LaborPains.org

Las Vegas Sun reports on the growing influence of labor with President Obama’s announcement that he will appoint two veteran labor lawyers, Craig Becker and Mark Pearce, to the National Labor Relations Board. If the Senate confirms them both, they will join Obama appointee-and-chairman Wilma Liebman.

In case you worried about any potential conflicts of interest, Becker currently serves as associate general counsel to both the SEIU and AFL-CIO. Pearce, described as a “prominent Buffalo labor lawyer,” happens to be an “accomplished painter whose work has been displayed at the Buffalo Arts Council and the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington.” No word on whether his artwork can stay up if he is confirmed for the NLRB.

As they say, to the victor goes the spoils.

Yesterday, both the Florida and Missouri House of Representatives passed constitututional amendments to uphold secret ballot elections.

In Florida, the House passed the proposed constitutional amendment 74-44. A similar measure remains in committee in the Senate. If approved, the constitutional amendment will go on the ballot in 2010.

In Missouri, the House approved the constitutional amendment 83-74. If it clears the Senate, the constitutional amendment will be up for voter approval.

Interesting note: some of the legislators who voted against protecting the secret ballot were union members. For example, Rep. Michael Frame of Eureka, MO: “We’re right, they’re wrong. We have the truth, they have a bunch of lies.” The Kansas City Star was diligent enough to report that “according to his official biography, Frame is employed by Service Employees International Union Local-1.”

Here’s an amusing cartoon I came across today.

The Washington Times details the Obama Administration’s efforts to reverse union transparency. The Labor Department is rolling back rules on financial disclosure requirements for labor unions and their officials.

One of the rescinded regulations is the LM-30 rule, which was the basis of an AFL-CIO lawsuit against the Labor Department last year. Incidentally, one of the labor attorneys working on the lawsuit, Deborah Greenfield, is now working at the Labor Department and also worked on the Obama transition team on labor issues.

According to The Washington Times, the Labor Department decided that “it would not be a good use of resources” to enforce the law against union officials who failed to comply with conflict of interest reporting rules passed in 2007. Union bosses can now file less detailed conflict of interest reports.

The Labor Department also rescinded the expansion of the LM-2 rule, which required unions to provide more information about finances and officials’ compensation in annual reports.

The article goes on to highlight how labor union officials hold prominent spots in the Obama Administration. Greenfield is now in charge of the Labor Department’s executive secretariat office. Patrick Gaspard, who used to work for the SEIU, is the White House Political Affairs director. T. Michael Kerr, formerly an aide to the secretary-treasurer at SEIU, is now the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at the Labor Department. And just on Friday, President Obama appointed prominent union activist Mary Beth Maxwell as senior adviser to the Secretary of Labor.

With the Labor Department itself disclosing that investigations into union corruption yielded over 1,000 indictments, 929 convictions, and more than $93 million in court-ordered restitution from 2001 to 2008, one would expect a need for greater union transparency, not less, right?

Las Vegas Sun reports on the SEIU’s attempts to raid Culinary union members (whose parent union is UNITE HERE). The SEIU’s motions to organize hotel and casino workers comes only a month after SEIU President Andy Stern said his union would not. Stern said, “We are certainly not intending to go raid anybody. We don’t think there’s a need in Las Vegas for another union to represent the hospitality workers that are there.”

Things changed quickly in a month. SEIU affiliate Workers United sent a letter to to casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City asking for the same organizing rights that the Culinary union enjoys. In response, the Nevada AFL-CIO – which the Culinary union is a member of – issued a resolution essentially telling Stern and the SEIU to back off.

Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor said members have been receiving robo-calls and mailers calling for secession from the union. Taylor said, “They are clearly trying to divide workers in order to do a raid and a takeover.”

We’ve already highlighted some examples of how ugly the UNITE HERE vs. SEIU fight is. Expect to see more of the same from across the country. The nature of the union’s responses to their own battles is a good indicator of how they will function if EFCA is passed.

The Associated Press is reporting that President Obama will appoint Mary Beth Maxwell, a prominent union lobbyist, as senior adviser to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Maxwell served as the executive director for the pro-union group,  American Rights At Work.

As the AP framed it: “Mary Beth Maxwell’s appointment is seen as another sign of the influence that organized labor wields in the Obama administration.”

The unions’ ability to influence policy should not come as a surprise, especially after the Labor Department’s move this week to weaken union oversight.

The North Dakota House of Representatives passed a resolution yesterday urging the state’s congressional delegation and the U.S. Congress to oppose EFCA. The resolution passed 58-36.

The clash between factions of UNITE HERE at the national level has spilled over to the local chapters.  The Minnesota Independent details UNITE HERE Local 17′s troubles with its rank and file.

UNITE HERE’s divisions started in January when a top UNITE HERE official in Michigan was ousted. The two factions, led by former HERE leader John Wilhelm and former UNITE leader Bruce Raynor, escalated the dispute. Raynor filed a federal lawsuit accusing Wilhelm’s faction of violating the union’s constitution and seeking to control the union’s finances. Wilhelm and his cohorts counter-sued. This culminated with several regional boards voting to disaffiliate from  UNITE HERE completely.

To make matters even more interesting, the SEIU has stepped into the middle of the conflict in an effort to raid UNITE HERE for union members. UNITE HERE Local 17 officials decried SEIU’s efforts in a letter, stating that “[T]he SEIU, by forcing a split in UNITE HERE, is undertaking one of the largest inter-union raids in American labor history. SEIU’s raid is unprecedented in both its tone and scale.”

A press release from UNITE HERE Local 11 accused the SEIU of a “campaign of intimidation and harassment” that included a “barrage of phone calls” to members, “mud-slinging mailers” and “SEIU staff invading UNITE HERE workplaces and pressuring workers.”

This resulted in UNITE HERE union members protesting the SEIU at its national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Keep in mind that these tactics and actions are just amongst unions. Imagine how unions would operate under EFCA.