Friday, June 17, 2011

NLRB-No Longer Relevant Bureaucracy



The National Labor Relations Board is a child of the New Deal that is beginning to show a bit of senility. Born in 1935 by virtue of the Wagner Act the NLRB has once again slipped into a fit of dementia. First came the assertion that the Boeing Company had violated federal law by expanding its operation into a right to work state which struck business leaders as a monumental over reach of any limited government.
The Wagner Act sought to expedite the settlement of labor disputes in a day when the steel, mining, and railroad strikes could cripple the entire economy. It was intended to be a more or less fair arbitrator that could settle minor work issues between huge corporation and huge unions. In its latest lapse of sound judgment and mission creep, the NLRB has wandered into a dispute between a BMW car salesman and the dealership that employed him. The salesman was upset over the quality of hot dogs and bottled water his employer served its customers. Rather than protest directly to his boss, the aggrieved complainant posted his displeasure on Facebook. Eight days later he was fired. The salesman claims it was the result of that post; the dealership says it was the result of another post involving a fellow salesman. In any event he was fired.





Does the government of the United States have sufficient resources to litigate on the behalf of every rightly or wrongly discharged employee? Does the NLRB actually believe that employees have some sort of innate and inalienable right to hold there employer's up to public scorn before 300 million Facebook users? Congressmen looking for places to cut government waste might consider the well earned demise of the NLRB.

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