It’s not hard to see the march of corporate power in this country. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has gone out of its way to accept cases that have given it the opportunity to hand victory after victory to powerful corporate interests. Corporate profits are soaring while families struggle to pay the bills. And newly-elected governors like Scott Walker are moving to dismantle worker protections and give employers more opportunities to take advantage of their employees.
Now those same powerful corporate interests have found a new target in the National Labor Relations Board, the agency charged with upholding and enforcing the country’s labor laws.
Worker protections are vital to the lives and liberty of all Americans, and it’s in everyone’s interest to make sure those laws are followed and enforced. Labor laws prevent unsafe working conditions, help ensure decent wages, and protect the rights of Americans to organize, bargain, and express themselves in the workplace. Anyone who professes to support the American Dream – that hard work is rewarded and parents can expect to provide a good future for their children – should support the labor laws that protect working families.
And yet, sensing an opportunity to score political points with pro-corporate, anti-union conservative activists, Republican politicians are lining up to attack NLRB and subsequently make it more difficult – if not impossible – to enforce the country’s labor laws.
Republicans in the U.S. Senate have publicly called on NLRB to dismiss a pending complaint against Boeing, without even examining the facts of the case. Recently, a Republican presidential candidate – and former Speaker of the House – has said that the entire NLRB should be defunded, thus leaving everyday Americans without a key resource in standing up for their rights.
Nobody should be in the business of keeping Americans from seeking justice, least of all members of Congress. Yet Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is holding a field hearing on a labor complaint against Boeing – a political circus designed to intimidate NLRB’s non-political staff into dropping the complaint. Issa’s hearing tomorrow is presenting anti-union politicians with more opportunities to bully, harass, and impede, all with the goal of preventing NLRB from bringing workers’ complaints before a judge.
Congressman Issa has made it a point during his chairmanship to use his gavel to expand corporate power and decimate the institutions that promote fairness and equality in America. This political crusade against a federal law-enforcement agency on behalf of a corporate behemoth is just the latest chapter.
Whatever his motives, Congressman Issa has opened the door, and others will march through, continuing the assault against the laws that protect individuals from corporate overreach.
There’s a slippery-slope argument to be made – What’s next? If politicians can force one agency to stop enforcing labor laws, why not food-safety laws? – but I think Congressman Issa’s political circus is odious enough on its face.
When Governor Walker began his anti-labor crusade in Wisconsin, some people were surprised by the backlash. I guess the assumption was that only union members care about union members, and that each of us only looks after our own interests. But if there's one thing everyone -- even Darrell Issa -- should have learned, it's that fairness and justice matter to all Americans, and we're willing to fight for them.