OBAMA'S PRO-LABOR ADMINISTRATION

OBAMA’S PRO-LABOR ADMINISTRATION

In addition to Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, who comes from a strongly pro-union family, the Obama administration is full of many pro-labor advocates who will do what is necessary to consummate the successful passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The list of pro-labor members of the current administration includes the following:

Parrick Gaspard, a political director in the White House, had been executive VP for legislation for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Ronald W. Bloom, who had been an assistant to the president of the United Steelworkers of America, is a member of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.

J. Randolph Babbitt, who had been president of the Air Line Pilots Association, is now an FAA Administrator.

T. Michael Kerr, an Assistant Labor Secretary, has worked for AFSCME and the SEIU.
Wilma Liebman, who will serve as chair of the NLRB, had previously served as counsel to the Bricklayers and Teamsters Unions.

Joseph C. Szabo, Federal Railroad Administrator, had been the Illinois legislative director of the United Transportation Union.

Helen Kanovsky, general counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had previously worked for the AFL-CIO.

The list goes on and on, and it is apparent that the Obama Administration will be profoundly pro-labor. It is, therefore, essential that Corporate America develop effective and innovative techniques for dealing effectively with aggressive new union organizing and bargaining policies.

I have recently written an article entitled How Corporate America Can Deal with the Proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which appears on the website of Industry Week magazine and can be found at http://www.industryweek.com/articles/viewpoint_--_how_corporate_america_can_deal_with_the_proposed_employee_free_choice_act_18884.aspx