a lot of political pressure was put on the nlrb, a lot threats on the nlrb. and as it turned out, it all worked out because the union and boeing got together, settled their differences and we moved ahead. that's the way it ought to be in our country. but we shouldn't cut off the right of people to actually file a complaint if they have a complaint. the duty of the nlrb is to investigate and to take into account all the factors before they issue any findings. but that never happened in that boeing case because, as i said, people were -- good businesses, and boeing is a good business. boeing is one of the our great businesses in our country. it does a lot for america. you get the good businesses, and the machinist union is a great union. and they worked it out. and that's the way things ought to be done, and nine times out of ten that's the way it happens. what we're talking about here is just really the rules for nlrb to take care of those bad actors that are out there that, like dill lard's and what they do to their people down in arkansas, and others and to

they file with the nlrb. one out of every three of those give up in the face of extreme employer intimidation. why? because one out of every five is being fired. being fired because there's no real penalty. -- penalty against the employer for firing someone for union organize. now, it is against the law to fire an employee because they were exercising their right to form a union. to be in union organizing. but it happens all the time and why are employers not -- don't worry about it? because there's no penalties. the penalty is your backpay minus any offsets. i had a young man in iowa, i remember very well, up in mason city, he had been involved in organizing a union at his workplace, he got fired. he filed with the nlrb saying that he was wrongfully dismissed because of his union organizing activities. well, they had a hearing, they had this. it drug on for three years. three years before the nlrb could reach a decision. and the decision was, yes, he was fired because of his union organizing activities. what

the nlrb election rules are modest, they're commonsense steps towards a fairer system for workers and businesses and will help us move towards a system that works for everyone. and they'll help make sure our workers can simply exercise their rights to bargain for fair wages, for benefits, and equitable treatment under the law. that's what our workers expect, it's what they deserve, and it's what the nlrb is working to deliver. so, madam president, once again, i urge our colleagues to vote against that resolution of disapproval. it is the wrong way to go for workers. it is the wrong way to go for businesses. and for the middle class. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, let me join in the remarks by the senator from washington. this national labor relations board rule which will be voted on by the senate tomorrow is one that was needed. the rule change was needed. and the effort on the floor, of course, is to undo this decision by the national labor relations board f. they say that justice is denie

the nlrb ruled so long as a unit consists of an identifiable group of employees the nlrb will petroleum it is appropriate. what does this mean for small businesses? this means your local grocery store, there could be a cash sheers union -- cashiers union, a produce union a bakers union and the list goes on and on. microunions coupled with ambush elections could cause one small business to deal with several bargaining units in the workplace and little time to no time to raise concerns against such actions. the supreme court mr. president has expressly stated -- and i quote -- "an employer's free speech rights to communicate his views to employees is firmly established and cannot be infringed by a union or the nlrb." the recent actions of the nlrb have all but silenced any freedom of speech once enjoyed by employers. for the state of south dakota, increased unionization will mean higher costs for the health care industry driving up health costs for hospitals and consumers. it would also mean higher costs for holtzs, tourism small -- hotels tourism small businesses and other service indust

when we go to the nlrb rule. we'll be here from 4:00 to 5:00, which is the next open block before we go to the judicial nomination. and we're prepared to stay this evening after the judicial nomination as long as proponents or discussants of the various amendments want to come to the floor to engage in debate and discussion on them. and i hope our colleagues will do that. as senator reid said, this is an important piece of legislation. nobody denies that the u.s. postal service, really an iconic american institution which millions of people depend on, not just for the mail but for their jobs, both directly working for the postal service and indirectly but not too indirectly because they work for

overruling the nlrb. senate's controlled by the democrats, and ten we've got president obama -- and then we've got president obama. >> absolutely unimaginable. megyn: what are they wasting time for in congress? >> because that's what they do best. where the republicans have been on this issue is mind boggling. because here we are, and senator enzi is pushing this forward, this rule goes into effect the end of this month. megyn: so this is their last ditch effort. >> it's a last ditch effort and a pretty poor one. megyn: might they get this thing passed in the senate? because president obama, even though he wouldn't be inclined to sign it, we assume, would be under more pressure if a democratically-controlled senate did pass this thing, overruling the nlrb rule. >> sorry. this president is under no pressure except to win an election in november, and that means he will continue to sell out to labor in as hard and fast a manner as possible. it's inconceivable he would support such a reversal of this regulati

