Obama, You're No Jack Kennedy

Uh-O. Obama’s administration has run afoul of words by John F. Kennedy on Big Labor and protecting employees.

You have no doubt been following the fight over the unconstitutional recess appointments by the Obama administration to the National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Financial Protection Board. But fewer are aware the fight over Obama’s efforts to help Big Labor bosses by rigging the rules of union elections so that employees don’t even have enough time to get information about why the union may not be in their best interest.

Right now, employees have an average of 40 days to get both sides of the story–the union sales pitch and the employer’s side. But union bosses need more dues-paying members so they are shortening the election period so employees only hear the sales pitch. It’s clearly wrong–and as some business groups, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and US Chamber of Commerce, progressed with their lawsuit against the government to overturn Obama’s regulatory gift last week, they dug out this historical nugget:

Based on the legislative history of the 1959 amendments to the Act, it is clear Congress believed that an election period of at least 30 days was necessary to adequately assure employees the “fullest freedom” in exercising their right to choose whether they wish to be represented by a union. As explained by then Senator John F. Kennedy Jr., who chaired the Conference Committee, even in the context of eliminating pre-election hearings, a 30-day period before any election was a necessary “safeguard against rushing employees into an election where they are unfamiliar with the issues.” Senator Kennedy stated “there should be at least a 30-day interval between the request for an election and the holding of the election” and he opposed an amendment that failed to provide “at least 30 days in which both parties can present their viewpoints.” [italics mine]

So, as Obama chooses the side of Big Labor bosses, he not only stands against employees, employers, job growth, and economic recovery–but he’s also squarely opposite the position of JFK.

Of course, this is the same president who spends most of his time pushing the position that “ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your country can do for you.”