The Patriot Post® · New Labor Dept. Rule Is a Double Standard

For employers who don’t feel compelled to unionize, the government is doubling down on their ability to keep Big Labor from calling the shots. According to The New York Times, “The Labor Department on Wednesday released the final version of a rule requiring employers to disclose relationships with the consultants they hire to help persuade workers not to form a union or support a union’s collective bargaining position. The department said the rule … is necessary because workers are frequently in the dark about who is trying to sway them when they exercise their labor rights.”

This argument is a bunch of hooey for two reasons. One, union laws make it harder for employers to exercise their rights. Just because someone is the head of a private company doesn’t mean they aren’t entitled to the same constitutional rights as the rest of us. If a worker has a problem with their boss’s leadership and virtue (or lack thereof), they’re free to be employed elsewhere. Two, those claiming this rule levels the playing field are flat out wrong. Why? Because unions contrive their power grabs using their own devilish tactics. Hot Air blogger Jazz Show highlights a perfect example from right here in Chattanooga:

> One of the biggest examples in recent history was the fight by the UAW to unionize the workers at the Chattanooga VW plant. … I was down there on the ground in Chattanooga for large portions of that fight and I can tell you that the union advocates (who were not employees at the plant, by the way, but paid UAW staffers sent in from outside) were everywhere. They freely went in and out of the plant, speaking to not only the workers, but the management. They showed up in local bars buying rounds of drinks and talking up the UAW. They were lobbying the heck out of everyone in the state legislature and pitching to every local news reporter who would give them the time of day. Were they required to “disclose” the identity and activities of all these people? Of course not. They could simply run roughshod over the locals, pretending they were simply concerned citizens. The deck is stacked in favor of the unions in Washington and the NLRB in its current form works as their handmaidens. It’s frankly amazing that there are any Right to Work states in the country at all.

In other words, Labor’s directive isn’t so much “for the workers” as it is “for the unions,” which overwhelmingly back Democrats in election cycles. A fair deal would have made these requirements applicable to both parties. Instead, government officials are forcing their interests on everyone else. Odd considering the government is constantly accusing bosses of getting into their workers’ private affairs.