we have a situation where the nlrb has shortened the time for unions to unionize a workplace but what it is doing is allowing the unions more time and the employers less time, to talk to the workers and give their side of the story. once the unions co into talk, this is a vote. but you need to presentboth sides of the story in a democracy like this country in a capitalist society. >>neil: about ten days now where you can vote. wouldn't that speed work against the unions? >>guest: the way this is being interpreted is the unions have a lot of time prior so they can spend a lot of time with the workers before a call is made to the nlrb to set up an election. once that call is made, though the ten days start, so they do not have time. they used to have 38 days and now it is reduced so they are up in arms. >>neil: who could sue who? >>guest: the employers, now, are appealing to the district court in washington, dc and in a lot of other jurisdictions, saying, this is not constitutional. we needhe right to free speech. >>neil: but it is the law. guest: it is, the nlrb has enacted this as a p

. >> by the way, emac in environment, do you think the nlrb would get anywhere trying to enforce rules? this is the guy the president practically hugs every time. >> most of the nlrb officials are political appointees from union land. david, you see this issue played out in the state level n california with teachers, they want -- i know teachers to want to vote for fiscal reform, for spending reform in the state for things like stopping voter fraud but they're stopped bit teachers union and corralled to toe the line. it happens across the country. >> victoria. >> i agree, i have several friends, either local government or teachers, they're in unions and don't want to be but they feel like they don't have a choice and they don't agree with the political outcomes they're funding. >> to paint on a bigger canvas, unions are out of control. they represent less than 7% of the private workforce. yet richard trumpka is on the phone or in the white house every week. when is the last time a c.e.o. was there? if we want unions to do good, we should have right to work across the country and let un

when the white house says now you must unionize and nlrb steps in and says you must cut deals with the the unions, that changes everything and by the way, if-- >> those are two different things, why is your voice so much larger than everybody else's. >> ben? >> with all due respect they have not said you must unionize, i'm sorry, i didn't hear the last part of what you said. >> there's such a small portion of this country. why do they garner so much power and how come-- >> let me put it this way as a jew and a great friend of israel, why are 4 or 5 million jews in u.s. mobilize almost all of the u.s. on behalf the israel because they're well-organized and disciplined and in this case israel i love with all my heart and unions, too, and in certain states-- >> unions are much more powerful in certain states. public sector unions in new york state elected the governor. >> i agree with all of the above that the unions are not what they were and they are weakened over time just by attrition to charles' point and they're losing that, but they are leaving behind legacy costs that are staggeri

we begin with the nlrb power graph.tional relations labor relations board, they got the green light to allow ambush in the next ten days. i see it as an assault on business. let's talk. cnbc contributor bob lutz, form erp general motors vice chair, and greg judamin, he was an organizer at the afl-cio. welcome to the show. i know we will disagree. but to me, a ten-day election notice makes to sense for business or frankly to educate the very work force that might unionize. >> the thing, the ten days is not really in the statute, it does call for a faster election and faster elections are needed. you know right now -- it's not like this is brand new to employees. they talk about these things for a long time before they decide to unionize, and once the board rules we'll have an election date, right now businesses have the right to file an appeal after appeal, after appeal, and they go to lawyers who get to review drafts and review all sorts of documents that the delays are endless. this is the smart way to do it and what's

we made sure everybody knew who the nlrb was.ent knew in this election year they didn't need to have it, the nlrb dropped their suit. what was a thousand jobs in south carolina is now almost 6,000 jobs in south carolina. and you're getting ready to see one of those big mac daddy planes come off the runway this summer. i can tell you, south carolina won, boeing won, and the people of our state won. >> tell me more about obama bullying on states' rights. i had texas attorney general greg abbott on a few moments ago. you've got some of the leading congressional black democrats trying to boycott stores in states that are pushing the voter rights id. do you have voter id reform in south carolina? are any of these left-wing groups trying to come in and bully you? >> oh, listen, i mean i've been sued from the unions to threatened by jesse jackson to having, you know, the department of justice come in here. but the fact is yes, we passed the voter id law in south carolina. and we said that, yes, we think if you have to show a picture id

