CDW RESPONDS TO OBAMA NLRB NOMINATIONS

National Coalition Disappointed In President’s NLRB Selections

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace has issued the following statement on behalf of Chairman Geoffrey Burr in response to reports that President Obama will add nominations that would create a National Labor Relations Board that includes Mark Pearce, Richard Griffin, Sharon Block:

“Today, the President failed workers and employers alike with his insincere proposal to reconstitute the National Labor Relations Board, an important workplace-related federal agency. If the President actually was serious about establishing a functioning NLRB for workers and employers, he would not have nominated Richard Griffin and Sharon Block, who accepted unconstitutional appointments and then chose to remain in those illegal appointments after a federal court vacated their tenure. Ms. Block and Mr. Griffin’s actions have caused unnecessary uncertainty in labor relations and our economy and, as a result, they are not suitable candidates. Read More

Make Your Voice Heard, Write Your Legislators Here

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.

More recently, appointees on the National Labor Relations Board have pushed Big Labor’s agenda to enact key portions of EFCA and EFCA-lite replacements through executive action and regulation. The aim of these efforts is to decrease the ability for employers to speak to employees, to decrease the ability of employees to access information from both sides and make an informed choice, and thereby increase the number of dues-paying union members. 

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Obama’s NLRB Unleashes Ambush Elections on Your Business

On Monday, April 30th, Barack Obama’s union-controlled National Labor Relations Board will be imposing its new union election rules, designed to ambush employers. Unions won over 71% of the 1595 NLRB-conducted elections in 2011 which makes one wonder why this rule is even warranted and is certainly unnecessary. 

Given unions’ legal ability to deceive workers into unionizing, NLRB’s new rule amounts to nothing less than a Government Agency doing big Labors bidding. The increased union organizing activity that is expected to follow will result in smaller companies and their employees being victimized by unscrupulous union organizers.  Read More

Note: This is a different issue from the NLRB Poster Requirement which originally was also to take effect April 30 but has been postponed indefinitely.

A shortened time frame squeezes small business owners, who typically lack the resources and legal expertise to navigate and understand the union election process.

In addition, this rule deprives employees of the ability to hear from their employer before making a decision about union representation. As a result, employees will very likely not have all the facts about union organizing before having to cast their vote for or against union representation.

In addition, last week IEC members from across the Country converged on Capitol Hill for the IEC Legislative Fly-In and urged support for a resolution in the U.S. Senate that would have blocked the rule. The resolution failed on a 54-45 party-line vote.

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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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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

Unions May Not Need EFCA Under New NLRB Regulations

NLRB makes unionization and unfair labor practices more dangerous – unions may not even need the EFCA



AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Still Has Friends in High Places



Given the Democratic Party’s loss of a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and the Republican trouncing of Democrats in the midterm elections, the likelihood that the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will pass has virtually evaporated. But recent actions of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) suggest that employers haven’t dodged the bullet. Increased risks of unionization still abound and will continue

A majority of the Board’s current membership are former union lawyers who have been aggressively acting to institute new policies that are highly favorable to unions – and dangerous for unionized and non-unionized employers alike.

Read More

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?

Obama Promises Unions Expanded Union Friendly Agenda

President Obama Again Promised Unions that he would  keep on fighting to pass the controversial “card check” bill. 

“We’re going to keep on fighting to pass the Employee Free Choice Act,” Obama told the union......“Getting EFCA through the Senate will be tough. It’s always been tough, it’ll continue to be tough. But we’ll keep on pushing,” he said. 

A promise from a politician to “keep on pushing” isn’t exactly inspiring. However, there’s still a lot of concern about what Democrats might do during a lame duck session.

A lot of Democrats have hinted they are going to pass card check legislation during a lame duck session. It would be a mistake to dismiss the possibility of that happening.

Read More 

Watch Video         

The NJECPAC and our member organizations continue to support the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace in their fight against this egregious legislation, http://www.myprivateballot.com/

If passed, EFCA would strip employees of their right to a private ballot vote in union elections. Click Here To Take Action