Micro-Unions Remain Big Problem For America’s Employers

With 40 consecutive months of unemployment greater than eight percent[1] and an unrelenting regulatory assault undertaken by the Obama Administration, American employers in the private sector are not “doing fine.”[2]

And voters believe real changes need to be made concerning how we address major economic issues as demonstrated by last Tuesday’s stunning victory by Governor Scott Walker from Wisconsin.  It served as a complete and unequivocal denunciation of the agenda advanced by Big Labor.  As union bosses undertook the effort to recall the first-term executive who inherited a massive budget deficit, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Richard Trumka stated, “A message has been sent.  Politicians will be held to account by working people,”[3] yet the exact opposite result was achieved and fed into a narrative that organized labor is in decline as evidenced by its diminishing numbers nationwide, particularly in the private sector.[4]  Simply put, workers are not deciding to form or join unions because the need does not exist and they do not desire to give up hard-earned dollars to organized labor in dues.

Therefore, union bosses have been desperately seeking avenues to grow their ranks even forcing workers into unions.  It began with the Employee ‘Forced’ Choice Act (EFCA), which was introduced with significant fanfare in 2007[5] and again in 2009[6], yet never received sufficient support from both Republicans and Democrats to pass the Congress.  In fact, the bill, which would eliminate the secret ballot and empower government to mandate contract terms to employers[7] wasn’t even introduced in the 112th Congress as it was effectively defined as legislation that would result in millions of lost jobs.[8]

Unable to advance their preferred legislative remedy, union bosses shifted tactics and decided to co-opt the NLRB writing, “we will work with President Obama and Vice President Biden and their appointees to the National Labor Relations Board to change the rules governing forming a union through administrative action.”[9]  They also made clear, this was “payback”[10] from the Obama Administration for labor’s political support totaling half a billion in 2008[11], which will now rise to one billion with the re-election campaign.[12]

This brings us to the Specialty Healthcare decision reached by Obama’s labor board in the summer of 2011.  In it, the board upended decades of established labor law allowing a proliferation of collective bargaining units or micro-unions to the detriment of workers and businesses.[13]  Micro-unions create division, discord and disharmony in the workplace as little unions negotiate against one another, while business owners become entangled in an expensive mess of union red tape and competing demands.

Worse, the NLRB attempted to mislead Americans about what they were doing.  The official press release issued by the federal agency was misleadingly titled, “Board issues decision on appropriate units in non-acute health care facilities.”[14]  And only when reading the text of the release was it disclosed that the actual decision applied to every industry throughout the nation over which the board has jurisdiction.  We have recently seen the damaging effect of this misguided action on the part of unelected government bureaucrats when the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union petitioned to represent Bergdorf Goodman sales associates working in the company’s Fifth Avenue store.  In the end, the board’s regional director allowed all full-time and regular part-time women’s shoes associates in the second and fifth floors form a micro-union.[15]

Job creators are badly in need of certainty as they work, which includes relief from the proliferation of these micro-units, which would result in greater unemployment and business closures at the worst possible time.[16]  Therefore, the vote to prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars in the formation of micro-unions in private sector workplaces will serve as a real test for members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Their vote on this matter will be defining among employers in their states.

Members of Congress, who once thought that voting with union bosses on unpopular issues was a safe risk given labor’s political largesse, should take careful note of last week’s result in Wisconsin and understand the power remains in the hands of their constituents who oppose job-killing policies such as micro-unions.

SOURCES:
[1] Website, U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 6/11/12
[2] Alexandra Petri, “President Obama Says The Private Sector Is ‘Fine’,” The Washington Post, 6/8/12
[3] Michael A. Memoli, “Democrats, Labor Groups Say Money Made The Difference In Wisconsin,” The Los Angeles Times, 6/6/12
[4] Website, U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, Accessed 6/11/12
[5] Website, “The Library Of Congress,” Accessed 6/11/12
[6] Website, “The Library Of Congress,” Accessed 6/11/12
[7] Eugene Scalia, “Secret Ballots Are Free Choice,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/12/09
[8] “An Empirical Assessment Of The Employee Free Choice Act: The Economic Implications,” Anne Layne-Farrar, 3/3/09
[9] Stewart Acuff, “Restoring The Right To Form Unions And Bargain Collectively,” The Huffington Post, 2/3/10
[10] David R. Sands, “Labor’s ‘Priority’ On Back Burner,” The Washington Times, 12/29/08
[11] Tim Miller, “Giving Away The Store,” New York Post, 12/17/07
[12] Sam Hananel, “Unions Gearing Up To Spend Big In 2012 Election,” The Associated Press, 2/22/12
[13] Melanie Trottman, “NLRB Sides With Unions In Three Cases,” The Wall Street Journal, 8/30/11
[14] Press Release “Board Issues Decision On Appropriate Units In Non-Acute Health Care Facilities,” NLRB, 8/30/11
[15] Press Release, “Isakson Blasts Federal Labor Board’s Approval Of New Union For Bergdorf Goodman Shoe Department,” Sen. Johnny Isakson, 5/17/12
[16] Matthew Boyle, “Three NLRB Decisions ‘Will Kill Jobs And Force Business Closures,’ Critics Say,” The Daily Caller, 8/30/11