[Hat tip to Big Government.]
Would the executive branch of the United States Government selectively enforce laws to achieve political goals? Would they even be willing to effectively entrap companies in order to force them to join the big labor allies of this administration?
In fact, according to an article at Big Government the Obama administration is doing just that, including taxpayer-funded Public Service Announcements by Labor Secretary Solis, Dolores Huerta – a union activist and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the well known intellectual Jimmy Smits.
The video linked by Big Government starts with President Obama’s Labor Secretary Hilda Solis:
I’m U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and it is a serious problem when workers in this country are not being paid every cent they earned.
Remember every worker in America has the right to be paid fairly whether documented or not.
We can help.
All three of these activists make the claim that “every worker in America” has a right to be payed “fairly… whether documented or not.” Then they provide a phone number and promise confidentiality for whistle-blowers. This is a government agency using your tax dollars to try to solicit calls from illegal aliens to report the companies for which they are working illegally – though it is a safe bet that the “undocumented” worker is not going to lose his job or get deported.
From the article in Big Government:
Here is how this works. Undocumented workers call the DOL hot line and say that they are being unfairly paid by Employer X. Armed with this information, DOL investigators call Employer X and say they have evidence that Employer X has hired so-called undocumented workers and that it may have wage violations. The DOL investigators suggest that some type of remediation needs to occur, and then DOL will likely offer a list of options, any combination of which may be used: multiple substantial fines, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation, Wage & Hour investigation, IRS audit, and possibly imposition of a union contract to help prevent future calls from DOL.
Think about that for a minute. Not only is the federal government refusing to enforce our immigration laws, but they will always error on the side of giving illegal aliens a pass. Far from the simple incompetence that we all expect from our government, this is all part of a strategy that I outlined in Statism’s Intentional Failures, in which the federal government intentionally allows a problem to fester in pursuit of expanded powers in the longer term. In this specific example, the federal government itself created the illegal immigration problem, then has the audacity to use your tax dollars to solicit calls from illegal aliens to demand their so-called “fair” wage. The immediate result is an investigation of that company for – you got it – hiring illegal aliens!
At this point, the Obama administration steps in and plays the role of organized crime thugs. They make the company an offer that it cannot refuse: either face DOL investigations and fines and IRS audits… or agree to unionize. Given their complicity in the border problem, they have essentially entrapped these companies into committing a crime so that they can use that to force them to unionize.
The Big Government article goes on to provide compelling evidence that the real aim here has nothing to do with immigration, it is to force companies into becoming unionized. The mere fact that the government provides that option as a choice for avoiding punishment shows clearly that the labor unions own this administration. This plea bargain forced unionization by the Obama administration is outright extortion, financed with your tax dollars.
You can be an illegal alien working for a company, pick up the phone and report your employer, then have your pay and benefits improve thanks to [this] Uncle Sam’s incestuous relationship with both American and international labor unions.
This is another step in the Obama Administration’s continuing shakedown of employers in an attempt to entice them into agreeing to force their employees into unions.
With the legal costs associated with multiple federal agency investigations and the risks of heavy fines, Employer X could be forced out of business. Under these conditions, Employer X might begin to believe that sacrificing his workers’ rights and forcing them into a union is an option worth taking.
Loos makes a strong case for his assertion that the Obama administration is involved in this pro-union entrapment and extortion, and concludes with this:
These DOL videos provide another peek inside DOL under the Obama Administration. Sec. Solis and her forced unionism allies intend to use the power of the federal government to force documented and undocumented workers to expand the ranks of SEIU and other unions at the cost of individual worker freedom and choice. Congress should defund these forced unionism programs; stop Sec. Solis from using the Wage & Hour Division to intimidate workers; and specifically exclude payments to or contracts with unions as a condition of settlement or negotiation with an employer.
Barack Obama is the Godfather, and his capos are his buddies who run the big labor unions. They brought their Chicago Way to the beltway.
