A Republican Opportunity
In November, 2008, we entered an Orwellian world in which slavery has come to be called freedom. As you may remember, despite all of the efforts of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, Congress stopped short of passing the Employee Free Choice Act – a piece of legislation, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, which was aimed at denying employees a genuinely free choice via the secret ballot when it came to deciding whether to unionize their workplace or not. To his great credit, George McGovern emerged from the shadows to speak up against this proposal, and his opposition provided cover for those Democrats in the Senate who shared his misgivings.
Now, however, attempts are being made to smuggle in what is called “card check” through the back door. This is what many feared would happen when President Obama nominated Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and that is why his appointment was blocked in the Senate. When the President responded by putting Becker temporarily on the board by way of a recess appointment, those concerns were renewed. In reading yesterday’s Washington Examiner, I learned that what everyone feared at that time has turned out to be true: that Becker and his colleagues are smuggling in “card-check” by the back door through rulings of the NLRB.
In a ruling issued last Tuesday, the process was begun. “In the decision, involving Dana Corp., the AFL-CIO and United Auto Workers,” we are told, “the NLRB upheld Card Check as a legal organizing tool so long as the employer and union organizers enter into a ‘letter of agreement’ in advance.”
What this means is that the employer and the union seeking to represent its employees can collude and in tandem do an end run around those employees, denying them the right of voting by secret ballot to determine whether they will be unionized or not. To be precise, if thugs employed by the union can by one means or another “persuade” a sufficient number of the firm’s employees to sign a card requesting unionization or prevent them from protesting that they did not sign the cards purportedly bearing their signatures, the union will spring into existence and everyone’s paycheck will be docked on its behalf.
Mitch McConnell and John Boehner should spring into action. They should hold a press conference and file a suit to have this ruling – which is not sanctioned by any law passed by Congress and involves a reversal of NLRB precedents – overturned. If denied standing, they should find someone employed by the Dana Corporation to bring the suit, and they should support it.
Moreover, in January, the two should introduce in Congress an Employee Bill of Rights stipulating that – in all votes involving unionization, the governance of unions, and decisions whether to accept or reject contracts and strike or not – the secret ballot be employed. The Republicans in the House can pass the bill and challenge the Democrats in the Senate to show what they are made of and vote against it. If Harry Reid manages to squelch the bill in that body, this will give the Republicans a stick with which to beat the Democrats in November, 2012. If McConnell and his colleagues can get it through the Senate, they can put Barack Obama on the spot.
In nearly everything they do in the course of the next two years, it should be the aim of the Republicans to complete the job begun by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid by fully unmasking the enemies of liberty and revealing them as what they are.
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
This is absolutely a hill to die on for the 'Pubs. They need to do every thing in their power to bring the NLRB to heel until Mr. Becker's appointment expires.
Nov '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
Totally agree with Metzger--a hill to die on, all the way. The firefighters' union just called my husband a couple of days ago to patch him through directly to Senator Warner's (VA) office in support of this charade. He left a message for Warner, all right--saying that if he voted for card check or to bring collective bargaining to VA we'd do everything in our power to unseat him. And we're union members!
Nov '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
Richard Epstein has been screaming bloody murder about this thing for years. Will he grace us with his opinion again now?
May '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
What frustrates me most about this is that the union frames coercion in terms of a free-rider problem. If I remember correctly, at my old Fed Gov job, even those of us who weren't part of the union "benefited" from perks negotiated with the union; if that's true, then I guess I was a free-rider. Why can't union benefits be individualized or restricted to a particular group? Is there a law that requires equal treatment of union and non-union employees? I've never understood why a whole employee work force has to be made a part of a program, though I'll admit that the idea of a supergroup of employees with superior bargaining strength might put the rest of us at a disadvantage, but that's a freedom-to-contract issue. I might even be okay with a presumption of union membership, so long as you could opt out, like in a class action, though even that's had me a little uneasy, communication issues aside.
Oct '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
Well said professor. This is especially true of the power shift towards the unions facilitated by the Obama administration. The socialization of GM was breathtaking.
May '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
If the "free rider" concept was ever an issue, it has long since been overtaken. The parasites now are the union leaders. Prof. Rahe is absolutely right on.
Nov '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
Unions have long since ceased to be about protecting the worker and are now all about maintaining the power of the union. The workers are catching on to this, and so now the unions have to find a way around the workers.
Sep '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
While I agree that “Card Check” is an abysmal farce, hoping that the big government GOP will do something to thwart it is equally farcical. One need look no further than the trillion dollar (tax cut) stimulus bill that O and the GOP have hatched to see that. Last year workers at the Boeing plant in Charleston SC voted to kick the unions out and Boeing responded by locating a new production facility there. Over the last several months other companies have announce they a closing unionized plants and moving to right to work states in the south. If you want to place your faith the elite political class fine, personally I’ll trust the market.
May '10
Re: A Republican Opportunity
everyone should read this comment and ponder it. When did our government become the Ministry of Truth?