While most Americans were enjoying a weekend away from work, President Obama kept busy Saturday afternoon, appointing one of Big Labor’s lawyers to a post at the National Labor Relations Board. The recess appointment of Craig Becker was expected—despite the Senate’s bipartisan rejection of him in February. The White House knew media coverage would be minimal on the weekend, but Becker can’t escape the scrutiny. (Heritage’s Ryan O’Donnell wrote about the controversial pick last week.) Prior to his appointment, Becker served as associate general counsel to the Service Employees International …
Organized labor has demonstrated why workers should spend some time this Thanksgiving giving thanks for the secret ballot. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) “have been sparring for the right to represent 10,000 home health-care workers” in California. The SEIU has not exactly been using kid gloves. One SEIU organizer admitted that “he was encouraged ‘to pressure voters to change the ballot’ and that on one occasion he himself changed a vote to SEIU’s favor.” Other workers reported that SEIU organizers made …
The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus noticed that Obama’s labor secretary nominee Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) was a little less than forthcoming at her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday: Should President Obama lift the Bush-era executive order requiring that federally funded construction projects be open to both union and nonunion contractors? “Senator, I would just say to you that that is an item of great interest to me. I think that that is something that I am not able to speak to you [about] at this time but will like to review …
Judge for yourself. Meyerson writes today: If Abraham Lincoln were still among the living as he prepared to turn 200 six weeks from now, he might detect in the congressional war over the automaker bailouts a strong echo of the war that defined his presidency. Now as then, the conflict centered on the rival labor systems of North and South. Now as then, the Southerners championed a low-wage, low-benefits system while the North favored a more generous one. And now as then, what sparked the conflict was the North’s fear …
Just two days ago, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) stood with about 240 union members inside the shuttered factory of Republic Doors and Windows. The company had closed the factory before providing its 240 workers their due severance pay and accrued vacation time. Blagojevich was determined to bring the full power of the governor’s office to bear to make sure the union members got paid. Blagojevich threatened to stop the state of Illinois from doing all business with Republic’s creditor, Bank of America, if it did not help the laid-off …
