Contractors Across Northeast Learn About Obama's Radical NLRB

Yesterday, Electrical Contractors from New Jersey and across the Northeast Region attended a full day Seminar on the Obama NLRB's radical rule-making. The seminar included the new NLRB Ambush Election and Micro Election rules, both of which circumvent Congress just as the President said he was going to do. Attendees learning that if the NLRB and their radical agenda are not reigned in the Employee Free Choice Act (Card Check) could be in their future. 

These issues are so dangerous and important to small businesses across the Northeast that the Seminar was sold out and another is planned to accommodate the overflow and those that were unable to attend. 

For example, in construction Micro Elections could result in Apprentices being organized by a union separately. Apprentices could be easy pickings for a union making promises they don't have the power to keep. It is expected that Unions that are successful in organizing Apprentices, would worry about organizing Journeyman later. 

The Ambush Election Rule removes the average 24 days for the NLRB to conduct an Election and reduces that time dramatically to possibly 10 days or less. This would leave an employer with little time to conduct a counter campaign to protect what they have spent their life building. 


The Senate S.J. Res 36  and the House H.J. Res 103 have resolutions pending that would rein in some of the wild rule-making by Obama's radical NLRB. Both of which are intended to nullify the NLRB’s Ambush Election Rule. Senators Enzi and Isakson and Representatives Kline, Roe and Gingrey introduced the resolutions in accordance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA).  The CRA establishes special streamlined congressional procedures for disapproving regulations.  If Congress passes a joint resolution disapproving the NLRB’s Ambush Rule and the resolution becomes law, the rule cannot take effect.

We expect a vote on the resolutions in the next 8 weeks. To ensure the best possible outcome, we must generate support for the resolutions.  

The following organizations have agreed to sign on to a letter supporting the resolutions to be sent to Congress.

• Independent Electrical Contractors (IEC)
• Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• National Federation of Independent Business
• International Council of Shopping Centers
• International Foodservice Distributors Association
• International Franchise Association
• National Association of Manufacturers
• National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
• National Retail Federation
• Retail Industry Leaders Association
• American Hotel and Lodging Association

TAKE ACTION HERE 
What Is The National Labor Relations Board?

Why Should I Be Worried About The NLRB?

• Fact Sheet — Congressional Review Act and Ambush Election
• Fact Sheet — The Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act
• Fact Sheet — The NLRB’s Attack on Workers and Business
• Policy Paper — The NLRB’s Attack on Workers and Business
• Obama NLRB Timeline — A History of Union Favoritism

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Coalition for a Democrat Workplace To Testify At NLRB Hearing

The Coalition for a Democrat Workplace (CDW) and their members will be represented at NLRB hearing Today and Tomorrow on the proposed "ambush elections" rule by Chuck Cohen of Morgan Lewis.  

Chuck will be speaking this afternoon. The full list of speakers is available Here and a webcast will be available Here.

Comments on the NLRB rule as well as DOL's gag rule are due by August 22.  CDW will be launching a grassroots website in the next few weeks, which will provide sample comments and help you and your members with filing those comments.  

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is a coalition of workers, employers, associations and organizations who are fighting to protect the right to a federally supervised private ballot when workers are deciding whether or not to join a union. We are opposed to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act because it would strip Americans of that right and replace it with a system where your vote is no longer private, and it is made public to your employer, the union organizers and your co-workers.
For a list of CDW members visit http://www.myprivateballot.com/ and click on the "About Us" tab.

Lastly, The CDW placed an op-ed in the Washington Times on these issues. You can view that Here. 

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NLRB Threatens To Sue Four States Over Secret Ballot union Laws

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has threatened to sue Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah over constitutional amendments guaranteeing workers the right to a secret ballot in union elections. NLRB’s acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, said the amendments conflict with federal law.

Business groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce, IEC, ABC and the CDW favor the amendments, arguing that secrecy is necessary to protect workers against union intimidation. They are concerned that Congress might enact legislation requiring employers to allow the "card check" process for forming unions instead of secret ballot elections.

