Just a round-up on some of the latest union gems … like American Airlines.  American Airlines is now Tango Uniform.  It has filed Chapter 11 for many reasons, one of which being the outrageous cost of labor thanks to unions.  The airlines says that labor-contract rules force it to spend at least $600 million more than other airlines.  Hope the labor union is happy.  Now many of its employees may be collecting unemployment checks, which won’t go toward union dues.

Then there is the issue of union labor and the Democrat National Convention.  In September of next year, the Democrat National Convention is set to take place in North Carolina.  The “problem” is that North Carolina is a right-to-work state, much to the horror of many Democrats with their lip permanently attached to the rear-end of unions.  The apparent solution to this “problem” has been for the DNC committee to outsource the labor from businesses that are unionized, rather than use local labor.  You can read the story of John Monteith, the North Carolina print shop owner, right here.  In a nutshell, this guy actively worked to score some of the DNC’s printing business and was eventually told no because he wasn’t a union shop.  A member of the committee said, “We were just told that we cannot accept bids unless they are from companies that are unionized.”  The solution that was offered?  John could unionize his shop in order to become eligible.  Like hell. 

So the issue has been taken to the next level.  Now lawmakers in North Carolina are about to approve a nonbinding resolution asking the convention to change its rules in order to “respect North Carolina’s right-to-work” laws.  The resolution asks the DNC to "refrain from hiring workers and companies from outside (North Carolina) when qualified business or workers are available within the state."  Without anything binding, we will see how the DNC responds to this resolution by the North Carolina lawmakers.  I assume the DNC will tell them to go pound sand .. but I hope that I’m proved wrong.

Then there is the NLRB.  The NLRB is supposed to consist of five members.  Right now it only has three.  Why?  Because Barack Obama can’t come up with any nominees that pass the smell test.  But what Obama did do is appoint a man by the name of Craig Becker as a recess appointment.  This guy is a former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.  His recess appointment expires at the end of the year.  That means as of 2012, the NLRB will no longer be able to vote on proposed changes and labor disputes because it won’t have its three person quorum.

So that brings us to today, where the NLRB is anxious to vote on a package of controversial changes while it still has its quorum (which is 2-1 Democrat, by the way).  The changes involve union elections.  No surprise here .. they want to make unionizing a workplace easier by changing a number of factors including shortening the time between when a union proposes an election and when that election actually takes place, limiting the options employers have to oppose unions' efforts.  That’s just one change.  There are plenty of other changes that you can read about here, but the fact is that these bureaucrats at set are bolstering unionization, not for the sake of our economy or jobs but because of a political agenda.