Political Hay
Hands Off Big Labor
Government oversight of unions is the only area where the Obama administration favors budget cuts and less regulation.
The Obama administration has delivered a strong message to crooked union bosses everywhere: happy days are here again.
On Thursday President Obama, who has pledged to usher in a new era of fiscal responsibility, touted $17 billion in proposed cuts to his $3.4 trillion budget. The media noted that about half of the reductions came out of the defense budget, but lost in most reports is the fact that the administration also slashed funding for the only entity in government tasked with policing unions.
Under the leadership of Secretary Elaine Chao from 2001 through this January, the Labor Department beefed up the Office of Labor-Management Standards. During this time, the division’s actions led to 929 convictions of corrupt union officials and to the recovery of more than $93 million on behalf of union members. Yet the Obama administration has proposed slashing the unit’s budget by more than 9 percent, from $45 million in 2009 to $41 million in 2010.
Funding for the agency, which was created in 1959 as part of legislation to root out union corruption, represents a tiny fraction of the projected $13.3 billion 2010 Labor Department budget.
It would be one thing if the reduction were part of a broader belt-tightening throughout the Department of Labor, but the administration boosted funding for the Wage and Hour Division, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration - all of which regulate businesses.
“The administration is cutting the budget of the only agency in government that monitors labor union activity, while at the same time ratcheting up the budget of all other enforcement agencies against employers,” Chao told TAS in reaction to the news.
The OLMS budget cuts come on the heels of a recent decision by the Labor Department to loosen union financial disclosure rules, a blow to transparency that will make it more difficult for union members to examine the finances of the organizations to which they are paying dues, as well as the conflicts of interest of labor leaders.
The Obama administration’s hands-off policy toward big labor should not come as much of a surprise. Unions played a key role in Obama’s election by helping him with fundraising and organizing, and his choice for Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, has a cozy relationship with unions.
Solis was first elected to Congress in 2000 as a union candidate, and as a member of the House of Representatives from 2001 until this year, she racked up perfect or near perfect vote ratings from every major union. She also served as treasurer of American Rights at Work, a pro-labor group that maintained the “Shame on Elaine” attack website aimed at her predecessor, Chao.
In its justification for the OLMS cut, the Obama administration asserted that, “Since 2001, OLMS’ budget has increased by almost 50 percent, without commensurate increases in workload.”
But Don Todd, deputy assistant secretary at OLMS from 2001 through this January, dismissed the Obama administration’s claim.
“They’re just talking through their hats,” Todd said “They’re trying to justify the unjustifiable, and that is they don’t want oversight of unions.”
During the Clinton administration, the staff of the division dwindled by more than a quarter and the number of audits performed on unions dropped 70 percent.
“From 1992 to 2000, the Office of Labor-Management Standards was significantly weakened to the point where it couldn’t carry out its legislative function - to protect the rights of rank and file members,” Chao said.
During Chao’s time at the Department of Labor, the number of audits that the agency performed on unions went up roughly fourfold from where they were by the end of the Clinton administration.
About the Author
Philip Klein is The American Spectator’s Washington correspondent. You can follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/Philipaklein
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Appleby| 5.8.09 @ 7:14AM
If you want a ready-made, loyal army of Black Shirts, you cannot do better than the union thugocracy. Obama knows that to complete his takeover of the country and install himself as President for Life, his teenaged thug army will not be enough; he will need a ready-made gang who will march for him.
And how long will this go on while his Groupies scream, faint and fall at his feet, waiting for the shower of goodies he promised if only they would bow to him?
Jay| 5.8.09 @ 7:20AM
Of course the democrats want the unions to be unpoliced. Cracking heads and threatening prospective members all bring more money to democrat coffers.
Arguably unions are the next last bastion of endemic, pervasive, corruption. The other being the US Congress.
Darin| 5.8.09 @ 7:37AM
The best way to maintain power is to keep the voting base happy. Union members vote Democrat. The itch has been scratched.
Big J| 5.8.09 @ 8:13AM
Reminds me of the old James Brown song, "The Big Payback"
"Hey, gotta get back!
The big payback!
Need some gitback!"
Also, another famous ranter:
Non-union's chickenzzzz......
