In reading the summary of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making from the National Labor Relations Board, one is struck by the apparent irrelevancy of the union movement in the United States.
They are trying to streamline the process in order to, in their words, “rebuild the middle class” by limiting delays in the essential “right to vote.” (See also the National Review Online)
Most union elections are conducted within a month or six weeks after union organizers file their petition for a vote; during the interim, employers have the chance to make their case against unionization, if they so choose. Under the fast-track votes contemplated by the new NLRB guidelines, that time would be reduced to less than three weeks, possibly as little as ten days.
Most of the process will be streamlined as a result of this rule going into effect, and most rational people should have no problem with this new rule.
The problem is that the union movement is not going to be appreciably helped by this rule, nor will the middle class be rebuilt as a result. The unions only represent 7.6% of the private workforce and 36% of the public workforce.
This is simply an attempt to bring service sector jobs into the middle class. A tall order, even in good economic times, but a dubious one in today’s almost double-dip recessionary economy with 9.1% unemployment. Not to mention hiring is at a stand still.
Making it easier for workers to join a union will not solve what ails the dwindling middle class. Companies today are making money largely due to massive productivity gains while driving out every conceivable cost.
What is disconcerting about the NLRB’s talking points is that it ascribes any opposition to the proposed rule as being based on “pure politics.”
Wrong.
Opposition to this rule is based on economics.
Streamlining the process will not help the economy. It will only help companies make the decision whether or not to relocate middle class jobs in a more timely manner.
NLRB, in this rule, also acknowledges that costly, frivolous lawsuits hurt the unions efforts to get anything done in a timely manner. This must be uncomfortable for their ideological friends in other areas of our economy.
Cynics will argue that this is just a payback for SEIU’s support of the Obama nomination effort, and it would be tough to suggest otherwise.
The reality is that the union movement is dying due to age demographics and state finances. Which is unfortunate. Unions have a place in an economy and have done a great deal to protect workers. Employers have caught up to the fact that the protection and care of their employees is in their inherent best interest, thus making joining a union obsolete in much of the private sector.
This rule will do little to change that. The NLRB’s rule will go into effect along with other regulatory actions of this administration. They carry the force of law and cause businesses to spend a great deal of time and money to comply. Money which would be better suited being invested in those businesses so that they can grow and hire more people.
But, apparently, suggesting otherwise is “pure politics”.
Since the NLRB is devoid of “pure politics”, their actions, vis-a-vis Boeing’s attempt to build airplanes in South Carolina, are hard to explain and further injure their efforts to “rebuild the middle class.”
