WILSON: Obama's dangerous love of unions

WILSON: Obama's dangerous love of unions - Washington Times
These efforts reached a fever pitch during last year’s “December massacre,” when Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a flood of constitutionally dubious pro-union rulings targeting workers’ rights.

In one of these rulings – the Kent Hospital case – the NLRB effectively invalidated a 1988 Supreme Court ruling banning forced employee subsidization of their lobbying and political activities. The ruling also stripped away strict definitions of what constituted “lobbying and political activities” – effectively leaving these definitions at the unions’ discretion. Making matters worse, the Kent case held that unions no longer had to provide employees with a detailed accounting of these lobbying and political activities – creating a “perfect storm” for corruption.

In another case the NLRB overturned a 34-year precedent protecting witness statements obtained by employers during internal misconduct investigations – requiring that these confidential documents be turned over to the unions.

The board also overturned a 50-year precedent when it ruled employers must continue collecting dues even after the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement.