In the latest outrage to Republicans, President Obama announced today that he planned to make THREE recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board. The Board had been at risk of failing to meet a quorum due to Senate Republicans blocking all action to and from the board in response to the frivolous action of the NLRB towards Boeing due to their attempts to open a factory in South Carolina, a right-to-work state.
While that complaint was dropped after a deal was reached between Boeing and the Aerospace Workers Union, the NLRB has justifiably been a prime target for Senate Republicans. Created in 1937 by FDR, the NLRB is tasked with preventing any practice they deem ‘unfair’ to labor organizations. While there may have been a need for such an organizational board, the time has long since past.
“President Obama’s recess appointments of Richard Griffin and Sharon Block to the National Labor Relations Board are an incredible giveaway to Big Labor. This White House has demonstrated beyond question that it places greater importance on paying back union bosses than creating jobs and turning around the economy,” said Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). “What is particularly galling is that the nominations of Griffin and Block are just days old, and in spite of that, Obama has engaged in a power grab that is constitutionally suspect. Obama’s recess appointments of Griffin and Block go against statements made by his own vice president and Department of Justice and are another reminder that this administration takes its direction from labor bosses not American workers and small businesses.”
With right-to-work states across the country successfully combating the effects of the recession, particularly Virginia, the need for national right-to-work legislation is at a high. This attempt by President Obama to circumvent the will of the Senate (again, see Obamacare) is simple procrastination and a political ploy to pander to the unions, an outfit desperately needed for his reelection bid come November. While it’s been no secret that the unions are disenchanted with Obama’s labor policies, this political tact is prolonging the inevitable.
Since the recession, Virginia’s right-to-work policies have seen a net gain in jobs under the conservative leadership of Governor Bob McDonnell. Northrop Grumman relocated it’s North American headquarters to Virginia over Maryland in large part due to the business-friendly environment, particularly the right-to-work legislation in the Commonwealth. States like Tennessee, Florida, Texas, South Carolina and others have weathered the recession with smaller increases in unemployment, lower cost of living and higher migration to states like these with right-to-work legislation in place. Meanwhile, union states have seen record unemployment, job outsourcing and rampant cost of living problems.
Virginia is one of twenty one states that is a right-to-work state. Montana, Indiana and New Hampshire are all at different stages of considering right-to-work laws in their states. Given the economic situation in the country, the role of the NLRB needs to shift away from protecting outdated and unnecessary union membership and toward employment freedom and choice. These three appointments by Obama flout the will of the Senate, which till this point had successfully blocked any further considerations for appointments to this outdated board.
With the election of a Republican president in 2012, hopefully the NLRB can get back to fixing the state of employment in this country, rather than protecting and coddling unions.
