Update of Union Activity

With all the talk about Healthcare one would think that no other legislative activity is going on in Washington. Alas, we could not be so lucky. There is still plenty of activity going on. So here is an update on various activities that are taking place.

1. The folks at the Labor Relations Institute published this blog post with a great run down on what is happening with the Employee Free Choice Act. EFCA Update They point out that EFCA has become a shorthand statement for aggressive union tactics and warn of recess appointments of NLRB nominees Becker and Pearce. (They have to be recess appointees because they are so union biased their appointments are being blocked by the Senate.)
2. The folks at CrediblyConnect that Unions Don't Have EFCA (Yet), But Have Won Other Victories That Make It Easier to Organize Employees . These include changes in the rules that had required Unions to reveal how and where they spent their members money. Secretary Solis made changes that now allow the Unions to not disclose their finances.
3. @OhioLaborLawyer on Twitter pointed out that unions are not happy with some Democrats and plan to punish them at the polls. Read Unions taking on Dems who don't toe labor line that was published in The Hill.
4. Attorney Eric B. Meyer linked to an article in S.C. Politics Today about South Carolina taking the bull by the horns and protecting the state from EFCA legislation in  Secret union ballots gets OK in Senate.
5. Lastly, also from The Hill, we have Police, firefighter unions see chance to expand collective bargaining rights which discusses in roads, outside of EFCA, that public safety unions are making.

Regardless if you are currently dealing with unions or not you need to read this stuff. With changes at the Department of Labor, the NLRB, and in legislation  you may at some point soon be dealing with union activity. And the more preparation and information you have the better off you will be.

Unions and Government: A Troublesome Combination

I received a newsletter this morning from The Heritage Foundation. It was entitled Morning Bell: Big Labor Is Bankrupting Our Country.  It was an eye opener in some areas. (In the spirit of openess, The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank. So if you want to discount this information it is up to you. But I would pay attention to the facts.) Here are some of the facts they listed in the newsletter (and some comments by me):

1. Last month when the White House released its visitor log for the first six months of the Obama presidency, one name appeared far more often than any other: Service Employee International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern. (Wow, the MOST frequent visitor? Expecting something or trying to organize the White House housekeeping staff?)
2. The SEIU spent $60.7 million to elect Barack Obama president. (Stern has made it clear that he expects reciprocity. I don't think he is getting to use the Lincoln bedroom in exchange for this $60 million.)
3. Quoting a Hertiage scholar “The overall unionization rate between January and September 2009 stood at 12.4%, unchanged from last year. However, this difference masks a large difference between unions in the private and public sectors. Union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector workers ..... But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6% of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51% of all union members nationwide.” (So the governments are such poor employers that almost 38% of workers feel they need a union to protect them. Yet they tell us in the private sector how to run our businesses. Yet only 7.3% of private sector workers have sought union protection. Hey lawmakers, "wake up and smell the coffee!"

The newsletter goes on to explain why unions target governments. Easier campaigns, more dues making it easier to influence or pressure politicians who need to get elected or re-elected. I will let you read this. The conclusion they reach is that all of this makes government more expensive and may push us to the brink of bankruptcy as a government. Is this a valid conclusion? Well took a look at how unions have helped the car industry, the steel industry, and the airline industry (anyone remember Eastern). You can draw your own conclusions.

With the changes in the NLRB, proposed legislation (EFCA and RESPECT) and executive changes removing union financing transparency unions stand a chance of regaining their "power" through political pressure and intimidation. The question is "At what cost?" to us as taxpayers, employers, employees and consumers. A truly troublesome combination.