AFL-CIO Boss Dodges Legislative Nuclear Option Question

Card Check Real Threat To American Workers & Businesses

Washington, D.C. (December 19, 2013) – The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) issued the following statement in response to Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) who participated this morning in Politico’s Playbook Breakfast:

“Big Labor bosses have spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying access to elected officials, starting with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. They have actively sought payback, and in return, received preferential treatment from both the executive and legislative branches, including confirmation of deeply flawed nominees to important federal agencies and obtaining an exemption from portions of the Affordable Care Act,” said Fred Wszolek, spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). “But what labor bosses have set their eyes on is the Employee ‘Forced’ Choice Act, legislation which will virtually eliminate the secret ballot and empower government bureaucrats to mandate contracts on employees and employers alike. Just today, when asked whether union bosses would seek the nuclear option on legislation, meaning the filibuster is no longer an option, in an effort to secure card check, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka dodged the question focusing his rhetoric on obstructionism. To be clear, EFCA remains a very real threat and Big Labor will stop at nothing to obtain it – particularly when they have spent a fortune financing the campaigns of the same elected officials they expect to deliver a government takeover of America’s small business.”

BACKGROUND:

QUESTION: Reporter: “Let’s say there’s a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate, would you push for the use of the nuclear option on legislation to enact card check?”

ANSWER: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: “I … On the House side? There is no nuclear … well the filibuster you’re talking about … I … You know look, I think you’ve got a normal process that you normally go through. When somebody becomes obstructionist then I think you have to do something. You look at what’s happening, on the Senate side these guys have filibustered more in the last three years than they have the 30 years combined before that. They filibuster people for every position, take the three judges here in the D.C. Circuit. Nina Pillard, exemplary, well we’re going to do that because until you do something on taxes … You know, three quality judges that they just filibustered. You know, that stuff’s got to stop. It’s got to stop some way and I hope it stops at the ballot box. I hope that the American people say, we’ve had enough of this, you’re an obstructionist, you care more about a political issue than you do about this country, we’re going to vote against you. And barring that, then they did a rules change on appointments, well at this point in the President’s administration he’s five years in. You have more vacancies than any other President before him. He can’t even get normal people appointed to make the government run. Now that is part of their strategy, they want to make government look bad, you don’t put the people in that can make it run so it looks bad so they can say see how bad it looks don’t put more people in. It’s part of their strategy and we’ve got to break through that, we really do.” (Politico’s Playbook Breakfast, 12/19/13)

Flashback:

Union Bosses Demand EFCA As “Payback.” “Gerald McEntee, president of the influential American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told The Washington Times in an interview that EFCA was ‘payback’ for the labor movement’s massive campaign effort for Mr. Obama and the Democrats … ‘I think our people have to be able to see that the Democrats, including Obama, are fighting … for these kinds of things and not backing off or backing away,’ Mr. McEntee said.” (David R. Sands, “Labor’s ‘Priority’ On Back Burner,” The Washington Times, 12/29/08)

The Workforce Fairness Institute is an organization committed to educating voters, employers, employees and citizens about issues affecting the workplace. To learn more, please visit: https://www.workforcefairness.com.

To schedule an interview with a Workforce Fairness Institute representative, please contact Lauren Zelt at (202)-677-7060.

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