Government By Executive Order

I remember back when President Obama was giving a campaign speech which started with him decrying those evil Special Interests. Funny guy he is, saying this to a gathering of union members.

Gee, if Unions are not a Special Interest I don't know what is. So having not other options he will use executive powers to reward that special interest.  The unfortunate thing is I doubt the rank and file will benefit.

Government By Executive Order
A new Labor Department plan shows the president still has wide power to implement an anti-business agenda.

By JOHN FUND


Because President Obama will now have a tough time getting his liberal agenda through a more Republican Congress, many Democrats are urging him to ram it through using the executive branch's unilateral power.


John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, even issued a list of executive orders and rule-makings last month that Mr. Obama can use to "push the country to a better place." If the Department of Labor is representative, his advice is in sync with moves already under way.


On Sept. 22, Labor's Office of the Solicitor—which employs 400 attorneys to enforce the nation's labor laws—issued a draft "operating plan" to dramatically increase pressure on employers. A source inside the department says the plan has been adopted.

One tactic to be employed by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) division will be to "deter [employers] through shaming." Ms. Smith told me she didn't know what that means. But whatever it might involve, it doesn't sound appropriate for an agency charged with carrying out the law in an even-handed fashion.


• "Engage in enterprise-wide enforcement." Ms. Smith said that means targeting multiple work sites of the same company. A department source says it also is likely to involve enforcement agents from the Wage and Hour Division and from OSHA showing up at the same time. The plan also calls for "Imposing shorter deadlines for implementing remedial measures in conciliation agreements and consent decrees."


• "Engage in greater use of injunctive relief," which means using court injunctions rather than fines to enforce compliance. The department plan also wants to "identify and pursue test cases" that could stretch the meaning of the law.

All of this is in stark contrast to the approach of the previous administration. "Laws and regulations at the local, state and federal level are a dizzying array of sometimes conflicting requirements," Elaine Chao, the secretary of labor from 2001 to 2009, told me. "The best way to protect workers is to help employers understand their legal obligations and promote collaborative working relationships between employers and workers on safety and other issues."



FULL ARTICLE

Airport Security Can Get Worse

What more do we need to just clog up the whole TSA works?


UNIONS

How to Make Air Travel More Infuriating
If you think TSA is dysfunctional and unpopular now, wait until it unionizes.

. . . if you think TSA is dysfunctional and unpopular now, wait until it unionizes. This month, the Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled that 50,000 TSA personnel will be allowed to vote on whether or not to join a union with full collective bargaining rights.


After 9/11, Congress wisely decided to forbid TSA employees from coming under union work rules out of fear that it could compromise security. Imagine if every change in procedures had to be cleared with union shop stewards. While it is not easy to fire TSA personnel now, just think how difficult it will be to remove bad employees if they are covered by union job protection agreements.


But in 2007, the new Democratic Congress eliminated the ban on collective bargaining, and as soon as Barack Obama became president in 2009 his appointees began pushing unionization for TSA. Last year, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano admitted in Congressional testimony that she backs collective bargaining rights for TSA employees, overriding the considered judgment of all previous TSA administrators that such rights are at cross-purposes with the flexibility TSA needs to meet certain threats.

Why didn't we use private contractors in the first place?


John Mica of Florida, the new GOP chair of the House Transportation Committee, told me last month that we should have followed the advice of Israeli security experts and used private contractors and psychological tests to counteract terrorism in the wake of 9/11. At least one busy airport -- Orlando International -- is preparing to dump TSA in favor of a private security company, which is allowed under an opt-out provision in the federal law governing airport security. "Having TSA going towards unionization is just the wrong way to go," said Mr. Mica.



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