Are coming home.......
To rooosssst!
Pingback| 5.8.09 @ 10:35AM
Obama Signals: Hands Off Big Labor « Peace and Freedom Promises links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Old Texican| 5.8.09 @ 11:59AM
First, I want to Thank the founders of The Spectator for encouraging and publishing comments from we readers. Many of the comments are quite an invigorating follow on to the obviously well written articles.
Well, some of the comments are stupid, but even those help us understand the mindsets and opinions of our adversaries.
Something else that occurs to me: Our adversaries CERTAINLY do not understand our mind-sets and and thoughts. We are talking, (writing), right past them...totally.
That is very good!
The clowns in DC now have it all their way. They can once and for all demonstrate just how utterly stupid they truly are.
Yeah, right now our tasks are simple. 1. Survive 2. Sacrifice 3. Win and prosper.
THE WHEELS WILL COME OFF THEIR CRAZY CARTS, with lots of attendant suffering and loss. Wars are always like that. Suffering and loss on both sides.
Make no mistake about it, we "Right down the Center" Constitutionalists have had war declared against us. We have to come together if we are going to win that war. These days the primary battlefields are
1. Culture: (faith in God and ourselves vs. amoral hedonism.)
2. Fiscal destruction: (making us dependent on government for our daily bread...literally.)
3. PRAVDA: (A media that tells lies proclaiming truth.)
The battlefields may shift as time goes by, or more properly stated, "proliferate" into more and more battlefields. As Ben Franklin stated, " we must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately." (or words to that effect.)
Pingback| 5.8.09 @ 12:04PM
Obama’s Message To America: Hands Off Big Labor « Romanticpoet’s Weblog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
1Freeman| 5.8.09 @ 2:08PM
An honest pay for an honest day's work.
Everybody has heard that but it is not something Unions, corrupt union bosses or the average laborer wants to hear. Corrupt unions are the scourge of freedom everywhere. Greedy corporations and their labor camps were the reason unions started but that stuff has not happened for decades. Unions have become the new mafia and they know it. Death threats for people who just want to work and not cripple companies, fighting for unfair pay and benefits, sabotaging industry at the petty level of destroying equipment and illegal walk-outs to the outright destruction of entire companies. UNIONS ARE THE NEW MAFFIA!
Labor and their unions have been the scourge of humanity from way back in Russia when they seized power of the government and ushered in 60 years of mass murder and suffering. Communism is the dream of Labor!
Men and Women willing to hurt anyone or destroy anything to get a paycheck and benefits they have no right to are the worst kind of human crawling on this planet... and they know it!
melvin polatnick| 5.8.09 @ 3:52PM
Labor unions are great if you are lucky enough to belong to a strong one. Getting paid 50 bucks an hour while non-union labor is working for minimum wages is a blessing. Unfortunately most Americans do not belong to a good union and have to beg their boss for a raise.
Marc Jeric| 5.8.09 @ 4:22PM
Show me a strong union and I will show you a dead or dying industry. This is not an axiom that is mostly right - it is 100% right, without exception. Steel, automobile, textile, electronics - and of course education - are examples of this axiom.
ACORN brownshirts plus union mafia bosses - Abu Hussein is ready for not two 4-year terms but for ulimited presidency - just wait for the new constitutional amendement!
MJBrutus| 5.8.09 @ 4:35PM
Marc Jeric,
"Show me a strong union and I will show you a dead or dying industry"
While your rule is a good one, there some notable exceptions. I am referring of course to government unions! While quality of education is near catastrophic, for example, the government teaching industry is doing just fine, with bloated budgets and all the rest.
Peter| 5.8.09 @ 5:51PM
We have truly put ourselves in a position where through this and other measures the Democrats are consolidating their power to an unprecedented degree and creating a situation that will ensure a huge and permanent role for government whose constituents owe their allegiance to the Democratic Party. The mainstream media ignores the massive corruption and hyprocrisy emanting from the Democratic Party, glosses over the debts Obama and Congress are creating that will burden multi generations, fails to point out the contradictions and outright distortions uttered daily by the Administration and Dem leaders and shows no interest in investigating the incompetence and naivate already showing itself in the handling of the economy as well as foreign policy.
