UFCW President Joe Hansen Calls for Congressional Investigation into NLRB Leaks

You may have read about a recent report by the Inspector General showing that National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Terence Flynn engaged repeatedly in improper conduct when he was chief counsel to Member Brian Hayes.

UFCW takes these allegations very seriously and is committed to making sure they are properly investigated. Here's what UFCW International President and Change to Win Chair Joe Hansen had to say on the matter today:

“These are serious allegations and I urge the appropriate Congressional Committees to launch a full investigation. The NLRB must carry out its important mission of ensuring union elections are conducted freely and fairly. Regrettably, this independent agency has consistently come under political attack from Members of Congress and candidates for President who want to make it harder for workers to organize.  

"The fact that this effort was reportedly being orchestrated by a high-profile employee of the Board is completely unacceptable. NLRB members and staff should serve as referees, striving for the fairest possible outcome and ensuring rules are followed and enforced. This Inspector General’s report suggests Member Flynn used his prior position to choose sides, bolstering big business at the expense of workers and their fundamental rights. Congress should get to the bottom of this and hold all wrongdoers fully accountable.”

Why Isn't Congress Hearing Workers?

It must be election season, because Republican leaders in Congress are at it again - wasting taxpayer dollars to make a political show of attacking workers’ most fundamental rights.

This morning, the Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing they called “The NLRB Recess Appointments: Implications for America’s Workers and Employers.” The sole intent of this hearing was to question and undermine President Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As we know, the NLRB is charged with protecting the right of every American to bargain for a better life – a right Republicans are steadfastly committed to obliterating.

On tap for tomorrow morning is a hearing by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called “The Right to Choose: Protecting Union Workers from Forced Political Contributions.” Don’t be fooled by fancy word play – this hearing doesn’t protect union workers; it protects corporations that oppose collective bargaining in the first place.

Republican committee leaders should be ashamed of themselves for so blatantly putting the corporate interest ahead of the national interest – and their constituents should be outraged. The last thing we need right now are hearings driven by cynical partisan politics – especially considering that this Congress can’t even get it together to pass substantive pieces of legislation like the American Jobs Act or the payroll tax cut extension.

It’s time we let Republican leaders in Congress know we’re tired of waiting - they need to stop wasting time and start working for the American people. Send this message loud and clear by visiting the Education and Workforce Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Facebook and giving them a piece of your mind.

If Democrats Don't Pass Health Reform, Will They Lose Younger Voters?

As a new article in Newsweek points out, young Americans are the least likely to be insured. And no, not because they're lazy or don't want to pay:

Young Americans are uniquely affected by the nation's broken health-care system. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to improve health care, found in a report released in December that nearly half of all young adults between 19 and 29 said they were uninsured at some time during the past year. Because this age range brings with it a number of transition points that can lead to coverage being cut off—high school and college graduation, and early internships or jobs that don't provide coverage—it's a decade fraught with peril.

Given the weakness in the economy, says Sara Collins, co-author of the report, young adults looking for insurance through their employers face an uphill battle. If the economy gets worse, so too will the health-care outlook for young Americans.

So it's no surprise that young Americans are more in favor of comprehensive health care reform than any other age group. From the article:

...even after months of demonization, including countless falsehoods about government takeovers and "death panels," young people remain the group that supports health-care reform at the highest rates. When the Commonwealth Fund asked young respondents whether it was important for Congress and the president to improve the health-care system, 88 percent said yes.

Now if Congress lets down young people on health care, will young people turn away from political involvement? If one of the most important issues to young Americans is allowed to wither and die, what will young people think of the politicians they voted for, the ones who promised that this time would be different? From the Newsweek piece:

If the Democrats drop health care, there will be an entire generation of young voters unable to point to a single major legislative accomplishment from the party during their lifetime. And as far they will be concerned, when it came time for the Democrats to act on an issue that was particularly important to them, they folded.

Democrats worried about their re-election campaigns this fall should be very concerned about this. Young people are a crucial part of their base, and were instrumental in Obama's electoral success. If they turn away from the Democrats or from politics, much like my generation did after the promises President Clinton made turned to dust, it will be the party's loss most of all. So Congress should pass health care reform--if not for the country, if not for all the uninsured or under-insured Americans outthere--to at least keep alive the hope, activism, and civic-mindedness of our nation's youngest voters. After all, corny as it sounds, they are America's future. Let's keep them healthy, happy, and politically engaged.