July 23, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging Congress to oppose the PRO Act:

“The PRO Act is a great illustration of just how radical and out-of-touch today’s Democrat Party is. The bill, which has 179 House Democrat cosponsors and 9 Senate Democrat cosponsors, would force millions of workers into unions they oppose and destroy jobs while lining the pockets of liberal fat cat donors. Just when some workers finally begin recovering from the Great Recession is no time to be killing jobs in the franchise industry and the gig economy.

“The significant additional employment costs imposed by this proposed change in law is designed to create unionization opportunities for House Democrat’s labor union financial benefactors, but it is dubious whether currently independent drivers would survive the transition as they became little more than scheduled cab drivers.

“The bill also institutes card check which effectively ends secret ballot union elections inviting a climate of workplace intimidation, mandates unfair snap elections, legalizes secondary boycotts, and brings back a rule that puts a significant regulatory burden on those who help employers legally communicate to employees during a labor dispute.”

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org

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September 28th, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today urged members of the House to cosponsor a resolution of disapproval against a National Mediation Board rule that allows for union organization at railways and airlines with less than a majority of employees voting “yes.”

“Members of the House need to stand up for the rule of law and rein in this rogue agency. The National Mediation Board cannot just make up the law,” Wilson declared.

The resolution, H.J. Res. 97, offered by Representative Phil Gingrey, would undo a May 11th, 2010 ruling by the National Mediation Board (NMB) to repeal the so-called “Majority Rule.” Under the old rule, it took a majority of an organizing unit voting “yes” to permanently organize a union.

Now, because of the NMB ruling, it only takes a majority of those voting, a considerably lower threshold. Wilson said the NMB’s decision clearly violates the law, and called on House members to support Gingrey’s resolution.

According to Section 152 of the Railway Labor Act, “The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this chapter.”

“The language of the Railway Labor Act is clear: a majority of employees in an organizing unit have to vote to unionize. If Congress does not like that law, they can amend it, but the agency cannot just arbitrarily change it,” Wilson said.

Wilson noted that the Carter Administration had come to same conclusion in the 1970’s when it looked into the issue, which is that only Congress can change the rule. “This is not rule by elected representatives, it is rule by faceless bureaucrats doing whatever they want,” he said. “First it was the EPA with its carbon endangerment finding, and then the National Labor Relations Board moving in the direction of card check. This is rule by rogue agencies, not by representation.”

Wilson previously said the rule had been changed “most likely to allow a single union at Delta Airlines to win a unionization election they otherwise would not.” Wilson charged that the rule change most likely had been made to accommodate the merger of Delta Airlines and Northwest.

“Since the merged company is now only 40 percent union, the only way to get a union for Delta was to change the rules,” Wilson explained.

According to CNN Money, “Unlike its competitors, Delta employees have declined to join labor unions in the past, priding themselves on having great relationships with the company and enjoying the freedom to negotiate contracts with managers one on one.”

A similar resolution failed in the Senate with a final vote of 56 to 43.

Wilson has said that the old rule was justified because there is no decertification procedure under the Railway Labor Act. “Once a union is organized at an airline or railway, there is simply no way for it to be held accountable by workers. Lowering the standard for organization, without any means of decertification, is anti-democratic and simply a handout to the labor unions, tilting the playing field completely in their favor.”

“The National Mediation Board is not an independent agency that makes its own rules. It is bound by the Railway Labor Act, and Congress has a duty to overturn the Board’s decision to arbitrarily change what the law means. The rule of law depends on it,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

H.J. Res. 97, by Representative Phil Gingrey, September 2010.

National Mediation Board Rule Change Summary, Republican Senate staff, September 2010 atwww.getliberty.org/files/NMBRuleChangeSummary.pdf.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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September 23rd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government (ALG) President Bill Wilson today condemned the Senate for rejecting a resolution of disapproval against a National Mediation Board rule that allows for union organization at railways and airlines with less than a majority of employees voting “yes.”