On the other hand, there seems to be no Republican leader capable of articulating these points and creating a real narrative the American public can understand.
We are doomed.
Pingback| 5.8.09 @ 5:52PM
Capital Research Center: links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Jack| 5.8.09 @ 7:25PM
As an officer in a Local Union, I have no problem with government oversight. Organized Labor is one of the (if not the) highest regulated groups in the nation. Two years ago, OLMS conducted a random audit of our Local, found absolutely nothing wrong and complimented us on the quality of our record keeping. The problem that I do have as is that the DOL is supposed to do more than police unions. It is also charged with policing employers. During the Chao years, it was pretty difficult to get the Wage and Hour division to enforce minimum wage, overtime and misclassification of workers violations. I think what we are seeing from the Obama Administration is a shift in policy from strongly favoring business over workers to being a little more balanced.
Craig Milum| 5.8.09 @ 10:07PM
“On the other hand, there seems to be no Republican leader capable of articulating these points and creating a real narrative the American public can understand. We are doomed.”
Have you watched and listened to Jeb Bush lately? He actually can express himself better and in a more likable manner than The One. In a side by side debate, he would likely come across as the more likable to the majority. Plus he seems to have thought through the issues well and actually can connect with and influence people (voters).
Old Texican| 5.8.09 @ 10:15PM
Chao years? I don't know who Chao is.
Join a union...kill a company...starve when they lay you off...or go to work for the brownshirts (uh powder blue shirts) and get shot.
Not very good choices, huh?
Government (teachers unions) are a different animal. We tax payers cover the cost of them doing nothing except the rare few who love to teach.
joe| 5.16.10 @ 12:33AM
I don't know who Chao is.
You're kidding, right?
Brian| 5.8.09 @ 11:44PM
Will you be a lousy scab or will you be a man?
IMKessel| 5.9.09 @ 12:13AM
Please pardon the interuption.
A response for Mr. A Brooks' posting (Alan Brooks| 5.8.09 @ 3:09AM)
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/05/07/judged-in-advance#comment_54228
Mr. Brooks, Alan, if I may, thank you your kind words.
America is undergoing a serious challenge, and admittedly, I do fear that she will be damaged for years to come, but I refuse to give into cynicism or lower my own ethical standards. I am not too different than the average American. Most Americans follow biblical ethics; the very reason shifty Americans, from Obama to Maddoff to Pelosi et al, so stand out is because they are without moral tethering. If I may, I borrow from James Agee, A Death in the Family:
See here...it's bad enough now but it's going to take a while to sink in. When it really sinks in it's going to be any amount worse. It'll be so much worse you'll think it's more than you can bear. Or any other human being. And worse than that, you'll have to go through it alone, because there isn't a thing on earth any of us can do to help, beyond blind animal sympathy.
That's why you're going to need very ounce of common sense you've got. Just spunk won't be enough; you've got to have gumption. You've got to bear it in mind that nobody ever lived is specially privileged; the axe can fall at any moment, on any neck, without any warning or any regard for justice. You've got to keep your mind off pitying your own rotten luck and setting up any kind of a howl about it. You've got to remember that things as bad as this and a hell of a lot worse have happened to millions of people before and that they've come through it and that you will too. You'll bear it because there isn't any choice--except to go to pieces. You've got two children to take care of. And regardless of that you owe it to yourself and you owe it to him.
...it's kind of a test, Mary, and it's the only kind that amounts to anything. When something rotten like this happens. Then you have your choice. You start to really be alive, or you start to die. That's all. (End Quotes)
Our innocence was last long ago. Occasionally, America likes to act coy as a school girl and put on the pretense of innocence, but innocence died with Kennedy. Naivety wasted away under Johnson. Innocence abroad no longer. Nor at home.
We have been tested before and we have come through it. We were pained but we arose stronger than before. Do not despair. Gird yourself in rightful thought and action. The average American is a moral agent, imperfect in every aspect but striving.
Lastly, if optimism is a virtue, the American people still have that.
