Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Legislation That Could Impact US Labor Relations Law in 2009


Legislative Agenda Could Impact Labor Relations


Over at HumanEvents.com, which bills itself as the "Headquarters of the Conservative Underground", they have posted this weeks Top 10 list. It is good reading for human resources professionals.


Top 10 Things On Big Labor's Agenda


In addition to the notorious “card-check” provision that strips union members of their right to a secret ballot, this bill also provides for increased penalties for employers who commit allegedly unfair labor practices. These increased penalties include treble damages and civil penalties of up to $20,000.


2. Repeal of Section 14(b) of Taft-Hartley

Repeal of this section 14 of the Taft-Hartley Act would take from states the right to enact right-to-work laws.



Bills sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (D.-Conn.) in the last Congress proposed creation of an insurance system to provide for paid family medical leave and an expansion of the employers covered by the act.



This proposal is a response to the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. decision, in which the Supreme Court said that the 180-day statute of limitations for equal pay lawsuits begins on the date the pay was agreed to. The Lilly Ledbetter Act would re-start the statute of limitations each time that a paycheck was received.


5. Minimum Wage Hike

Barack Obama’s website promises to “raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011.”


6. Patriot Employer Act

This bill imposes tax increases on companies that have major operations outside the U.S. and tax hikes on those don’t agree to “labor neutrality,” card check, etc.


7. Government unions

Barack Obama promised during the campaign that he would fight for collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Administration workers. Big Labor will also seek the forced unionization of police, firefighters, and EMTs by federal fiat -- overturning the laws of more than two dozen states.


8. Union Financial Disclosure

Drastically revise the Office of Labor-Management Standards’ Form LM-2 that has embarrassed and caused legal problems for union bosses by forcing them to reveal their salaries and spending.



Ram through a pro-union-appointee to the NLRB and add more labor advocates to the board. Right now, of the five seats, three are vacant.


10. Overturn Bush orders

Immediate revocation of Bush executive order on Beck rights notices and Bush executive order prohibitions on use of discriminatory union-only Project Labor Agreements in federal contracting.

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