Labor

For Congressional Republicans and their anti-union allies, 2013 has begun much as 2012 ended – with politically motivated attacks on the National Labor Relations Board. Throughout much of 2011 and 2012 the GOP House attacked the labor board rather than focus its attention on the nation’s job crisis. This year has seen more of the same.

Last week, The Hill’s Congress blog published two opinion pieces, by Fred Wszolek of the anti-union Workforce Fairness Institute and Trey Kovaks of the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, attacking the board. Both authors repeat a number of standard right-wing attacks on the NLRB. Wszolek criticizes the recess appointment of former union lawyer Richard Griffin, while Kovaks proposes abolishing the board altogether.

With health care costs spiraling out of control, policymakers are increasingly focused on promoting prevention, including incorporating wellness and disease-prevention efforts into the workplace. The potential savings are massive. In our home state of California alone, preventable chronic disease costs $22 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity, according to the Department of Public Health This push for workplace wellness  is crucially important, both for improving Americans’ health and for controlling rising healthcare expenditures If done wrong, however, these well-intended efforts could do significant harm.

When former SEIU Associate General Counsel Craig Becker left his post at the National Labor Relations Board in December 2011, he quickly segued into a cushy job as the AFL-CIO’s co-general counsel. Likewise, a year later, former management lawyer Brian Hayes exited the board after his two-year term and immediately landed a plum position representing management with one of the nation’s prominent labor law firms.
 
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In 1935, Congress established the NLRB as a body made up solely of “three impartial Government members” to represent the public interest in labor disputes. An impartial NLRB was seen as crucial because of the contentious nature of labor relations in the United States.

I recently wrote an op-ed here on The Hill's Congress Blog which focused on actions the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may undertake in the coming weeks and months, including “try[ing] to undermine the secret ballot, a core element of workplace democracy, and provid[ing] union bosses with access to proprietary employee contact information.”
 
In response, John Logan, a professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University wrote a highly critical and rather hyperbolic op-ed. According to Logan, “far-right obstructionism from the GOP Congress and anti-union organizations such as the Workplace Fairness Institute has undermined the board’s efforts to protect workers’ rights and restore a modicum of balance to our labor policy.”

The Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform coalition is cautiously awaiting the introduction of this year's Republican Party platform. We are keenly interested to see where, exactly, the Party will ultimately stand on the issue of immigration reform. It is our fervent hope that in this year's platform, the Party will be willing to stand with their "better angels." By that, we mean that we hope that the Party embraces the call for adhering to the Rule of Law, but also calls for adhering to a call for a more compassionate conservatism. Unfortunately, it seems that there is a very good chance that the party will will embrace the former, while neglecting the latter.

The Senate will vote today on Mike Enzi’s (R-Wyo.) resolution of disapproval on the National Labor Relations Board’s new election rule, which would eliminate unnecessary pre-election litigation and the worst cases of deliberate delay. In support of the resolution, Hill Republicans and corporate-front organizations have published misleading opinion
pieces, the most recent by Fred Wszolek of the Workforce Fairness Institute, which appeared in The Hill yesterday.

A vigorous opponent of unions, the Workplace Fairness Institute, according to the New York Times, was founded by “several long-term Republican operatives” and is funded by undisclosed corporate donors. However, Mr. Wszolek’s arguments should be considered on their merits, so let’s take a closer look at his so-called “facts."

Recently, Senator John Thune published an op-ed on the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ambush election rule and efforts in Congress to undo the regulation in advance of it taking effect on April 30th. This week, the U.S. Senate will vote on S.J. Res. 36, a joint resolution of disapproval, which under the Congressional Review Act has the weight of law once passed by a simple majority in both houses of Congress and signed by the president.

The op-ed elicited a response by John Logan, a professor at San Francisco University and regular author of op-eds in The Hill. Sufficed to say, Logan disagreed with Thune’s arguments, largely employing rhetorical points as opposed to fact-based responses as there was little to question concerning the merits of the initial op-ed.

Within the next week, the Senate is expected to consider Mike Enzi’s (R-Wyo.) Congressional Review Act (S.J. Res. 36) -- which requires only a simply majority to pass -- intended to block the introduction of a National Labor Relations Board rule streamlining union certification elections, which is due to take effect April 30.

Enzi’s comments on the NLRB election rule demonstrate his, and the GOP’s, outright disdain for fact-based arguments on union-related issues.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”

I think often of this quote from the 2001 movie, "Zoolander", where Will Ferrell’s character is exasperated that everyone in the fashion industry can’t see that Ben Stiller’s character is a one-trick pony. It's exactly how I feel every time I hear the latest "higher wages kill jobs" argument from one of the restaurant industry's hired guns.

Now the rhetoric is about to get even more heated. On Thursday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the “Rebuild America Act,” which would raise the federal tipped minimum wage, which has been stuck for over twenty years at $2.13 an hour. Expect to hear howls of wage rage early and often from the restaurant industry and their well-paid lobbyists at the National Restaurant Association, as they describe an industry that simply does not exist.

Here are some facts about the minimum wage and the restaurant industry. First, the federal subminimum wage for tipped workers has been frozen at $2.13 since 1991! This law allows a $5.12 tip penalty, i.e., employers are allowed to penalize workers up to $5.12 per hour for receiving tips. The tipped minimum wage especially impacts restaurant workers, who make up the overwhelming majority of tipped workers.

Since retaking control of the House, GOP leaders, along with an assortment of anti-union and corporate organizations, have subjected the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ferocious criticism. After 15 months of desperate attacks, however, the sole “offense” of which they can credibly accuse the board is improving enforcement of the law. This explains their outrage – at heart, they oppose the fundamental rights the board enforces.

But now the NLRB’s Inspector General (IG) has produced a report that documents a real ethics scandal – as opposed to the GOP’s imaginary ones – at the board. While serving as NLRB Chief Counsel to GOP board member Brian Hayes (himself the subject of an earlier ethics investigation), newly appointed Republican member Terrence Flynn funneled confidential information about the board activities and deliberations to two former Republican NLRB members, Peter Schaumber and Peter Kirsanow. Schaumber is now chief labor advisor to the Romney campaign, while Kirsanow has represented the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

The IG’s report concludes that Flynn “violated the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.” As Chief Counsel, Flynn must have recognized the sensitivity of the “most confidential of Agency information” that he leaked, which was intended only for key board personnel.