Wilson said the rule has been changed to “allow a single union at Delta Airlines to win a unionization election they otherwise would not.” Wilson charged that the rule change most likely had been made to accommodate the merger of Delta Airlines and Northwest.

“Since the merged company is now only 40 percent union, the only way to get a union for Delta was to change the rules,” Wilson explained.

According to CNN Money, “Unlike its competitors, Delta employees have declined to join labor unions in the past, priding themselves on having great relationships with the company and enjoying the freedom to negotiate contracts with managers one on one.”

The final vote in the Senate was 56 to 43 against Isakson’s resolution of disapproval. The resolution was proposed by Senator Johnny Isakson, who in The Hill wrote, “The Obama administration’s decision to repeal this rule means that now a minority of the bargaining unit can organize — permanently — the entire organizing unit.”

“The National Mediation Board simply does not have the legal authority to make such a radical change without Congressional authorization,” Isakson stated in a press release. “With this rule change, a union could be permanently recognized without a majority of employees having ever supported representation.”

That is because on May 11th, 2010, the National Mediation Board repealed the so-called “Majority Rule.” Under the old rule, it took a majority of an organizing unit voting “yes” to permanently organize a union. Now, it only takes a majority of those voting, a considerably lower threshold.

“The NMB’s decision clearly violates the law. According to Section 152 of the Railway Labor Act, ‘The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of this chapter’,” Wilson said.

“Not a majority of those voting, but a majority of the entire workforce. This part of the law is very clear. If Senators don’t like that law, they can amend it. Instead they are okay with an arbitrary executive action to change the law willy-nilly,” Wilson said, noting that the Carter Administration had come to same conclusion in the 1970’s when it looked into the issue, which is that only Congress can change this rule.

Isakson wrote in The Hill, “[U]nder the Majority Rule, if a bargaining unit had 6,000 employees, 3,001 must have voted for a union to organize the unit. However, under the new rule, if only 1,000 of 6,000 vote, and 501 of those 1,000 vote yes, all 6,000 are permanently unionized, even if a majority of them become disenchanted with the union leadership.”

Wilson said that the old rule was justified because there is no decertification procedure under the Railway Labor Act. “Once a union is organized at an airline or railway, there is simply no way for it to be held accountable by workers. Lowering the standard for organization, without any means of decertification, is anti-democratic and simply a handout to the labor unions, tilting the playing field completely in their favor.”

Wilson said that the National Mediation Board had violated their authority under the Railway Labor Act. “By changing the rule regarding union representation elections, the NMB has committed an arbitrary action that the Senate has now condoned, ceding yet more of its rightful legislative powers to faceless bureaucrats.”

“First it was the EPA with its carbon endangerment finding, and then the National Labor Relations Board moving in the direction of card check. This is rule by bureaucracy, not by representation,” Wilson explained.

“The National Mediation Board has clearly stepped out of its statutory role as a neutral arbiter, and into being an advocate on behalf of union organizers. And the Senate has once again proven themselves to be Big Labor’s rubber stamp through its outrageous vote today,” Wilson concluded.

Attachments:

National Mediation Board Rule Change Summary, Republican Senate staff, September 2010 atwww.getliberty.org/files/NMBRuleChangeSummary.pdf.

Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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March 25th, 2010—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today joined with the Senate Republican caucus in urging Barack Obama to rule out a recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

According to the letter signed by all 41 Republican members of the Senate, “We urge you not to ignore the bipartisan Senate vote by giving Mr. Becker a recess appointment to the NLRB. Taking this action would place a rejected nominee in an appointed term to the NLRB, setting an unfortunate precedent for all future nominations and future administrations.”

Becker’s nomination was blocked in the Senate on February 9th, with Democrat Senators Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson joining 31 other Republicans against the nominee.

“Craig Becker is a radical of the first order, and the Senate was more than justified in blocking his appointment,” Wilson said, citing Becker’s advocacy of making substantial changes to the National Labor Relations Act via the National Labor Relation Board without any Congressional approval.

According to a report published by Americans for Limited Government, “Militant on a Mission,” Becker wrote that “The [National Labor Relations] Board should return to the principle that a union election is not a contest between the employer and the union… Unlike the other proposals, however, it could be achieved with almost no alteration to the statutory framework.”

