp. in a dispute over its decision to close a Las Vegas call center and open a bigger facility in Florida. The company refused to explain to its union the rationale for the move. In America, business decisions are made by owners or executives and are rarely subject to compulsory bargaining, while unions confine their concerns to working conditions, pay and benefits. NLRB Chairwoman Wilma Liebman, a long-time union lawyer, doesn't like that balance. "The Board's task would be easier, and more importantly, the [National Labor Relations] Act's policy of promoting collective bargaining might well be better served, if employers were required to provide unions with requested information about relocation decisions whenever there was a reasonable likelihood that labor-cost concessions might affect the decision," she wrote in her concurrence to the Embarq case. Translation: Ms. Liebman wants to force far more companies to consult unions when they want to relocate, because unions might theoretically be able to offer concessions to avert a move if they had more information. Never mind that such a rule change would be an unprecedented intrusion into boardrooms, or that unions might use collective bargaining to request reams of data, such as payrolls and tax returns, to increase their negotiating leverage. In a "future case," Ms. Liebman added, "I would be open to modifying" the rule. Wink, nudge.
Trumka's Tirade

Trumka's Tirade

AFL-CIO boss Dick Trumka speech where he issued the hollow threat to the Democrat Party to take his fidelity elsewhere, is being called Trumka's Tirade by the Pittsburgh Tribune: Big Labor boss Richard Trumka has issued an ultimatum to unions' lackeys in Congress: Meet our unrelenting demands or find another sugar daddy to fund your campaigns next year. "We will spend the summer holding elected leaders in Congress as well as the states accountable on one measure: Are they improving or degrading life for working families (of union members)?" says the AFL-CIO's Mr. Trumka. And Trumka says Democrats may be "controlling the wrecking ball" that's hurting unions. How's that for gratitude? Whereas unions, given their substantial contributions to Democrats in the last presidential election, didn't get everything on their quite lengthy wish list, they've made substantial inroads with Team Obama at the federal level. Those inroads lead to the National Labor Relations Board.
Trumka's Tirade

Trumka's Tirade

AFL-CIO boss Dick Trumka speech where he issued the hollow threat to the Democrat Party to take his fidelity elsewhere, is being called Trumka's Tirade by the Pittsburgh Tribune: Big Labor boss Richard Trumka has issued an ultimatum to unions' lackeys in Congress: Meet our unrelenting demands or find another sugar daddy to fund your campaigns next year. "We will spend the summer holding elected leaders in Congress as well as the states accountable on one measure: Are they improving or degrading life for working families (of union members)?" says the AFL-CIO's Mr. Trumka. And Trumka says Democrats may be "controlling the wrecking ball" that's hurting unions. How's that for gratitude? Whereas unions, given their substantial contributions to Democrats in the last presidential election, didn't get everything on their quite lengthy wish list, they've made substantial inroads with Team Obama at the federal level. Those inroads lead to the National Labor Relations Board.

U.S. House Representatives Grow Weary of NLRB's Truncated Responses

From the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce (5/24/2011): Kline and Roe Express Disappointment with NLRB's Inadequate Response to Congressional Inquiry   “The general counsel's office has offered to discuss our request further, and we intend to take them up on their offer.” Today, Republican leaders on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce responded to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) failure to provide requested documents related to its complaint filed against The Boeing Company. On May 5th, Chairman [John] Kline and Representative Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) requested information from the NLRB to address questions surrounding the timing of the Boeing complaint, as well as concerns about public statements made by NLRB officials. "The NLRB is not immune from congressional oversight or public scrutiny," said Chairman John Kline (R-MN). "While this insufficient response is not entirely unexpected from todays board, it is still extremely disappointing. In the case of Boeing, there are legitimate questions over public statements made by NLRB officials and the timing of its complaint. The American people deserve a full explanation and Congress has a right to a complete response. The general counsel's office has offered to discuss our request further, and we intend to take them up on their offer."

U.S. House Representatives Grow Weary of NLRB's Truncated Responses

From the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce (5/24/2011): Kline and Roe Express Disappointment with NLRB's Inadequate Response to Congressional Inquiry   “The general counsel's office has offered to discuss our request further, and we intend to take them up on their offer.” Today, Republican leaders on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce responded to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) failure to provide requested documents related to its complaint filed against The Boeing Company. On May 5th, Chairman [John] Kline and Representative Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) requested information from the NLRB to address questions surrounding the timing of the Boeing complaint, as well as concerns about public statements made by NLRB officials. "The NLRB is not immune from congressional oversight or public scrutiny," said Chairman John Kline (R-MN). "While this insufficient response is not entirely unexpected from todays board, it is still extremely disappointing. In the case of Boeing, there are legitimate questions over public statements made by NLRB officials and the timing of its complaint. The American people deserve a full explanation and Congress has a right to a complete response. The general counsel's office has offered to discuss our request further, and we intend to take them up on their offer."
Right To Work = Jobs

Right To Work = Jobs

BMW plans to expand in Right To Work state of South Carolina As politicians are seeking jobs through stimulus programs, spending sprees, welfare, food stamp programs and bureaucratic mandates, many ignore the upshot enactment of a Right to Work law can have on job creation for fear of angering their big labor benefactors. But the evidence continues to compound that giving workers a choice in joining a union is not only a civil rights issue but an economic growth issue. The Washington Examiner gets it: "Danaher’s closing,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., lamenting the loss of a plant that had employed 330 people in his state. “Now those jobs are going to Arkansas and to Texas.” It was April 2005. Neal was taking the opportunity during a House committee hearing on competition with China to complain instead about how Massachusetts was losing jobs to states with less-hostile business climates. The Ways and Means Committee chairman in 2005, California Republican Bill Thomas, mildly rebuked Neal’s deviation from the topic, saying Massachusetts had shot itself in the foot with high taxes and compulsory union membership. “At some point perhaps the good citizens of Massachusetts will pick up the drift,” Thomas said.