NILRR Weekly News Clips March 15, 2013
H.R. 1120, the Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act
House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee, March 13, 2013
Links to Foundation Story
In January 2012, President Obama installed three so-called recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board while Congress was not in recess. In the wake of the president’s unprecedented action, efforts to overturn board rulings were initiated in various federal courts on the basis that the board itself was no longer legitimate. In a unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the president’s recess appointments have been declared unconstitutional. In the wake of the decision, legal uncertainty surrounding the board has only increased. The Wall Street Journal reports dozens of employers, including Starbucks and CNN America, are seeking to void or block board rulings on the basis they are unconstitutional. Employees are beginning to do the same. The AFL-CIO stated the ruling has “seriously undermined enforcement of the law.†As a result, workers, employers, and unions will be forced to spend more time and money in federal court and have less confidence about what the future holds.
PS Labor Talk, March 7, 2013
Join Ricardo Torres (President & CEO of Permanent Solutions Labor Consultant), John N. Raudenbaugh (Reed Larson Professor of Labor Law at Ave Maria School of Law) and Nemeth Burwell, PC attorney, Clifford Hammond as they discuss conventional and unconventional possibilities that loom on the horizon for the National Labor Relations Board. The Board’s uncertain fate affects employers, employees and labor unions alike, making this a must-hear episode of PSLaborTalk!
Cash-strapped cities seized by new management
MSNBC.com, March 11, 2013
Imagine if a democratically-elected mayor was suddenly neutered and replaced by an “emergency manager†with the power to steamroll City Council. Imagine if the manager had the authority to unilaterally modify or even eradicate collective bargaining agreements and used that authority to entirely wipe out public sector unions. For Detroit, and its staunch labor movement, that scenario is less far-fetched than it sounds. In fact, it’s already happening in the Michigan city of Pontiac.
Perez’s Expected Nomination to Secretary of Labor Demands Scrutiny
National Review Online, March 12, 2013
President Obama’s expected nomination of assistant attorney general Thomas Perez to be secretary of labor merits extremely close scrutiny by senators from both parties, for several concerns about Perez’s record as head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice transcend partisanship and ideology. Just one of those concerns involves Mr. Perez’s sworn testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Union’s attempt to sidestep right-to-work law killed by Saginaw County commissioners
Mark Tower, MLive.com, March 12, 2013
Saginaw County government employee union officials were defeated by County Commissioners in their desperate attempt to avoid the expansive reduction in membership and forced dues expected when Michigan’s Right to Work Law is finally implemented this month.
There is no ‘window’ to avoid Act 10
Biztimes.com, March 14, 2013
Mary Bell, president of WEAC, claims the decision “sends a strong message to school districts that now is the time to act and bargain in good faith with local associations.” State Senator Jon Erpenbach claims the decision creates uncertainty and leaves “school districts and municipal employees without clear direction.” United Wisconsin claims the decision “continue[s] the stay put in place by Judge Juan Colas and bar[s] enforcement of Act 10.”
All three of those assertions are incorrect.
FOP Foundation, Allied Veterans linked by $90,000 in donations
Jacksonville.com, March 14, 2013
Though the police union distanced itself from the veterans group, initially describing itself as unconnected to the $300 million racketeering probe that saw its own president and first vice president arrested, the affidavit said Allied chose “to pay members of law enforcement and to divert proceeds to the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police.â€
The Left’s Last Hurrah in Wisconsin
National Review Online, March 13, 2013
In Wisconsin, the Left is at it again. An election for the state supreme court threatens to become a last-gasp effort to overturn Governor Scott Walker’s historic collective-bargaining reforms.
Two years ago, liberals poured millions of dollars into another supreme-court election, in which Madison lawyer Joanne Kloppenburg just barely failed to unseat incumbent justice David Prosser. This year, the target is Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, an unassuming former court-of-appeals judge who until recently had been considered a moderating and conciliatory voice on a sharply divided court.