According to the ALG report, “This unilateral imposition of his views regardless of Congressional approval may apply to Card Check legislation as well.”

Under current law, the National Labor Relations Act, workers have a right to a secret ballot when unions are organized. Unions have lobbied the Obama administration and Congress for a “card check” system in the EFCA that would eliminate the employer’s right to request a secret ballot election, allowing unions to be organized without any ballot.

Becker’s highly controversial views resulted in Senate Republicans’ opposition against the nomination, and in their letter write, “Mr. Becker’s writings clearly indicate that he would use his position on the NLRB to institute far-reaching changes in labor law far exceeding the Board’s authority and bypassing the role of Congress.”

The letter continues, “His rejection of traditional notions of democracy in union elections and of an employer’s status as a party to labor representation proceedings has garnered bi-partisan opposition to his nomination. His extensive, highly controversial writings, as well as his legal and scholarly career indicate that he could not be viewed as impartial or objective in deciding cases before this quasi-judicial agency.”

In 1993, according to the ALG report, Becker also wrote that “employers should have no right to raise questions concerning voter eligibility or campaign conduct” and “employers should have no right to be heard in either a representation case or an unfair labor practice case.” Both views conflict with longstanding interpretations of national labor relations laws.

Becker’s appointment has been described by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as ‘the highest priority for organized labor’ according to an email released by Jeri Thompson. The letter was from an SEIU lobbyist to Democratic members of the U.S. Senate.

“That email showed the SEIU setting the Senate’s schedule for the Becker confirmation,” Wilson explained. “And now, undeterred by the Senate’s rejection of Becker, Barack Obama is prepared to achieve Big Labor’s ‘highest priority’ with a recess appointment.”

The AFL-CIO has already called for such an appointment, as reported by the American Spectator. The Spectator also reports Obama saying, “If the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees, I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess.”

Becker could be recess-appointed during the upcoming Easter recess that will begin on March 29th.

Becker has served as counsel for both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO. According to the Wall Street Journal, Becker was also responsible for the drafting of several pro-union executive orders while serving simultaneously on the Barack Obama’s presidential transition team and on the SEIU payroll. One of the orders repealed required federal contractors to post notice that workers do not have to pay for the political expenditures of their unions.

Testifying about the orders, Becker said, “I was asked to provide advice and information concerning a possible executive order of the sort described. I was involved in researching, analyzing, preliminary drafting, and consulting with other members of the Transition team.”

Wilson has said that the executive orders “show that Becker’s agenda is to achieve via executive regulation what cannot be achieved via the legislative process.”

In addition, the ALG report charges that Becker “instituted new policies to force political contributions from union locals in potential violation of the law; was implicated in the scandal surrounding disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich; endured major financial scandals; engaged in alleged intimidation of its members; pursued union contracts that would have prevented unionized nursing home workers from reporting elder abuse; gave millions of dollars to the scandal-plagued group ACORN; and hired private detectives to spy on union members.”

Wilson concluded, “Craig Becker’s legacy will be to achieve via executive fiat what cannot be achieved legislatively, and Barack Obama’s recess appointment of him is more than symbolic of that defiance.”

Attachments:
“Militant on a Mission: Report on Craig Becker, Nominee to the National Labor Relations Board,” Americans for Limited Government, January 2010.
ALG Nominee Alert, Craig Becker, August 2009.

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February 10th, 2010—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today praised the Senate for blocking Barack Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Craig Becker, and said, “Now it is time for Barack Obama to take the Becker nomination off-the-table completely and rule out a recess appointment, protecting the rights of workers from coerced unionization.”

 

February 8th, 2010—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the Senate to reject Barack Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Craig Becker whom Wilson said “would work around the clock to force tens of millions of workers into unwanted unions.”

 

October 21st, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today thanked Senator John McCain for putting a legislative hold on Barack Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Craig Becker.

 

October 20th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today in a letter urged Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions to hold public hearings on all nominees for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).