Still Not Getting It in the White House

On December 14 President Obama announced two intended nominations to the National Labor Relations Board. They are Sharon Block, who currently serves as deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor; and Richard Griffin, general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, to fill two seats at the NLRB.

Block worked from 2006 to 2009 as senior counsel for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Griffin has served on the board of directors for the Lawyers Coordinating Committee at the AFL-CIO since 1994.

Obama needs to make these nominations because the term of the recess-appointed commissioner Craig Becker is up at the end of this year, which means that the board will not be able to make further decisions in the absence of a quorum. Becker, if you recall, received his recess appointment because there was no way the Senate would approve the nomination of so rankly partisan a figure as the lawyer of the Service Employees International Union who had publicly argued that employers should be stripped of their rights.

These new nominations have reinforced the impression formed by leaks and public statements from Democrat campaign strategists, as well as the President’s recent speeches, that his 2012 re-election campaign will attempt to rally the party’s base by deploying class resentment and offering a steady diet of red meat to his core constituents.

A major component of this strategy has been to go overboard in giving organized labor everything they want administratively through the NLRB and the Labor Department following the defeat of union-backed card check legislation. That failure especially angered union leaders because they had plowed tens of millions into the campaign chests of President Obama and the Democratic Party, only to see card check legislation fail with a Democrat in the White House and Democrats controlling both houses of Congress.

The problem with his strategy is that it is more serious than a just campaign tactic. The essential quality of this strategy is the pre-supposition that employers and the workforce are in daily competition to divide up companies’ revenues, and that employers daily seek to reduce the pay of employees and increase their workload. And, it is this point I want to hammer home: Unions feast off of an “us-versus-them” mentality, and today’s business model is just an “us” attitude attempting to create teamwork and a collaborative environment. When you have an NLRB that promotes an “us-versus-them” mentality in the workforce, its actions damage America’s output and innovation.

The offenses are many, including the attempt (recently dropped) to charge Boeing with breaking the law for attempting to open a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. Recently the board approved quickie ambush organizing elections designed to make it nearly impossible for employers to counter union propaganda. The NLRB also has worked with organized labor to file unfair practice charges against employers targeted by unions. It also has made clear through its actions that its goal is to resurrect card check via rulemaking actions.

If the administration was serious about wanting to encourage employers to invest more in employment, the logical response would be to listen to the outcry of the private sector and demonstrate awareness through appointments that do not come from organized labor.

And if the administration really wanted employers to hire new workers and give consumers more purchasing power, the logical response would be to put on hold all new NLRB regulations until there was a meeting of the minds on private sector job creation.  Instead the NLRB moved to empower its General Counsel to act as the full board in carrying out regulations proposed by the rump majority when a quorum cannot be achieved.

IWLA has two new responses on this new development to help educate our members about what is happening, what they can do and how they can protect themselves.

Our Washington representative Pat O’Connor will be the featured speaker on IWLA’s first webinar in 2012, on January 26. Pat will discuss the Congress and the NLRB; the response of the Senate and House to these appointments; and the employer strategy moving forward, working through the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other employer groups that IWLA supports.

At the 2012 IWLA Annual Convention March 18-20 in San Francisco labor law experts Kerryann Haase and Brian Paul will condense their four-hour NLRB workshop into a two-hour session they will present. This convention session is a must-attend event to protect your company.

To learn more, visit www.iwla.com

Virginia Wants to Help and We Want to Help Them

On December 7 in Richmond, VA, I had the honor of making a presentation about the third-party warehousing logistics industry to the Virginia Global Logistics Forum, organized by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Also presenting at the forum was my colleague and fellow DC Velocity blogger, Randy Mullett, Vice President of Government Relations & Public Affairs for Con-way Inc., an IWLA member company.

This occasion gave us the opportunity to educate more than 80 people from economic development districts and real estate providers in the commonwealth about the logistics industry, who were, what we do and how we contribute to the economic well-being of all businesses in Virginia.

Randy stressed that speed to market and related reduction in inventory costs can only come when truck productivity is part of the package, especially given the essential role trucks play in issue first and last miles of freight shipments. He also informed them how without freight-friendly policies, economic growth will seek communities where freight can move more easily.

The forum also provided me with a priceless opportunity to learn about what the state is doing under its current political leadership to improve the climate for business and job growth. One thing I learned is that Virginia is very receptive to new business development that adds jobs, and state officials view logistics as a core industry they need to support and promote.