The NLRB has sent letters to the Attorney General of each state warning them that their amendments are pre-empted by the supremacy clause of the Constitution and their new laws are unconstitutional. Read More

Phil Kerpen, vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity said the NLRB's action "shows how determined the board is to accomplish card check by backdoor means, against the wishes of the American people and Congress." Read More.

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At Least 31 Co Sponsors of EFCA Defeated In Mid Term Election

Legislators, take note: Voters cross-check card check

By Brian Worth

 

There was seemingly one loud message from last week’s election: Washington, get out of the way! But there were important footnotes in the voters’ pink slip for the last Congress, and incoming legislators would do well to heed the public’s desire for big government and big labor to step back and allow the free enterprise system and job creators to get our economy moving again.

One of the signature issues of the election was the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act” and its “card check” provision that would have effectively eliminated private ballot voting for employees deciding whether to join a union. Poll after poll warned that voters—including union households—would reject any attempt to circumvent the secret ballot, and they made good on their word. More than 40 candidates who had voted for, cosponsored, or endorsed EFCA were asked not to return—including at least 31 who co-sponsored the bill in the 111th Congress.
Read More

Brian Worth, is IEC National Vice President for Government and Public Affairs and Chairs the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace

Back Door Card Check

Obamas Main Inside
The NLRB Craig Becker

Back Door Card Check; Big Labor’s Man At The NLRB Tries To Rewrite Labor Law By Fiat.

The Wall Street Journal 

As Big Labor has realized it won't get "card check" legislation through Congress, it is turning to its secret weapon inside the Obama Administration—labor lawyer Craig Becker. And as many Senators feared when he was nominated, Mr. Becker is using his position on the National Labor Relations Board to bypass the will of Congress.

President Obama gave Mr. Becker a recess appointment in March after Senate Democrats refused to confirm him to the NLRB, the agency charged with fairly overseeing union elections. As a top lawyer for the Service Employees International Union, Mr. Becker had suggested that the NLRB has the legal authority to impose card check—which eliminates secret ballots in union elections—without the approval of Congress.

Obama Looks To NLRB To Circumvent Congress and Implement Card Check

As Congress returns for a brief legislative session, President Barack Obama gave us some good news and some bad news.

First, he stated, regarding EFCA, "The opportunity to get this passed right now is not real high."

While that may be good (if not obvious) news to hear from the president, he followed that up by noting that the principles of card-check organizing could be achieved without passing legislation.  According to The Hill, “the president also pivoted to note that many of the problems in organizing rules that EFCA sought to address might be fixed through administrative action.” 

Read More Here.

As noted in our last CDW Update, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has already begun its move to circumvent the legislative process and force the principles of EFCA on employees and employers via federal regulation. 

Read More About The Recent NLRB Rulings,  Here.

Palin Blasts AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

Sarah Palin Blasts Labor Leader, Calls Conservatism a Better Fit for Union Workers

Palin also blasted "card check" legislation as unfair to workers, and even un-American, because of its insistence on stripping workers of their right to privacy with a secret ballot."

"Card check" refers to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA would eliminate an employers' ability to demand a secret-ballot election during the union-forming process, thereby streamlining the process of union organizing. Other main components of the bill include increased penalties on employers who violate labor laws in trying to dissuade employees from organizing. The bill remains contentious and although dead now is still on Obamas "To Do" list.

Trumka also criticized Palin for referencing "union thugs," a loaded term given the history of labor unions in the United States.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

Palin said it was "ironic" that a union boss would accuse her of threatening violence, citing "attempts by SEIU to intimidate those who wanted to make their voices heard in last year's town halls," as well as Trumka's involvement in the 1990's in a union corruption case. Trumka also condoned the cold blooded murder of coal miner Eddie York whose crime according to Trumka was crossing a picket line to work so he can support his family. 

By contrast, Palin said, "I was just an ordinary, card-carrying union member, not one of the big shots who ended up, unfortunately, giving unions a bad name." Palin boasted she is "a former card-carrying IBEW sister married to a proud former IBEW and later USW member."

We found this story interesting since in some circles Sarah Palin has become a polarizing figure.

Ask yourself this, if Sarah Palin is really as bad as her critics describe her then why on earth are they so obsessed with worry about her? Or is it fear, because they know she is a political force to be reckoned with?