NLRB

Michelle Malkin: Obama’s Big Labor ethics loophole

On August 18, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Michelle Malkin highlights the non-existent ethical standards applied to Obama Big Labor politcal appointees like SEIU/AFL-CIO lawyer Craig Becker who Obama appointed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB):

Everything you need to know about President Obama’s fraudulent ethics pledge can be summed up in four words: SEIU lawyer Craig Becker.

It’s no surprise that Becker now refuses to hold himself accountable for the ethics pledge he himself signed in April. As the past two years have taught us, Team Obama’s operational slogan is: Rules are for fools. The contractual ethics commitment states: “I will not for a period of two years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.” Yet, Becker has participated in numerous NLRB cases involving the SEIU and its affiliates — and is parsing the definition of “former employer” by arguing that local SEIU chapters are “separate and distinct legal entities” that don’t fall under the ethics rules.

The National Right to Work Foundation, which has fought both national and local SEIU officials in court on behalf of rank-and-file workers’ rights, eviscerates Becker’s lawyerly blather. SEIU’s own constitution considers local affiliates “constituent subordinate bodies” of the national union, the foundation notes. “Moreover, in 2009 over 85 percent of the SEIU’s receipts came from a per capita tax on the locals’ membership dues and fees. The national union even has the power to assume control over its locals if they do not conform to International policies.” (more…)

NRTW “aggressively” pursues recusal motions against NLRB member Craig Becker

On August 13, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The New American Reports:

The National Right to Work Foundation [NRTW] has aggressively pursued recusal motions against Craig Becker, a recess appointment by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker had previously served as associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, an organization which has come under increasing scrutiny in connection to illicit activities by Obama and his supporters.

Becker took an ethics pledge last April, at the time of his recess appointment, in which he swore to abstain for a period of two years from involving himself in any matter before the board in which a client or former employer had been involved. Despite this pledge, the NRWF [NRTW] has identified cases involving SEUI locals and in which Becker participated in the cases. Becker has insisted that local unions are “separate and distinct entities” from the SEIU itself. This contradicts the SEIU Constitution, which presumably Becker would know something about as counsel for that organization, and which describes local affiliates as “constituent subordinate bodies” of the national union. (more…)

Tagged with: ACORN • Craig Becker • David Berry • NLRB • NRTWLDF • SEIU • Wade Rathke
Posted in: ACORN, NLRB, NRTWLDF, Obama Administration

Obama Labor Bureaucrats to Bypass Congress?

On July 16, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

‘Electronic’ Voting Would Facilitate ‘Card Check’-Style Abuses

Three of the four current NLRB members who were appointed or reappointed by President Obama are veteran union lawyers. All three are expected to vote in lock-step to expand Big Labor's forced-unionism privileges.

(Source: July 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Since the beginning of 2009, Big Labor has had a cheerleader in the Oval Office. At the same time, ample majorities of both chambers of the U.S. Congress have been willing to vote for virtually any power grab sought by union officials, as long as they could do so without running into intense, across-the-board constituent opposition.

Consequently, top union bosses have expected to see enacted in the current Congress legislation that would help them sharply increase the share of all private-sector workers who are under union monopoly-bargaining control.

Their original vehicle for achieving this objective was S.560/H.R.1409, the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act.”

Sponsored by union-label Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), S.560/H.R.1409 would grease the skids for Big Labor workplace takeovers in several ways. Most famously, it would effectively end secret-ballot elections in union organizing drives, replacing them with so-called “card checks.”

That means, if S.560/H.R.1409 became law, union organizers would have far more (more…)

Tagged with: Card Check • Craig Becker • George Miller • H.R.1409 • NLRB • S.560 • SEIU • Tom Harkin
Posted in: Card Check, Card Check, Economics, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Monopoly Bargaining, NLRB, NRTWC Newsletter

Becker in Hot Water

On July 12, 2010, By NRTWC Staff

The National Right to Work Committee led the effort to block the appointment of radical SEIU-water carrier Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. It now appears Becker has crossed the ethical line and is under investigation.

From the Washington Examiner:

When it comes to President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, what Big Labor wants, Big Labor gets. Unions spent $400 million electing Democrats in 2008, so they demanded to select which fox gets to guard the henhouse overseeing organized labor.

In the least surprising news of the week, Craig Becker — Big Labor’s go-to legal expert — has served on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for barely three months, and he’s already under investigation.

