Labor/Employment

Freshman Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Friday morning that the House should approve legislation scaling back proposed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules allowing for faster union elections, in part because the NLRB has “lost its marbles.”

Scott quoted an email, made public earlier this year by Judicial Watch, in which acting NLRB general counsel Lafe Solomon responded to an article critical of the NLRB by joking that he and a colleague should now try to destroy the European economy, having already destroyed the American economy.

“I want you to hear this clearly, I’m going to say it slowly, because we need to understand and appreciate that the NLRB has lost its marbles, without any question,” Scott said on the floor. He then read the email, in which Solomon said to a colleague: “The article gave me a new idea. You go to Geneva, and I get a job with Airbus. We screwed up the U.S. economy, and now we can tackle Europe.”

“Only in an alternate universe is this funny or does it make any sense whatsoever,” Scott said.

Mitt Romney and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Thursday called for the dismissal of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) attorney following the revelation of internal emails that seem to joke about the NLRB’s negative influence on the economy.

Romney, a contender for the GOP presidential nomination, called for NLRB General Counsel Lafe Solomon to be fired, saying in a statement that Solomon’s emails revealed “a disturbing and cavalier attitude about job losses that are a direct result of NLRB policies.”

Business groups have criticized the labor board rule, which calls for quick union elections.

Sen. Lindsey Graham warned a labor board official he would go after the agency “full guns a-blazing,” documents show. 

The House Education and the Workforce Committee passed legislation Wednesday that would peg back several regulations and rulings from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

The mark-up of the bill, known as the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, was approved on a party-line vote, 23-16.

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), the panel’s chairman and the bill’s sponsor, said the legislation was necessary to roll back the NLRB’s “activist agenda,” which is creating uncertainty for businesses across the country. Kline rejected Democratic charges that his bill would prevent union elections at worksites.

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Rick Perry targeted the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday as he unveiled his economic plan in South Carolina.

A Washington, D.C.-based union group has filed paperwork vying to represent flight attendants for Virgin America airlines.

The Transport Workers Union, which represents employees at airlines including United, American and Southwest, said Monday it has submitted a petition calling for a vote on unionization at Virgin America to the National Mediation Board (NMB).

The labor board has come under intense scrutiny from Republicans in Congress over its accusation that airplane manufacturer Boeing opened a plant in South Carolina for its new 787 Dreamliner jet as an act of political retribution for union strikes in Washington state.

Republicans and Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee clashed Wednesday over legislation that would undo recent regulations and rulings from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). 

Introduced last week, the bill sponsored by Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), the committee’s chairman, counteracts a proposed regulation from the labor board that would speed up union elections as well as void an NLRB ruling that would allow smaller bargaining units to form unions. 

At a hearing Wednesday on the bill, Kline said policies being advanced by the labor board create uncertainty for employers struggling in a stalled economy.

“The policies advanced by the NLRB are dramatically increasing the pressure and uncertainty facing business owners, making it more difficult to create jobs and plan for the future,” Kline said.

Republicans are moving forward with legislation to roll back regulations coming from the National Labor Relations Board.

Detroit-based Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union announced Tuesday they had agreed to a four-year labor agreement both sides say will add jobs by 2015.

The sides say the deal, which will still have to be approved by UAW members, will create 5,750 new jobs at Ford facilities across the country.

It calls for Ford to spend $16 billion on its U.S. operations, including $6.2 billion for plants, and retain 12,000 positions in total.