Posted on 11/06/2008 11:30:54 AM PST by Fred
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to refrain from pushing legislation to make organizing unions easier until the economy recovers.
The Employee Free Choice Act would force an employer to recognize a union if 51 percent of its workers sign cards stating they want to be represented by a union. An election would not be necessary. The bill is organized labor’s top priority in the new Congress, and unions spent millions of dollars to help elect Democrats in the Nov. 4 election.
Unions, trial lawyers and other interest groups that supported Democrats “will expect quick political payback,” said Tom Donohue, chief executive officer of the chamber. The Employee Free Choice Act, however, would have “serious implications” for job creation and economic stability, Donohue said. Therefore, Congress should put off consideration of this bill until the economy improves, he said.
When the legislation does come before Congress, the chamber and other business groups plan to fight it vigorously.
“It’s not going to be a walk in the park,” Donohue said Thursday. “We’re going to win this thing.”
Donohue’s comments came the day after John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, expressed his hopes that Obama and Congress would realize that now is not the time to push the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill not only would hurt businesses, it would spoil the the post-election spirit of cooperation that now exists between the president-elect and business groups, he said.
“This is not the issue to build a relationship on,” Engler said.
Plus, polls suggest that most Americans oppose the legislation since it would end a worker’s right to a secret-ballot election on union representation, he said.
“It’s not a way to win popular opinion early on,” Engler said.
Donohue thinks Obama also will realize that capping greenhouse gas emissions would not be smart when the economy is in a recession. These caps would impose a big new tax on the economy and “may sink it further,” he said.
The main thing Obama should keep in mind during his first 100 days in office is to “do no harm,” Donohue said. The new president will face a major challenge in trying to convince his fellow Democrats to slow down on legislation that could hurt the economy, he said.
The chamber poured millions of dollars into efforts to help pro-business candidates, mostly Republicans, in the election. Democratic gains in the House and Senate will make it more difficult to advance business issues and defeat harmful legislation, Donohue said.
“I’m not naive,” he said. “I can count.”
But, he added, the chamber still has a chance to prevail on some key issues.
“We will never flag in our efforts to vigorously represent the business community,” Donohue said.
The USCOC opposed Obama. They’re toast.
Has Obama actually said he was going to do this? Or is it just hearsay?
I think President Obama should go full steam ahead on everything he promised his electorate.
The union spend 400,000,000 on the Obama campaign, what do you think?
He probably will.
Look at who he surrounds himself with as mentors.
It will be interesting to see how hard and how fast he blows off every non-hard-core liberal interest group.
His agenda in action is what all the zerO bama voters deserve to see for themselves.
The harder core his agenda is, the easier for the few remaining republicans to refuse to be “necklaced” by Pelsoi and Reid into sharing blame. The favorite GOP vote for the next 4 years... “present”
I, like many other business owners, will get out before being confronted with union thugs. I cannot imagine any sane person wanting to push unions on an economy like this. That being said, it is probably the first thing they do...
How long before the American people realize they just elected Herbert Hoover?
Aw hell what am I saying? They’ll just continue to blame everything on “Bush’s failed capitalist policies”.
With nearly 1 million employees in the United States, Wal-Mart is the country's largest private employer. Yet none of these workers belongs to a union. Employees at two stores in Quebec, Canada, finally won union representation, but both stores have been closed - the second one earlier this month.
I'll continue shopping at Wal*Mart, happily supporting them because their prices are low, while enjoying the fact that we're resisting unions that have turned from a force for good into a force for Obama.
“...urged President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to refrain from pushing legislation...”
The liberal Congress is going to go wild with new legislation. O will be required to sign much of it. He is just the front man.
When he doesn’t sign it will be an effort by his handlers to make him appear reasonable.
I know the feeling. Close up shop and let the workers find another job is what the majority of small to medium businesses will do if unionization is forced on them.
I’d like to hear a liberal response to this question.
If Government is the answer to all problems then wouldn’t it be a good idea for Government to run unions?
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