Becker lost a bipartisan Senate confirmation vote for the NLRB before Obama gave him a recess appointment. Becker is so pro-union he previously opined that “employers should have no right to be heard” in cases before the NLRB. (more…)

Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, NLRB, National Right to Work Committee, Personnel Alert

Primary Voters Rebuke Issue-Dodging Republican

On June 14, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Senate candidate Trey Grayson (facing forward) refused to oppose legislation promoting union monopoly bargaining over public employees. He thus reinforced voter concerns that he was a Big Government Republican. Credit: AP

(Source: June 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Refusal to Respond to Right to Work Survey ‘Raised Concerns’

Just a few months ago, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson was widely considered the favorite to win the GOP nomination this year for the U.S. Senate seat now held by pro-Right to Work Republican Jim Bunning, who is retiring after two terms.

A number of pundits contended that the strong support of Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator and the head of the GOP minority in the upper chamber of Congress, would practically guarantee Mr. Grayson’s nomination.

However, the Grayson campaign made serious misjudgments during the final weeks before Kentucky’s May 18 primaries.

Most important to pro-Right to Work Kentuckians, Mr. Grayson refused to pledge to oppose several of the top power grabs now being advanced on Capitol Hill by Organized Labor, the #1 pro-Big Government special-interest group in America today.

More broadly, many voters who were deeply concerned about the rapid growth in federal spending under the George W. Bush Administration as well as under the current one became convinced Mr. Grayson lacked the intestinal fortitude to fight to reduce spending from its current stratospheric level.

‘Any Genuine Opponent of Big Government Would Eagerly Oppose’ Police/Fire Scheme (more…)

Tagged with: Dale Kildee • Harry Reid • Trey Grayson
Posted in: Card Check, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, NLRB, NRTWC Newsletter, Police/Fire Monopoly Bargaining, Police/Firefighters/EMTs, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining

Backdoor Card Check

On May 18, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Craig Becker nomination to the National Labor Relations Board has a bigger impact on forced unionism than most people realize. The Wall Street Journal is an exception — they know the impact he can have on millions of Americans who do not want to be forced to join a union:

Arlen Specter’s party switch has renewed the debate over the legislative prospects for “card check,” which would effectively eliminate secret ballots in union organizing elections. But Big Labor might not even need card check if Craig Becker has his way.

Mr. Becker is one of two recent National Labor Relations Board appointments by President Obama. The five-member NLRB supervises union elections, investigates labor practices and, most important, issues rulings that interpret the National Labor Relations Act. Mr. Becker, who is currently the associate general counsel at Andy Stern’s Service Employees International Union, is all for giving unions more power over companies in elections. Only he’s not sure he needs to wait for Congress.

Current law on organizing provides advantages and restrictions for both sides. Employers are required to provide union reps with a list of employees and their addresses. Union organizers can visit employees at home, but companies cannot. Organizers can also make promises to employees (such as obtaining raises), which employers cannot. Companies can argue their position at a work site up to 24 hours before an election, but they are barred from coercing employees. Both sides get a seat at the table during NLRB hearings about the scope of an election or complaints about how it was conducted.

Mr. Becker has other ideas. In a 1993 Minnesota Law Review article, written when he was a UCLA professor, he explained that traditional notions of democracy should not apply in union elections. (more…)

Tagged with: Craig Becker • NLRB • Wall Street Journal
Posted in: Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NLRB, Organizing, Right to Work, So-called "Fair Share", So-called \"Agency Shop\"

Will Voters Reject Big Labor Arlen?

On May 11, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

In 2007, Senator Arlen Specter voted for the Card Check Forced Unionism bill when he was a Republican. Then, in 2009, he helped block the Card Check Forced Unionism bill when he was a Republican. In the first session of this congress, he announced he was going to oppose the Card Check bill as a Democrat. Now as a Democrat running for reelection he has worked overtime to carry the union boss agenda in the Senate. Now, this current posture is paying dividends as he racks up endorsements of big labor including the SEIU, the PA AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and other big labor unions.

But, it appears that rank and file voters may reject the insider deal as polls of Democrat voters now show a majority rejecting Specter.

Tagged with: Arlen Specter • Card Check
Posted in: Arbitration, Big Labor Ethics, Card Check, Card Check, Economics, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Monopoly Bargaining, NLRB, ObamaCare, Pennsylvania, Police/Fire Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Union boss power

The “Quickie” and Other Dangers

On May 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Another potential dangers of the Becker appointment to the National Labor Relations Board include: “the Board could adopt rules recognizing minority unions, implement “quickie”elections, grant unions greater access to employees for organizational purposes, restrict employer options during union campaigns and elections, recast supervisors’ roles during election campaigns, leverage neutrality/card-check agreements by overturning certain Bush Board decisions, and increase the use of mail-ballot elections.”

