The Obama administration has the power to put a stop to union-busting of public sector unions by withholding federal funding to states. Remember this is how Presidents Carter and Reagan forced nationwide speed limits and drinking age laws.
It's actually existing law that federal transit funding be revoked to states that terminate collective bargaining agreements of transit workers.
Check out these two articles that appeared in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.cleveland.com/...
http://www.jsonline.com/...
The Obama administration also has the power to withhold federal education funding to states that terminate collective bargaining for teachers. And public safety federal funding to cities and states that that bust police and fire-fighter unions.
I live in Columbus,Ohio where Governor K-Sick and the GOP-controlled Statehouse are ramming through SB 5 which will effectively terminate collective bargaining for public workers. My state representative, John Patrick Carney (D), has spoken from the House floor that Ohio is jeopardizing $171 million in federal transit funding to the state by passing SB 5.
Yet the Columbus (Republican) Dispatch has been completely AWOL on this story. I contacted the editor and got this response: "The bill has been amended so that collective bargaining is no longer eliminated, just seriously limited – which SB 5 supporters contend gets around this requirement." I guess the Dispatch has decided that it's a non-issue based on reasoning provided by union-busting supporters.
The Obama admin could derail SB 5 and other union-busting bills by making it clear that he's on the side of the workers and threatening states that he will hold back federal funding to states that pass union-busting bills. DO IT NOW, Mr. President.
Governor Kasich speaks a lot about bringing the "speed of business" to Ohio. What's the speed of business going to look like when there are possibly huge cut-backs in bus routes in major Ohio cities if the feds hold back Ohio's $171 million of federal funding for mass transit? Major employers will be denied a huge chunk of their workers because of the lack of transportation.
I just emailed the White House and urged President Obama to support worker rights and make the admininstration aware that they have the power to effectively put a stop to the union-busting. Yet, it's been reported that President Obama and other administration cabinet members haven't shown up at the historic rallies in Madison, Columbus and other state capitals. A check of the White House blog shows that this issue isn't even showing up on their radar.
Which begs the question; President Obama, which side are you on?