We’re all set to see dueling union votes this week: While the National Labor Relations Board—last seen trying to stop a Boeing plant from being built in South Carolina—is voting on a plan to speed up the process by which a workplace goes union, Congress is voting on a bill to slow down the process.
The bill in Congress wouldn't stop unions from organizing workplaces, but it would ensure that workers have time to weigh the pros and cons.
With only about 7 percent of the private sector workforce belonging to organized labor, unions are ravenous for new members.
A piece in the American Spectator explains how the rules the NRLB seeks to adopt would work:
Imagine voting in a presidential election where one candidate can campaign for a year and the other is only told he is running a week before Election Day. As absurd as that sounds, that is precisely the choice that President Obama's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is trying to impose on American workers.
The new rules would not only shorten the period in which workers decide but would hamper management’s ability to present a contrary point of view.
The Spectator explains that the NRLB is in a hurry because they need to get their regulations adopted before the end of the year, when the recess appointment of Craig Becker, an Obama appointee deemed too controversial for the normal confirmation hearing, expires.
The only Republican on the NRLB, Brian Hayes (no relation), has threatened not to show up, which would deprive the board of the necessary quorum to do business.
The best thing for the country is getting our unemployment figures down, and there are strong indications that unions do just the opposite. A study by Paul Kersey of the Mackinac Center, for example, found that between 2001 and 2006 the economies of right-to-work states grew by a 3.4 percent on average; union states saw a growth of 2.6 percent.
The right-to-work states saw an increase in jobs of 1.2% annually, while it was 0.6% for the same period in forced-union states.
The conclusion of the study is that “right-to-work laws do wonders for job creation, especially in manufacturing.”
Unions have a great history in the U.S. and we must recognize that. But in deciding whether to go union, don’t workers deserve time to hear both sides—especially at a time when the economy is struggling?
Interestingly, officials in North Carolina, a right-to-work state, are worried that the Democratic National Committee will import union workers for their convention next year. That would be less of a boom to the economy in North Carolina.
(Hat tip to Hot Air)