Posted in: Arbitration, Card Check, Card Check, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NLRB

New NLRB Made to Order For Big Labor

On April 14, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

‘Recess’ Appointee: Workers Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Reject Unions

(Source: April 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

On February 9, union lawyer Craig Becker, nominated by President Obama to fill one of three vacancies on the powerful National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), turned out to be too radical even for a number of normally pro-Big Labor U.S. senators.

Because of several union-label senators’ defections, union lobbyists and the White House fell eight Senate votes short that day of the 60 they needed to cut off Right to Work debate and bring the Becker nomination up for final consideration.

This vote was a significant victory for National Right to Work Committee members and supporters, who had led the fight against Mr. Becker since his selection was first announced last spring, and their allies.

However, top union bosses were furious that, because of well-mobilized Right to Work opposition, Big Labor Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had failed to ram through the Becker nomination.

Almost immediately, Richard Trumka, chief of the AFL-CIO union conglomerate, publicly demanded that the President circumvent the Senate and install Craig Becker on the NLRB temporarily through a “recess” appointment.

Other union bigwigs like Andy Stern, czar of the massive Service Employees International Union (SEIU), were also cheerleading for Mr. Becker. For years, Mr. Becker has served as counsel for both the SEIU union and the AFL-CIO.

Craig Becker: Union Monopoly Should Be Mandated, Even if Most Workers Don’t Want It

And on Saturday, March 27, President Obama did the bidding of the union hierarchy by recess appointing Mr. Becker, along with the other union lawyer he has nominated to the NLRB, New Yorker Mark Pearce.

“In the past, Presidents have rarely granted recess appointments to nominees who have already come up for consideration in the full Senate, and failed to be approved,” noted Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee

“But President Obama has demonstrated time and again he is extraordinarily eager to please Big Labor bosses. Craig Becker and Mark Pearce are fresh examples.”

While Mr. Becker and Mr. Pearce will very likely almost always agree on the main issues in NLRB cases, Mr. Becker differs in having a long “paper trail” that made it plain for senators and anyone else with eyes to see just how radical he is.

Three of Four Current Board Members Are Veteran Union Lawyers

“Over the years,” said Mr. Mix, “Craig Becker has publicly acknowledged believing that any employee or employer efforts to resist unionization of a workplace are unacceptable.

“For example, in one ‘labor studies’ journal article, Mr. Becker dismissed the notion that workers should have any say whatsoever, whether as individuals or collectively by secret ballot or ‘card check,’ over whether or not they are unionized.

“Federal policy should not acknowledge employees’ ‘choice to remain unrepresented,’ contended Mr. Becker.

“Their only choice, he explained, should be over which set of union officials get ‘exclusive’ power to negotiate their wages, benefits and work rules.”

Incredibly, Craig Becker and Mark Pearce are not the only union lawyers on the current, four-member NLRB.

Wilma Liebman, originally appointed to the Board by union-label President Bill Clinton and elevated to the chairmanship early last year by Barack Obama, is an ex-lawyer for the notorious Teamster union.

“Ms. Liebman, Mr. Becker, and Mr. Pearce are all expected to vote in lockstep to increase Big Labor’s monopoly-bargaining and forced-dues powers over the individual employee whenever they see an opportunity,” commented Mr. Mix.

“And this alarming pattern will continue at least until the Becker and Pearce ‘recess’ terms expire in 2011.

“Meanwhile, Right to Work supporters will do everything they can to contain the damage.

“For example, attorneys for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the Committee’s sister organization, have announced they will ask Mr. Becker to pledge to recuse himself from their clients’ cases because of his demonstrable, virulent anti-Right to Work bias.

“If Mr. Becker refuses to recuse himself, then his record of bias could in itself constitute grounds for judicial appeals of all decisions in which he joins.”

Tagged with: AFL-CIO • Andy Stern • Craig Becker • Harry Reid • Mark Pearce • Richard Trumka • SEIU
Posted in: ACORN, AFL-CIO, Economics, Exclusive Representation, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Meet and Confer, NLRB, NRTWC Newsletter, Obama Administration, Organizing, Personnel Alert, Picketing, SEIU, Section 14-B Taft-Hartley, Strike

The Becker (Dis)Appointment

On April 5, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The President’s decision to appoint radical Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board has breathed new life into the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill. No, the bill is still bottled up in the Senate but Becker can now push to have the scam enacted by fiat rather than legislation. The National Right to Work Committee is at the forefront of protecting workers from a Becker-forced unionism scheme.

Tagged with: Card Check • Craig Becker • NLRB
Posted in: AFL-CIO, Card Check, Card Check, Economics, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Forced-Unionism Abuses Exposed, Intimidation Tactics, Monopoly Bargaining, NLRB, SEIU