As Congress debates whether to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, one government agency has declared a key feature of the legislation “unreliable.” The Washington Times reports that the Legal Services Corp., which provides grants to legal-aid groups that help the poor, has determined that the card check method of organizing is flawed. In fact, it rejected an effort by some of its workers to organi... Read more »
There are better ways to protect American workers than the Employee Free Choice Act. Writing in the conservative opinion journal Human Events, Republican Reps. John Kline of Minnesota and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington spell out the act’s numerous flaws and present a positive alternative designed to truly empower workers. The piece is one in a compilation of articles highlighting GOP solutio... Read more »
It’s hard to imagine worse news to kick off Labor Day Weekend. The national unemployment rate reached 9.7 percent in August, the Labor Department reported today. That’s up from 9.4 percent in July and it’s the worst rate in 26 years. And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. “Analysts generally believe that economic output began rising by late summer. But new Labor Department data released Fr... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican Member, today delivers the weekly Republican address on the Democrats’ health care legislation moving through Congress “like a runaway freight train.” In his address, Kline calls on congressional Democrats and President Obama to “press the reset button” and pursue commonsense, bipartisan solutions that will fi... Read more »
The U.S. Department of Labor reported this morning a loss of 216,000 jobs in the month of August, bringing the national unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.7 percent. Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s top Republican, issued the following statement: “This morning’s jobs report proves what struggling American families already know – the American economy is f... Read more »
You know eliminating the secret ballot is a bad idea when even card check’s biggest backers start cooling off to the assault on worker’s rights. Richard Trumka, the next president of the AFL-CIO, has indicated his union could live with a version of the Employee Free Choice Act that drops the heinous “card check” provision of the bill, which can leave workers open to intimidation. The AFL-CIO has b... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s Senior Republican, was joined by House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) in requesting public release of President Barack Obama’s upcoming national address to elementary and secondary school students. Citing the importance of parental involvement and transparency in education, the lawmakers sent a le... Read more »
There’s more than one reason to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. There’s its notorious ability to set aside secret ballots for workers through “card check,” of course. But there are other aspects of the bill – and of supposed “compromises” that drop the “card check” provision and replace it with other misguided changes to workplaces rules – that are equally troubling. In an essay for The News ... Read more »
Even if supporters dropped the “card check” provision of the Employee Free Choice Act, it would still be inhospitable to the economy. That’s what George Glover says in a Monday essay for The Tampa Tribune. Glover knows a thing or two about hospitality. He’s the chairman and CEO of the BayStar Hotel Group, which develops, acquires, operates, and sells hotels in the southeastern United States. Here’... Read more »
It’s been a quiet summer for card check – and here’s hoping it stays that way. The Employee Free Choice Act has been in legislative limbo since the spring as Democrats try to rally 60 votes to stop a possible filibuster if the proposal ever comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Since then, there have been rumors and hints of “card check lite,” a compromise version of the bill that, theoretically, ... Read more »
