January 16, 2002
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20502
Dear Mr. President:
As the nation’s leading monitor of labor union corruption, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) is extremely concerned about U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy’s decision to strike down Executive Order 13201 requiring federal contractors to post notices informing employees of their rights not to join a union or pay union fees for nonrepresentational activities such as politics. UAW-Labor Employment & Training Corp. v. Chao, No. 01cv00950 (D.D.C. summary judgment Jan. 2, 2002).
Executive Order 13201 as well as the Department of Labor’s proposed rule (29 C.F.R. § 470) implementing the Order were important steps forward in the on-going effort to enforce the Supreme Court’s landmark decision Communications Workers of America v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988). As we stated in our comment on the proposed rule, advancing employees’ Beck rights is good, just, and moral policy. For engaging in such badly needed reform, you and your Administration must be highly commended.
However, such vital and substantive labor law reform must not fall by the wayside. If you have not already done so, we strongly encourage you and your Administration to appeal Judge Kennedy’s adverse ruling, which misapplies the National Labor Relations Act and established precedent.
The benefits to employees of a successful appeal and a triumph for strong Beck rights are numerous. For example, Beck rights enable employees to protect their hard-earned money from union corruption. As the Department of Labor can well attest, America is experiencing a rising wave of union corruption (see NLPC’s Union Corruption Update on the Internet at http://www.nlpc. org/olap/ucu/index.htm). Likewise, vigorous promotion of Beck rights makes it easier for employees to exercise their First Amendment freedom to fund political candidates and causes of their own choice or none at all.
Please fight to save Executive Order 13201, and please continue to look for other means of enhancing employees’ ability to exercise their Beck rights. (For ideas, see my recent testimony to Rep. Charlie Norwood’s House Education and Workforce Subcommittee at http://www.nlpc.org/olap/congress/011114.htm.) Thank you for your consideration of this request, and thank you for all the good work you are doing for our country.
Sincerely,
Kenneth F. Boehm
Chairman
cc:
Attorney General John Ashcroft
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Representative Charlie Norwood
Solicitor General Theodore Olson
Solicitor of Labor Eugene Scalia
Organized Labor Accountability Project