By: Daniel Nardini
Being touted as a jobs saving bill, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act (House Bill 2587, or H.R. 2587) is in fact a cover to make it easier for corporate business to discriminate against workers and subterfuge workers’ rights. Sponsored by U.S. House Representative Tim Scott (Republican-South Carolina), the act would basically gut the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from being able to do anything to stop corporate business from having its way. One could ask why this piece of legislation is being brought before the U.S. House of Representatives? Officially to prevent the NLRB from “over-regulating corporations.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. The National Labor Relations Board was created in 1935 to help enforce and protect workers’ rights in the work place. The NLRB’s purpose has been to make sure that the fundamental rights of workers as negotiated in contracts and with unions as well as federal regulations that protect such things as minimum wage and basic safety regulations are enforced. While the board’s powers are more that of being an investigator and third party in a dispute—it recommendations can be very persuasive in a federal court hearing against any company that crosses it. This is something corporations have found galling, and why they would be happy to see the National Labor Relations Board gutted.
Funny how people in Washington, D.C. see the world and the country we live in. The reality is that corporate business has far more resources and connections to fight unions and destroy small businesses in order to get what it wants. For decades large companies have been hiring agencies to try and break unions, find lobbyists to help them skirt around local and state tax laws, and influence politicians to pass onerous regulations to destroy small businesses so the corporation will not have a level playing field and any competition. What the U.S. Congress should be doing is passing laws to help create a level playing field for small businesses, protect workers’ rights further, and take away corporate entitlements that give corporations tax breaks even though they do not invest dollar one in American jobs.
But this is not likely to happen. Why? Corporate business does NOT want a level business playing field. This is why they hire the best lawyers and the best lobbyists to make sure that they have key politicians in their back pocket. The Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act is obviously a corporate business brainchild, but is unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate or get signed by U.S. President Barack Obama into law. However, this is only one out of how many other pro-corporate business pieces of legislation out there that may stand a better than average chance of getting passed? Even in a dysfunctional institution such as the U.S. government, corporate business more than finds a way through to get what it wants.
H.R. 2587
By: Daniel Nardini
Nothing could be further from the truth. The National Labor Relations Board was created in 1935 to help enforce and protect workers’ rights in the work place. The NLRB’s purpose has been to make sure that the fundamental rights of workers as negotiated in contracts and with unions as well as federal regulations that protect such things as minimum wage and basic safety regulations are enforced. While the board’s powers are more that of being an investigator and third party in a dispute—it recommendations can be very persuasive in a federal court hearing against any company that crosses it. This is something corporations have found galling, and why they would be happy to see the National Labor Relations Board gutted.
Funny how people in Washington, D.C. see the world and the country we live in. The reality is that corporate business has far more resources and connections to fight unions and destroy small businesses in order to get what it wants. For decades large companies have been hiring agencies to try and break unions, find lobbyists to help them skirt around local and state tax laws, and influence politicians to pass onerous regulations to destroy small businesses so the corporation will not have a level playing field and any competition. What the U.S. Congress should be doing is passing laws to help create a level playing field for small businesses, protect workers’ rights further, and take away corporate entitlements that give corporations tax breaks even though they do not invest dollar one in American jobs.
But this is not likely to happen. Why? Corporate business does NOT want a level business playing field. This is why they hire the best lawyers and the best lobbyists to make sure that they have key politicians in their back pocket. The Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act is obviously a corporate business brainchild, but is unlikely to pass the U.S. Senate or get signed by U.S. President Barack Obama into law. However, this is only one out of how many other pro-corporate business pieces of legislation out there that may stand a better than average chance of getting passed? Even in a dysfunctional institution such as the U.S. government, corporate business more than finds a way through to get what it wants.