By Rebecca DiFede — Call it Big Labor’s favorite movie.
Whether through the National Labor Relations Board or OSHA inspectors, the Obama Administration has gone out of its way to coerce employers to get unionized — and to make sure pro-union shops get federal contracts.
One clear example of this was Executive Order 13494, enacted by President Obama on January 30th , 2009. Under the rule, non-union employers cannot use any funds from federal contracts to combat unionism by preparing and distributing materials, hiring or consulting legal counsel or consultants, holding meetings, or planning or conducting activities by managers, supervisors, or union representatives during work.
The implementation of this executive order discriminates against firms that are not pro-union and gives an advantage to those that are by adding additional expense to other firms and pricing them out of government contracts. Pricing right-to-work firms out of the market increases the cost of government contracts causing increases in overall government spending.
The purpose of the order is to “promote economy and efficiency in government contracting” by “departments and agencies, when they enter into, receive proposals for, or make disbursements pursuant to a contract as to which certain costs are treated as unallowable, shall treat as unallowable the costs of any activities undertaken to persuade employees.”
For example, if you are a firm that does both federal and private contracts, and the ratio is 90 percent federal to 10 percent private, this executive order renders you unable to use funds from the federal contracts to combat unionism. You are only permitted to use the profit from private jobs (10 percent in this example).
Understandably, this is causing quite a stir among non-union companies because they have access to a significantly smaller portion of their finances to combat the implementation of unions in their company, thereby make it easier for unions to simply take over a company without its input even being shared with its employees.
A side effect of the rule is the spiraling costs of federal contracts. Some estimates peg the costs of unionized contracts to be 17 percent higher than non-union contracts. This means 17 percent fewer roads and jobs.
“This executive order is nothing more than a barrier to non-union employers entry into federal government contracts to protect and expand the power of unions” commented Mark Wohlschlegel, Staff Attorney for Americans for Limited Government (ALG).
Talk about tyranny.
Typical of the Obama administration; protecting big labor and big government while hindering anyone else who doesn’t conform to their standards. This executive order increases the amount of taxpayer money that is spent per federal government contract which is taking money out of the hard-working American’s pocket simply because Obama has union ties (he was a community organizer, after all).
The only solution to this union overload is to repeal this executive order and show Obama that he cannot discriminate against certain businesses just because they do not support unionization. Otherwise, the workplace may turn into the scene for Big Labor’s favorite horror movie, “Invasion of the Profit Snatchers.”
Rebecca DiFede is a contributing editor to Americans for Limited Government.
