GOP battles to defund work of Obama NLRB

Congressional Republicans are using the power of the purse to do battle against a series of controversial labor regulations from the Obama administration.

They say the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) gave a gift to labor unions by issuing what they call an “ambush election” rule that speeds up the process for organizing in the workplace.

Republican lawmakers are also incensed by a joint-employer policy that holds companies responsible for the labor violations of their business partners, and by a “micro-union” policy that paves the way for multiple labor unions to organize in a single workplace.

Now tasked with crafting a funding bill for the labor board, Republicans are moving to cut the NLRB’s by funding by 10 percent while blocking officials from enforcing any of these controversial rules.

http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/246356-gop-battles-to-defund-work-of-obama-labor-board

Why We Love To Hate HR and What HR Can Do About It

An excellent article in the Harvard Business Review about why Human Resources has failed to capture the imagination of operational management and how to change it . . . 

"Like any other function, HR must show why the issues it addresses matter to the business and that it has sensible ways to manage them. A few years ago the head of HR at a leading corporation—someone who had survived lots of restructurings—was asked about the key to his success. He said, “I do whatever the CEO wants.” Though doing things the boss doesn’t want is certainly a career-limiting strategy, too many HR managers wait to be told which issues to tackle. If a company starts a wellness program after the chief executive has a heart attack, or launches a women’s initiative after his daughter takes a job in the business, you can be sure that the HR team is not leading the charge.

"CEOs and other operating executives are rarely experts on workplace issues. They often have no relevant experience, now that fewer of them are coming up through training programs and rotational assignments in which they could have learned effective people-management practices from knowledgeable peers. So the HR team can show these executives what they should care about and why. That means articulating a point of view on every people-related topic relevant to the business. "

Article here:  https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-we-love-to-hate-hr-and-what-hr-can-do-about-it
https://hbr.org/2015/07/why-we-love-to-hate-hr-and-what-hr-can-do-about-it

Here's how much you need to make in each state to rent a two-bedroom apartment

Number one issue for unions in 2015?

Money.

Bottom line:  There are too many employees who simply cannot live day to day on the wages they are paid.

How much money does it take to live?  That depends on where you live.

The State maps at the link before show how much an American worker needs to earn per hour in each State to rent a two-bedroom apartment.  You will see that in no State can a person earning minimum wage afford such an apartment at market rates.

Read more:  http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/05/mapping-the-hourly-wage-needed-to-rent-a-2-bedroom-apartment-in-every-us-state/394142/?utm_source=atlanticFB#ixzz3d3NaF8XB

HIllary Endorses Organized Labor's "Fight for 15" Campaign

Not that this should surprise anyone . . . 

Though hardly a populist, Hillary apparently feels the ground quivering under her feet as socialist Bernie Sanders eats away at her low-wage worker support.  She now joins the "fight for $15" bandwagon.

From the Washington Post:

"In one of the most explicitly union-friendly speeches of her young presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton called in to a convention of low-wage workers Sunday morning to deliver a message of support and solidarity.

"All of you should not have to march in the streets to get a living wage, but thank you for marching in the streets to get that living wage," she said. "We need you out there leading the fight against those who would rip away Americans’ right to organize, to collective bargaining, to fair pay."

In other words, she wants Big Labor's support and is willing to write off small business to get it.

Article here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/07/hillary-clinton-sounds-populist-note-at-fast-food-workers-convention/

Los Angeles Pummels The Poor

". . . the minimum wage was initially conceived as a method to exclude undesirables from the workforce. The hope, back in the time when eugenics was the rage, was that a wage floor would cause the “unemployable” to stop reproducing and die out in one generation.

"Racism drove the policy, but it was hardly limited to that. The exterminationist ambition applied to anyone deemed unworthy of remunerative work . . . "

"Today, our situation seems reversed: an abundance of good intentions and a dearth of basic economic literacy. The mayor of LA, Eric Garcetti, was elated at the decision: “We’re leading the country; we’re not going to wait for Washington to lift Americans out of poverty.”

"Leading the country, maybe, but where is another question. This is a policy that will, over time, lock millions out of the workforce and forces many businesses to cut their payrolls. Machines to replace workers will come at a premium. The remaining workers will be expected to become much more productive. Potential new business will face a higher bar than ever. Many enterprises will close or move.

"As for the existing unemployed, they can forget it. Seriously. In fact, it is rather interesting that in all the hooplah about this change, there’s not been one word about the existing unemployed (officially, 7.5% of the city’s workforce). It’s as if everyone intuitively knows the truth here: this law will not help them at all, at least not if they want to work in the legal economy."

Article here:  http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/los-angeles-pummels-the-poor

The Race Toward A $15 Minimum Wage

Via Global Wealth Protection . . . 

"To say that a higher minimum wage would bolster the economy is like telling someone to keep a mortgage so they can write off the interest. In no way is it a net benefit to have a mortgage and pay interest just so you don’t have to pay taxes on the interest. The math doesn’t work. The interest is greater than the taxes you’d pay on it. Likewise, it’s not how a rise in the minimum wage works because the price of goods don’t stay the same so it’s not like $1,000 in wages more in outlay equates to $1,000 in revenues. If people don’t spend that money and decide to save, if people pay off debts with that money rather than spend, and if the cost of goods go up then it’s no longer a wash. It’s a loss.

"Los Angeles will be facing similar problems as it institutes its 5-year plan to $15 per hour from $9 per hour. This is such a welcomed treat to this lovely blue state that the unions asked for an exemption!  You read that correctly. Seems unions like asking for exemptions when laws are passed ostensibly to benefit the good ole proletariat. Remember when they asked for an exemption from Obamacare? Well now they are asking for exemptions from the Los Angeles minimum wage.

"One of two things is happening here: either the unions don’t want the state to collectively bargain and phase them out of the picture altogether OR they want to dangle lower wages to businesses that aren’t currently unionized. Either way, their motives are never any good. One minute they want healthcare and higher wages…then when the government mandates it, they don’t want it anymore? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

"The bottom line is: we are pricing ourselves out of the labor market one city at a time. This is exactly why the US has lost its footing in manufacturing, customer service, and data entry. These entry level jobs just aren’t worth $15 per hour. This is one of the many reasons the unskilled and/or under-skilled are struggling to find jobs. This is why we import more from developing countries than we export. These are all part of the bigger picture of a failing US economy."

View entire article at:  http://www.globalwealthprotection.com/race-toward-15-minimum-wage/#comment-467650