George W. Bush

When Congress sent a seaport security bill to President Bush’s desk a few weeks ago, supporters were enthusiastic that our nation was giving top priority to a previously neglected area of national security.  Shipping terminals and cargo containers, they noted, are ideal places where terrorists, with some inside help, could place a bomb, possibly of mass destruction.  President George W. Bush, at the October 13 signing ceremony of the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006, also known as the SAFE Port Act, expressed the need for the law this way:  “Our seaports are a gateway to commerce, a source of opportunity, and a provider of jobs.  Our ports could also be a target of a terrorist attack, and we’re determined to protect them.”  The law, however, may be more significant for what it leaves out than for what it includes.  And what the bill leaves out, thanks to eleventh-hour deletions by certain union-friendly members of Congress, are safeguards against the hiring of hardened felons.  The American people can thank two longshoremen unions, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), for a major hand in this.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on April 23 upheld President George W. Bush's Executive Orderrequiring federal contractors to post notices informing employees that they cannot be compelled to join a union or pay union dues spent for partisan politics or other activities unrelated to collective bargaining.   

The 2-1 decision overturns a previous ruling from the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia that invalidated the President's Executive Order.  In addition to defending the order as amicus curiae in the case, the National Right to Work Foundation had called upon the Bush Administration to appeal the District Court's original decision and delivered over 100,000 signed grassroots petitions urging President Bush to defend his Executive Order from union attack.

"This ruling is a step toward informing employees they have the right not to be shaken down to pay for union political activities," stated Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.  "No employee should be forced to fund a political agenda they abhor as a job condition."

As reported in the last UCU issue, U.S. Dist. Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. (D.D.C., Clinton) struck down President Bush's Executive Order 13201 Jan. requiring fed. contractors to post notices informing employees of their rights not to join a union or to pay fees for nonrepresentational purpose, under the Supreme Court's 1988 decision, CWA v. Beck. The Nat'l Legal & Pol'y Ctr. was written President Bush requesting that he and his Administration appeal Kennedy's adverse ruling.  

According to BNA, the FY 2002 budget "blueprint" suggests that attention is being paid early in the Bush administration to longstanding concerns regarding a variety of Dep't of Labor programs that may be subject to fraud and abuse.  Issued Feb. 28, the preliminary budget referred to three areas identified in the past by the DOL's inspector general as in need of attention. These include programs that provide benefits to workers, such as the unemployment insurance (UI) program; administration of grant funds; and foreign labor certification programs.  DOL IG Gordon Heddell's spokesman said he "looks forward to working with" Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao "and her management team to address these longstanding issues." Heddell, a 28-year veteran of the federal law enforcement system was confirmed IG by the Senate on Dec. 15.