It seems as if National Labor Relations Board lawyer Lafe Solomon was trying to be a comedian when he wrote numerous emails in April 2011 about the Boeing complaint filed by Big Labor when it decided to move production facilities to South Carolina.
In a recent interview with The Hill newspaper, Solomon attempted to own up to a number of insensitive and otherwise sophomoric emails, including one in which he joked about “screw[ing] up the U.S. economy.”
“I now understand why people write, ‘LOL’ or put smiley faces or frowny faces on emails,” joked Solomon, 62. “Because when looked at with just the literal writing of them, they can be misread or misinterpreted.”
Solomon was the only one who knew that he was being sarcastic when he wrote to then-NLRB Chairwoman Wilma Lieberman about the Boeing complaint that: “You go to Geneva and I get a job with airbus. We screwed up the [U.S.] economy and now we can tackle Europe.”
“That’s why I should have written LOL at the end of them,” Solomon told The Hill, attempting to sound contrite about the affair.
Interestingly enough, Solomon still gets to keep his job as the NLRB’s “top lawyer” despite the sentiment expressed in the emails. Big Labor friends would like to keep it that way. But, in the meantime, Congress has already subpoenaed Solomon with 11 Senators recently asking President Obama to withdraw the lawyer’s nomination.
WFI to USDA: New Labor Law Rules “Bad Policy”
Workforce Fairness Institute recently submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, objecting to a proposed rule that would force small businesses to spend outrageous amounts of money, time and resources on certification and labor violation reviews for themselves and subcontractors or risk severe penalties.
This new rule, clearly an Obama Administration sop to Big Labor, would place a massive burden on businesses. The White House says it wants to reduce “burdensome regulations” on employers, yet it allows federal agencies to force unnecessary mandates on contractors trying to make a living. That’s not only bad for those businesses, but that’s also bad for the economy.
WFI adds that this Department of Agriculture regulation would:
“In sum, the Department has not established the statutory basis for its role in enforcing our local, state and national labor laws and it has not shown reasoned basis for the certification requirement,” argued Fred Wszolek, spokesman for WFI. “The rule is bad public policy and should be abandoned.”
But, the question remains as to whether or not it will be that easy for Obama’s White House to abandon a big favor like this to Big Labor.