Moev| 5.9.09 @ 12:25AM
You guys are the biggest hacks. I know you know that.
hoosierliberal| 5.9.09 @ 12:51AM
Good morning! Just thought I'd drop by to say hi. I'm college educated, pay my taxes, give my fair share to charity, have a nice kid and wife, live in a nice house with good neighbors and love the United States. I vote in every election (the wrong way according to you guys) and even believe in God. I spoil our dog rotten. I revere my elderly parents. I do not drink or smoke, and do not own a gun, although I respect other's rights to do so. I am a UAW thug.
peter| 5.9.09 @ 1:37AM
hoosierliberal,
as you profess that you are college educated, why are you dedicating you and your families life and livelihood for the sake of the UAW that has single handidly destroyed the U.S. car industry???? The UAW sucks our wallet dry and now folds like a house of cards whining for bailouts, unheard of when SUV's were king!!! I for one am grateful that the UAW kiss my ass as they finally get it that we can't afford their junk.
Parker| 5.9.09 @ 1:52AM
Good evening UAW thug. Glad you are a nice guy and have a nice family and all - but your competition is beating your socks off in quality and innovation, and has willing workers who are thankful to make 50-60K without going to college.
Would you rather have a semi-skilled assembly job at $35-40 an hour or no job at $100 an hour?
Just asking.
The UAW has priced itself out of the market.
Obama cannot make lemonade out of these lemons.
Pingback| 5.9.09 @ 1:53AM
Obamaâs Message To America: Hands Off Big Labor | acorn 8 links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Michael L. Hauschild| 5.9.09 @ 7:33AM
Let us see where the public buys their vehicles. The sales totals will of course be skewed by all those vehicles with Government plates. You know the ones on with the unchangeable flat tires due to the lack of OSHA car jack inspectors on strike.
A Nation Fooled into poverty| 5.9.09 @ 8:29AM
Old Texan.
You sound great, but you first hav to face reality, most of American Jobs have gone to China, and else where. The next 10 years, if we survive will be the hardest the developed world will have faced in the last 100 years.
Un-edmplyment will continue to rise, perhaps one month may be less than another, now and again but the trend will be more unemployment across the USA, and Europe.
Americans have been fooled, god bless those who bless Israel and curse those against Israel, America is signed up to protect an out post of Pagans, who does not believe in Christ or God. If God was blessing you and your country, explain why America is in so much debt and even the Banks are failing, your economy has been surpassed by China, and your very survival depend on the Chinese, who have no respect for human rights.
While Americans rely on soup kitchens to feed their children and the levels of poverty is growing at a rate of 3.5% year on year.
Steven Burgess| 5.9.09 @ 9:16AM
According to most people commenting on this story, we need to break the union's so we can lower paid and the standard of living to the people who get their hands dirty. To make free trade work, business and government must get rid of union to lower the hourly wage in the US so American workers can compete with people making $1.50 an hour, instead of raising poor people wages around the world. The end result is a life style akin to say Mexico. Can't wait.
Pingback| 5.9.09 @ 10:14AM
Morning Conservative Reading List - May 9, 2009 - AIP Blog - American Issues Project links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
IMKessel| 5.9.09 @ 10:19AM
Mr. Burgess makes a fine point. Conservatives, especially Republicans, often appear insensitive to the needs of the “common man.” (Democrats use their propaganda engines to reinforce this stereotype; comments posted here are used as weapons against us, yet few of us here are truly against any person receiving a fair paycheck for actually working.) Unions, in and of themselves, are not destructive to the economy; they were founded to counterbalance unfair trade practices of unfettered (and self-defeating) capitalists. (Adam Smith, the Father of Capitalism, was a moral theorist and would have been disgusted by the treatment of labor during America's rise to world power.) Capitalism works best when both labor and economic providers work through their disputes dispassionately and logically. The entire equation is changed when outside agents, such as governments, become involved.
The death of America’s Big Three cannot be hung on labor alone, though they certainly have done their share of damage. American politicians allowed other countries, especially Japan, to subsidize their auto manufacturers; this lead to a non-level playing field. While free trade is a vital component in keeping the global economy flowing, the free trade must also be fair trade or someone ends up being screwed. (Too often it was the American interests and consumers on the receiving end of the imbalance.) Management also has to take responsibility for the slow demise. The true strength of capitalism is not the free flow of money, but the innovation and energy that entrepreneurs bring. American car manufacturers stop being cutting edge long ago. Lastly, through over aggressive and short sighted taxation, our government interfered with and diluted the power of capitalism. (And it is getting worse daily.)
