There’s a political fight going on inside the White House over who should be the next labor secretary. The outcome should matter a lot to conservatives, business leaders, and people who care about the competitiveness of the U.S. economy.Democrats created the Labor Department decades ago to increase the power of big labor union bosses — just as they created the Education Department for the benefit of teacher unions. An assortment of major issues will confront the labor secretary. Will right-to-work laws in half the states be upheld? Will union card check elections be allowed, a trick the union bosses have contrived to get around secret ballot elections, and instead bully workers into voting for union representation whether they really want it or not? A huge issue confronting businesses is whether the franchise rule will continue to allow the tens of thousands of small franchise owners of a Burger King or a Popeyes can operate independently, or whether unions and trial lawyers can sue the deep-pocketed franchisor for infractions. If that happens, kiss goodbye to the almost uniquely American model of small business franchise ownership.
Then there are issues related to racial and gender hiring preferences, climate change, and required fringe benefits that are at stake in this fight. Will the government be required to bail out underfunded union pension funds? Who will fight union corruption in the way tens of billions of dollars of union dues are spent? Will Uber drivers have to join a union? Should we have a $15, $20, or even $ 25-an-hour minimum wage that could put millions of Americans out of work?
