Bush's Labor Buddy
The president takes a powder on union democracy.
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST
URL:http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002912
President Bush has properly read the riot act to corporations about shareholder democracy, but his Administration is turning a blind eye to a similar problem in a surprising place--Big Labor. That failure has now led to the principled resignation of his own Labor Department's acting solicitor, Eugene Scalia.
The controversy concerns the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and its imperious president, Douglas McCarron. A group of Carpenters' dissidents can't get the Bush Labor Department to agree that a clear reading of labor law would invalidate the Byzantine election rules that Mr. McCarron has put in place to maintain his union control.
A federal circuit court has chastised Labor's rebuff of the dissidents and ordered Secretary Elaine Chao to explain this refusal to challenge the McCarron roadblocks to democracy. But Ms. Chao has apparently decided to follow the 2000 precedent set by her Clinton predecessor, Alexis Herman, and continues to back Mr. McCarron.
That a GOP Administration would side with Big Labor this way is striking enough, but especially so in the case of Mr. McCarron. He's notorious for stomping on union dissent, and he's one of those labor bosses who made out like Tyco in the Ullico scandal. Mr. McCarron has returned nearly $300,000 he gained through the insider knowledge he had of the union-owned insurance company's investment in Global Crossing. (See "Big Labor's Enron," August 20, 2002.)
But none of this seems to bother the White House, which has courted Mr. McCarron since he took his union out of the liberal AFL-CIO in 2001 in a dispute over back dues. Mr. McCarron hosted Mr. Bush at two Labor Day picnics and was a rare labor leader invited to the President's economic forum in Waco last August. He's also led the union contingent backing Mr. Bush on Alaskan oil drilling, among other issues. Though the Carpenters give more than 80% of their political cash to Democrats, Mr. Bush no doubt hopes he can win Mr. McCarron's re-election endorsement in 2004.
Now, working with union leaders is part of any President's job, but that shouldn't extend to overlooking Mr. McCarron's anti-democratic behavior. In order to protect his shaky hold on the union presidency back in 1996, he transferred almost all authority from the union's 2,200 locals to 55 regional councils. The locals were turned into shells and Mr. McCarron hand-picked the all-powerful council leaders under rules that virtually guaranteed their re-election.
Clintonite Ms. Herman ruled for Mr. McCarron, notwithstanding ample Labor Department precedent that bodies like the regional councils can't usurp the powers of union locals unless council leaders are directly elected by union members. Secretary Chao agreed after she took office.
But the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last February that Labor's legal position is illogical and indefensible because it goes against its own "regulation and prior decisions." Judge Juan Torruella, a Reagan appointee, went further in a concurring opinion and said Labor's decision against the dissidents was "arbitrary and capricious." The court sent the case back to Labor for a "more reasoned" explanation of its action.
So the case landed on the desk of Mr. Scalia, who was given a one-year recess appointment in late 2001 for the top legal spot at Labor after Teddy Kennedy blocked a confirmation vote (claiming he wouldn't enforce the labor laws). Mr. Scalia and others at Labor felt that the law was clear and the Department's defense of the Carpenters' regional councils untenable. Early last week word spread that Secretary Chao was planning nonetheless to continue to argue the original Clinton position in court. Mr. Scalia, who was about to be renominated, promptly resigned, citing personal reasons and issuing a statement that "now is an appropriate time for me to leave the Department."
Mr. Scalia declines further comment, and a Labor spokeswoman says the Carpenters' union case is still under review. The Labor Department also points out that the Bush Administration has banned all informal communications between the White House and enforcement agencies. Only last month Labor issued new financial reporting requirements for all unions that will make it easier for members to hold their leaders accountable.
All fair enough, but that still begs the question of Mr. Scalia's sudden departure. Having slugged it out with Democrats for nearly a year to win his post, he's hardly likely to walk away for no good reason now that Republicans control the Senate. An Administration that prides itself on cleaning up after the anything-goes Clinton ethos shouldn't tolerate even the appearance that politics has trumped the rule of law.
Questions will mount if Labor follows its Carpenters' decision with a failure to question Davis-Bacon laws mandating union wages on all federal construction projects; or if it doesn't aggressively challenge a district court decision striking down enforcement of the Supreme Court's Beck decision. That 1988 ruling, by noted liberal William Brennan, held that upon request unions must refund any dues not used for collective bargaining.
It's understandable that Mr. Bush wants union support, but the way to win that is with issues. That's how GOP candidates regularly win from one-third to 40% of union households on Election Day. The worst way to court union votes is by going soft on "labor bosses" (Mr. Bush's words from 2000) who trample rank-and-file union rights. As for Mr. Scalia, we'd say Senate Democrats owe him an apology |