i think i was one of two lawyers in the nlrb who wore a nixon button in the time coming up to the election. everybody else was wearing humphrey buttons. and i was rather well-known in the west coast legal circles. so i had been recommended and i had applied for a political appointment, but i was thinking of a special assistant. i was only 32 or perhaps a deputy general counsel or something. rather to my surprise george schultz called me up, asked me to come over to be interviewed. i was surprised to realize he was talking about the post of solicitor of labor. i had an advantage. i looked five years older than i was. the second advantage is that i was known republican and a corporate lawyer who had taken a year's rinse, neutral rinse as an lrb lawyer, so i was a unique commodity. george and i hit it off immediately, and he asked me to be solicitor of labor. >> you hadn't encountered him during the period? >> no. he was dean of the chicago business school, and he had served in the eisenhower administration when i was in college and law school -- or college. yeah, and then law school, too. >>

crazy new nlrb rules, bob reich.esn't make any sense in this kind of an economy. >> i don't think they're crazy rules. i mean, we've had about 30 years after the second world war when unions got up to about roughly 34% of the total workforce and everybody grew. and everybody did well. and we grew on average faster than we've grown since. i mean, one of the problems is consumers don't have money in their pockets. they don't have money in their pockets because day don't have bargaining leverage. they don't have bargaining leverage partly because they don't have unions or anybody else sticking up for them. so why assume that unions are zero sum game and bad for business. that's not been the history of america. you know that. >> i just have 15 seconds, i'm sorry. >> 15 seconds, let me tell you. bob reich, you're a great teacher of economics. the truth is, i've lived economics for the last 55 years and you're wrong in this area. sorry. >> i've got to leave it there. gentleman, thanks very much. that's it for tonight's sho

how is the nlrb around here? have they done it in. >> i would not attribute that to the nlrb. wouldn't attribute that much to the nlrb. >> something, though, right? >> the problem with the nlrb is more for the future. it's not for the present. if we look at structure, we were talking about regulation earlier. if you think about the kinds of things that we are engaging in that would impede economic growth, that's certainly one of them. >> i'm talking about the future -- it's not impacting -- >> i know. i'm talking about the future and the choices that we have. >> i agree. >> am i exaggerating to say that we are coming back and doing good things in their labor markets as we head -- we are converging in the middle. >> i think the big question that everybody is worried about is are we going to end up looking more like spain or are we moving in the direction of italy? >> municipality and a government, private sector is still very much fairly liberal compared to europe. >> i'm talking about -- >> if we're talking about the size of what the government should be in this country right

>> and the senate is going to knock down the nlrb thing, and great for boeing, i think up 20% the endyear. >> brenda: gary b. bull or bear on that. >> i think bear at this point. >> brenda: you know what's ready to take off? cavuto. all right. >> . >> neil: forget about the

. >> the nlrb will then verify the election results and declare whether a collective bargaining agentas been selected or not and if so, if there are several unions vying for this collective bargaining agent position, they will designate which one of the competing unions has prevailed as the selected bargaining agent for the employees. [narrator] >> in addition to governing the union organizing process, the law also identifies unfair labor tactics. for example, management is prohibited from interfering with the right of employees to form or join a labor union. management is also not permitted to discriminate against union organizers or union members. >> management can't terminate someone because they have chosen to join a union, and management cannot refuse to promote, or in any way compensate someone because they've joined a union or decided to go along with the authorization card. in essence, there can't be any retaliatory action by management. also, management cannot become involved in the union, or in any way inhibit the free speech that union members should have in their organizat

but the recess appointments made by president obama a while back to the nlrb. is there a situation similar to that in the history of the senate, or by a previous president, of appointing someone to a federal agency under those circumstances that you're aware of? >> well i mean, if you look at the 23-page report by the office of legal counsel, they go through a variety of presidents. they look at the laws, existing tradition and the conclusion they reached given the length of the -- of the recess, 20 days or so, that the appointments were, in fact, appropriate. it is obviously something that the courts are going to ultimately decide, but i think that the olc opinion was accurately described. >> thank you. senator alexander will have a discussion with you. i take a different view. i've leave that discussion to him. maybe last week a plea bargain with the military commission detainee w

so you can't make a recess appoints in the nlrb. >> this is the typical checks and balances.what is the constitution sets forth. there are two things that are important. the senate gets to set its rules. in this session they were in pro forma sessions. number two, they are not in recess. when they are not in recess the president does not get to make recess appointments because the constitution requires advice and consents of the senate when they are in session. under president bush when the senate went into pro forma sessions he stopped making recess appointments because he respected the the constitution that provided you can't make a senate appointment when the senate was in session. the president can't override the rules because he feels like it. megyn: he wasn't going to get these nominees through. the republicans weren't going to approve of these guys. so he waited until the senate was looked like it was in recess and made recess appointments. but the lawmakers came back and said no, no, no, we weren't in recess. we mad pro forma. julian, how is this likely to be resolved

nlrb says unions have a if record when it comes to holding elections with the average union certify electionpercent in 56 days so to have it happen in ten days does not allow for free speech and democracy two things the nation prides itself on. >> if this goes into effect and the ambush elections are allowed, what impact do you think on small business and jobs and hiring? >>guest: well, basically, it will cause small businesses to halt and they will have to address this and they will have to hire attorneys to help them figure it out. same thing with big business, it will not allow them enough time to react, enough time to basically create an argument for their position on whatever issue could be add hand. >>stuart: it really would speed up unionization, wouldn't it, make unionization a lot more likely given this limited timeframe, but the unions say, wait, ten days? two weeks? that is fair. both sides get two weeks, ten day dozen prepare, not unfair about that and, beside, america would be better off if more companies were unionized because wages would go up. that is their argument, and you

nlrb.sn't a firm out there that is not going to be unionized and if every firm is unionized the free market is finished in the united states we will end up like spain and greece and uk and germany and everybody else. >> sean: and that means austerity measures and people that actually believe the government promises about benefits of whatever kind or another and when the benefits are taken away anger, frustration, taking to the streets, rioting. do you see that? >> rightfully so. i mean look, if you are working and you are promised that you are going to get a pension and it is promised to you with the great thought of the politicians who agree with it because they elect the politicians who now agree to give them the higher pensions and then the day comes when you go to get it and it is not there. >> sean: i would be angry. >> you will be angry and you feel like you do deserve it and you do deserve it, you were promised it and you should have it. but somebody has to pay for it and you can't k

nlrb.not going to be unionized and if every firm is unionized the free market is finished in the united states we will end up like spain and greece and uk and germany and everybody else. >> sean: and that means austerity measures and people that actually believe the government promises about benefits of whatever kind or another and when the benefits are taken away anger, frustration, taking to the streets, rioting. do you see that? >> rightfully so. i mean look, if you are working and you are promised that you are going to get a pension and it is promised to you with the great thought of the politicians who agree with it because they elect the politicians who now agree to give them the higher pensions and then the day comes when you go to get it and it is not there. >> sean: i would be angry. >> you will be angry and you feel like you do deserve it and you do deserve it, you were promised it and you should have it. but somebody has to pay for it and you can't keep going back to the well. th

now and you see this pervasive in the administration, we see it in lots of different agencies, the nlrb is a good example, we were able to defeat one of their sears at the washington, dc circuit court recently but most of the things they are trying to jam through or designed to grow the power of the special interests that drive the president and his agenda here in washington, dc. and that's why i hope people across this country pay attention to the issues. be prepared. when the election comes in november of this year, be prepared to make sure we send a message we want policies in place that will make it less expensive and less difficult for small businesses to create jobs, not more difficult. not putting more burdens and more impediments and more barricades in the way of small business. that is what the regulation will do and will be the practical effect but the political effect is it increases and concentrates more power with the unions and it takes its away from employers and employees in the work place. >>neil: thank you, senator. coming up. >> in america we don't quit. >>neil: the p

that was before the nlrb, before boeing, that was before card check.o that's the main thing that we can do. i'm convinced that mitt and the republican national committee can compete with the obama campaign and democratic national committee, even though they start out behind because romney had to spend a lot to win the nomination. what we have to do, keep him from being carpet bombed, disqualified, made to look unacceptable by hundreds of millions of union money. >> and stay on message. good economic growth, governor haley barbour which you helped put together during the reagan years, newt gingrich years, got to do it one more time. haley barbour. thanks for coming on. we hope you'll return. >> thanks. >>> the secret service issue, new guidelines to the agents, being treated a bit like school children? an update next. guys. come here, come here. [ telephone ringing ] i'm calling my old dealership. [ man ] may ford. hi, yeah. do you guys have any crossovers that offer better highway fuel economy than the chevy equinox? no, sorry, sir. we don't. oh, well,

how would you change the charter of the nlrb? what's your chances of success here?oing to introduce a bill which has been introduced by senator hatch and tim scott. but you do start a conversation inside. that's what this is doing, starting a conversation. one of the main features is to suggest after a union has been put in place, the people who are there and who didn't vote for the union let's say 20, 30, 40 years ago, they get another bite at the apple. so you've got unions today who have been in place since the 40s and the 50s and no one working in that particular union shop ever voted for the union. the actual numbers are 7% of people who are in private sector unions today voted for the union that they pay dues to. 93% never voted fortune. >> but you must know whether -- i think of union -- the whole idea of a union is they get some special things that nonunion guys don't get and it usually works out great fortunes. the criticism of the unions is that people not in the union are left out in the cold. why would you think people in the union would vote to get out

. >> let me ask you, if there wasn't the activist agencies like the nlrb or epa or expect the specteres or $5 trillion of additional debt, if there wasn't obamacare, would we be -- where do you think we'd be? >> you'd have to say what would replace it. i think if you make the assumption that we would have had a bipartisan program in washington, d.c. so that people would actually work together and get things done and build perhaps a different health care plan -- >> would we be at 2%. >> >> we would be better off if we had a bipartisan -- >> i don't think anybody is due distributing that. how much better? >> let's break it down. if you look we're at 8.3 trs unemployment, 8.2, the cleveland fed said if we didn't have 99-week unemployment benefits, we went back to the 26 weeks, the unemployment rate would be lower by 75 basis points. >> but that doesn't mean more people would, working. >> no, no -- >> or it would mean -- >> we have people that come in every day and say i would like to apply for this job but i want it in seven months. i'm still on the benefit program. >> but that assumes y

he has helped working people resurrected the nlrb osha msha so they protect the health and safety oferegulate wall street and when it comes down to being a friend of the 99 or a friend of the 1%, he has been appear friend friend of the 99%. >> in another area, it was reported a couple of days ago that auto sales for the last month were, i think the highest march maybe in 10 years or something like that. and that's another area where uaw is back and members of the uaw getting a bonus check, right, for their contribution to helping bring the auto industry back? >> here is the beauty of it t the auto industry is hiring again. they are bringing in workers because we are producing cars made in america that are quality cares and kicking the crap out of the competition because they are the best-made cars in the world right now. those workers are doing a great job, and they are working together, and more people are now at work because of his efforts to save the auto industry. >> where mitt romney said? >> let them go. he doesn't care about those jobs. >> yeah. >> this is a guy from michigan

you've seen the action of the nlrb. inio view, too far on regulation?eaction for -- >> that explains but has it gone too far. regulations become the bureaucrats raised on debt. >> in a simplistic view, though, bob, you know the party that is associated with a lot of regulation, right? i mean, you know in a simplistic world which it is. >> you would argue that under a democratic administration you probably would see more public-interest-type regulation. i'm not saying that's bad. >> you kind of said that. what about the epa? is that bad? >> regulation if it just exists without a review process, without a vetting process as to whether or not it's continually relevant to the needs of the consumer, the public interest or the business community needs to be examined and eliminated or at least altered to reflect the anatomy. >> every regulation that you're equation into what it does as to whether there's jobs or not. who did we have on the epa. i asked that question, you have thought about this? it's one of the things they were proposing. i think they backed u

chairman of the national labor relations board, sharon ploch and richard griffin and members, the nlrb executive sitting over here, patricia smith, solicitor of labor and john lund, assistant secretary of labor. i probably welcome as well longtime colleague and friend, virginia assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel. thanks to all of them and all of you for attending this afternoon. >> for going on 24 years, i've worked for the union that represents major league baseball players coming and for going on 24 years, i've heard that's great, mike, but it's not like to work for a real union. come on, you get to hang out with derek jeeter or josÉ but he stuck or brian zimmerman. it's part of your job you have to go to the all-star series every year. i will concede there are benefits to working for this union. [laughter] but i will insist that at the same time the mlbta has always been and remains today a real labor union. members make more money than most. our guys have a higher public profile. but at bottom, the mlbpa does it every union does, we attempt to further our me

mark pierce, the chairman of the national labor relations board, sharon block and richard a griffin, nlrbrs, les hatser sitting over here. patricia smith, solicitor of labor. john lund, assistant secretary of labor. i proudly welcome as well a longtime colleague and friend, virginia seitz, assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel. thanks to all of them and to all of you for attending this afternoon. for going on 24 years, i have worked for the union that represents major league baseball players. and for going on 24 years, i've heard that's great, mike, but it's not like you work for a real union. [laughter] come on, you get to hang out with derek jeter or jose pa tease that or -- batista or ryan zimmerman. it's part of your job that you have to go to the all-star game and the world series every single year. i'll concede there are benefits to working for this union. [laughter] but i'll insist at the same time that the mlbpa always has been and remains today a real labor union. our members make more money than most. our guys have a higher public profile. but at bottom the