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more than eight years, the National Labor Relations Board has been
the AFL-CIO's secret weapon. Even now, right under President Bush's
nose, the Clinton holdovers on the NLRB have issued a flurry of
rulings that further increase union power at the expense of individual
rights. Does the White House's domestic team have the stomach to
do anything about it?
The president
has the power today to make four nominations — three Republicans
and one Democrat — on the five-member board. Yet the White
House has not yet chosen to use its leverage, instead making only
two nominations: those of Republican Alex Acosta and Democrat Dennis
Walsh.
Walsh is already
on the board, having been handed a recess appointment at the same
time that Clinton handed out pardons to donors, crooks, and relatives.
Over the past 11 months, Walsh has helped mastermind the most extreme
anti-employee rulings issued by the labor board in years.
For example,
the Democrat majority ruled that non-union employees can be required
to wear union propaganda as a job condition. In so doing, the NLRB
quashed a case brought by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys
on behalf of a BellSouth technician forced to wear a union patch
on his work uniform. Thanks to union shills like Walsh, employees
can now be fired for refusing to serve as walking union billboards.
In another
case, Walsh and his cohorts ruled that union officials are not liable
when their negligence in operating an exclusive hiring hall causes
financial harm. The NLRB's victim, Joe Jacoby, had been denied weeks
of wages because a union negligently failed to refer him a job he
had coming. Thus, according to the NLRB, when a union's carelessness
harms an innocent victim, there is no recourse an immunity enjoyed
by no other institution or business in America.
And Walsh's merry band of Clinton holdovers continues to bend over
backwards to force union "representation" on employees
who overwhelmingly reject it. In one case, the NLRB ignored the
wishes of 183 of 235 employees who petitioned to free themselves
from unwanted union affiliation. (The company had been accused,
though not found guilty, of unfair labor practices.)
Walsh has also
voted to let union militants videotape replacement workers, their
vehicles, and their license plates. Union officials use this tactic
to identify and potentially target non-striking workers for retaliation.
Thankfully, he was voted down.
In apparent
ignorance of Walsh's disturbing record, someone persuaded Bush last
month to nominate him to a new three-year term. At the same time,
the President has not yet attempted to place a Republican majority
on the NLRB — much less a majority that will fight the excesses
of forced unionism.
Earlier this
week, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle declared the nomination
of Eugene Scalia for Labor Department Solicitor dead. According
to the National Right to Work Committee, the foundation's sister
organization, this action makes it even more obvious that the White
House needs to get tough. That's why the committee late last week
called upon President Bush to immediately withdraw the nomination
of Dennis Walsh before Daschle makes good on his promise to bring
the nomination to a floor vote over Republican objections. Otherwise,
Republicans may face the embarrassment of filibustering a Bush nominee.
It's hard to
understand why the White House is underestimating the severity of
the NLRB situation. If siding with 80 percent of the American people
who oppose forced unionism isn't reason enough to do take action,
then perhaps the White House should consider self-preservation.
Union operatives spent more than $800 million in forced union dues
to defeat Bush and other Republicans last year, and according to
statements made from the AFL-CIO convention in Las Vegas this week,
they intend to come back next year with guns blazing.
Many on Capitol
Hill understand what needs to be done. Georgia Republican congressman
Charlie Norwood remarked in a congressional hearing last month that
"the best way to describe the support the NLRB gives to workers
attempting to uphold their constitutional rights is that it is
like the support a rope gives to a hanging man."
Kicking out
the Clinton NLRB is a necessary step toward freeing America's working
people from Big Labor's tyranny. It's high time for the White House
to act.
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