This is a refreshing change from what we face in many other states, where business seems to be viewed as a necessary evil and a golden goose to be squeezed for more taxes and burdened with job-killing regulations.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising, given that this is the state that is the home to many companies dependent on supply chain services, the Hampton Roads ports and the I-95 corridor as well as its parallel rail lines that supply the entire East Coast with goods.  Nonetheless, I believe Virginia officials’ knowledge of the industry needs to be expanded. As is too often the case even in states that are receptive to supporting supply chain improvements, they need to learn more about the third-party logistics industry and the essential role it plays in the economy.

After the forum ended, Randy and I received many requests for copies of our PowerPoint presentations and business cards from the other attendees. Those present heard our message, which was, to put it simply, that 3PLs are the supply chain subject matter experts. If you want to develop Virginia as a center of supply chain and logistics excellence, just ask us and we can help you. But if you choose to leave us out of the equation, then you are likely to make costly mistakes when it comes to site location and industrial planning.

The goal of IWLA participating in these government-related economic development meetings is to advance our industry as a reliable source of vital knowledge regarding these issues. Our hope is that through this aggressive outreach, we can educate the people who control planning decisions and government funding. This includes showing them how the “New Urbanism” is anti-trade and anti-commerce until its advocates consider how to include the movement of freight to and from consumers and retailers.

Happy New Year: January 1 State Minimum Wage Hikes

Here we are in the midst of the busy holiday season – especially for warehouse-based 3PLs that serve retail and e-commerce customers – but some of you will need to start preparing for the New Year, specifically minimum wage increases that will go into effect on January 1, 2112.

Although the 2012 federal minimum wage will remain unchanged at $7.25 per hour, a number of states will be implementing minimum wage hikes you need to pay attention to if you have employees located in those states.

Nationwide, 18 states and Washington, D.C. have minimum wage rates that are higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, according to U.S. government data. In all, 10 states will increase their rates in 2012, because they yoke annual increases in their minimums to increases in the cost of living.

While the intention of minimum wage increases is to raise the spending power of the lowest paid workers, which advocates say helps the economy, research shows they have a negative impact on job growth.

Michael Saltsman, research fellow at the Employment Policies Institute, said, “Between 2003 and 2007, 28 states —including Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington — raised their minimum wage above the federal level, with the stated goal of helping the lowest-paid workers. Yet, despite these good intentions, award-winning economic research published last year found no resulting reduction in poverty.” (http://epionline.org/news_detail.cfm?rid=328)

The reasons are two-fold, Saltsman explained. “First, minimum wage increases are poorly targeted to low-income families, and often benefit part-time employees in a higher-income family instead of the intended recipients. Secondly, wage hikes make it more expensive to hire less-skilled and less-experienced jobseekers, and the unintended consequence is fewer hours and jobs for people who need them most.”

Here is the list of state minimum wage hikes that are scheduled to take effect on January 1:

Ohio: A 30-cent per hour increase, from $7.40 to $7.70 per hour. However, employers can pay the federal minimum wage to minors, ages 14 and 15 years old, and adults if the business’s gross revenue is $283,000 per year (previously it was $271,000).

Florida: A 36-cent per hour increase from $7.31 to $7.67 per hour. The minimum wage was raised six cents per hour earlier this year on June 1.

Oregon: A 30-cent per hour increase, from $8.50 to $8.80 per hour.

Washington: A 37-cent per hour increase, from to $8.67 to $9.04 per hour (The U.S. Department of Labor says Washington State’s minimum wage is the highest for any state in the country).

Arizona: A 30-cent per hour increase from $7.35 to $7.65 per hour.

Montana: A 30-cent per hour increase, from $7.35 to $7.65 per hour.

Colorado: A 28-cent per hour increase, from $7.36 to $7.64 per hour.

Vermont: A 31-cent increase from $8.15 to $8.46 per hour.

Missouri: Although the state law mandates that the minimum wage rise with the cost of living, the Missouri Department of Labor announced that the state minimum wage will remain unchanged in 2012 at $7.25 per hour.

San Francisco: I suppose it shouldn’t surprise most readers of this blog to learn that the city of San Francisco has its own minimum wage, which will increase by 32 cents, from $9.92 per hour in 2011 to $10.24 on January 1.

Nevada is among the states with a law requiring that minimum wages be adjusted annually, but it had not yet announced what that increase will be for next year when this was written. Its current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour for those employees who have health benefits provided by their employers, and $8.25 per hour for all others.