In short, labor, government and management all have made egregious choices that have led America to where she is today. And despite our current leadership, we all have a vested interest in righting this ship. The solutions can be found. As the Japanese businessman is fond of saying, “Don’t fix the blame, fix the problem.”
Tim| 5.9.09 @ 11:08AM
There is a huge disconnect between the "Union Leadership" and the "Union Rank and File" which makes the rift between the Vatican and the Roman Catholic rank and file seem like a marriage made in heaven.
When polled most Union Rank and File members do not trust their leadership and know that the game is rigged in favor of the high rollers and the labor leaders spending their day on the golf course conspiring with the union employers for more of the same corrupt anti worker policies.
So while it is clear that Obama wants to cement his standing with organized labor by relaxing the reporting rules and the Department of Labor staf.
which is designed for the labor leaders to be able to legally hide and spend more union dues money on corrupt pet projects or on stock options for themselves and their family members.
The other ugly truth is that it appears that the Unions will not get their coveted card check scheme to eliminate the individual secret ballot vote in union elections. Even Obama is smart enough to know that to openly eliminate the right to someone's secret ballot vote will have a huge backlash for him and his party come 2010 especially if it is signed into law by a black president.
You are out of step| 5.9.09 @ 11:22AM
Worring about the Union, you are about 10 years too late. Most industry in America has closed down gone to China. The rest hs gone to India. America is left with the monopoly of wars. Killed or be killed.
If you people could only get off the Drugs, you would be able to keep in step of the times.
Barbara| 5.10.09 @ 12:02AM
The unions are currently being fueled by corporate leadership that has no connection with the rank-and-file worker. Senior management has no clue about the costs of everyday items, the cost of health care, the cost of college education for children on the salaries of their average worker. Like the rich man who was advised by his pastor that he had to eat rich foods rather than bread and water, or he'd think the poor could live on stones since he himself managed on little, they make so many times the salary of their average employee, that they have no 'empathy'. This is where the discussion of the supreme court nominee is coming from.
There is no question that the unions are partly culpable in the demise of the auto industry, but the management, which sought and seeks to enrich itself without sharing the take, is the source of the impetus for the unions. In various industries, while continuing to award themselves huge bonuses and perks, they've managed to strip their non-union staff of their defined benefit retirement plans - there was no union to block it.
Pingback| 5.10.09 @ 6:16AM
Topics about Fairtrade-fashion » The American Spectator : Hands Off Big Labor links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Angel| 5.10.09 @ 7:35PM
The Teachers' Unions have destroyed education in our country. They don't give a damn about our children. Liberals ruin everything they touch.
Ray| 5.11.09 @ 11:22AM
We've come full circle. The Unions were formed because of lax government oversight of business, coupled with corruption, while ignoring the rights and need of the workers. Now these same unions have become corrupt businesses in their own right and are now experiencing lax government oversight while refusing to allow transparency which leads, directly, to them ignoring the needs and rights of their own members.
Full Circle! The unions themselves have become the very things they hated the most about business when they first formed. They've become corrupted, unregulated, and unaccountable! It looks like the Chinese were right about hatred when they warned us that hatred is a curse for you invariably become that which you hate the most.
American Hero | 5.12.09 @ 1:49AM
Hands Off Big Labor
For once I, thankfully, don't even need to read your, undoubtedly, shitty article. KUDOS!
Pingback| 5.12.09 @ 11:07AM
Steynian 354 « Free Canuckistan! links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.12.09 @ 5:22PM
Told you so……. « Mrcauser’s Weblog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 1:49AM
Topics about Fairtrade » Archive » The American Spectator : Hands Off Big Labor links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 7:57AM
Steynian 354 | acorn 8 links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 5.13.09 @ 8:28AM
Right to Work Blog » Blog Archive » Hands Off Corrupt Labor Bosses links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 9.21.09 @ 11:31AM
Despina Karras » Post Topic » Morning Conservative Reading List – May 9, 2009 links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: