Posted by Labor Law Guy | Posted on 04-02-2010
Category : Collective Bargaining/Unions, Federal Labor Law
Tags: Craig Becker, Scott Brown
Craig Becker, subject of a few posts here lately because of his views (since semi-renounced for confirmation's purposes) regarding legislating labor law from the bench of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), saw his nomination affirmed today by a party-line vote of 13-10 in the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
It was the Democrats' goal to rush through all controversial appointments before newly elected Massachusetts GOP Senator Scott Brown could be seated (set for Nov. 11 originally), but Brown has now moved up his seating to today at 5 p.m., affording Republicans a 41-vote front to stop the Senate in its tracks through filibuster.
Does this mean Becker will be filibustered out of his appointment?
In three words: "I hope so."
Posted by Labor Law Guy | Posted on 22-01-2010
Category : Random Musings
Tags: AFL-CIO, EFCA, Scott Brown
A Hart Research Associates poll, conducted for the AFL-CIO, found that 49 percent of union members in Massachusetts voted this past Tuesday for Republican Scott Brown. Union-backed Democrat Martha Coakley garnered 46 percent of the union vote.
AFL-CIO spokespersons quickly attributed the result to weakness in the Democratic candidate, not to any referendum on Obama or the Democratic agenda in Washington, D.C.
Uh, huh….
Further polling of union members, this time regarding the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), showed a similar disconnect between union leaders and union members.
This month new polling showed that 66 percent of union households oppose changing the bargaining process in unionization, which EFCA would do; 51 percent of union households oppose changing the way unions are formed, which EFCA would do; and 77 percent of all voters, as well as 77 percent of union households oppose a government arbitrator having the final say in determining contract terms, which EFCA would do.
Still, union leaders are predicting passage of the EFCA sometime this year, loss of the Democratic super-majority in the Senate not withstanding.
Uh, huh….
