The Competitive Enterprise Institute Daily Update
Issues in the News
1. CONGRESS
Congress considers legislation changing the rules for union organizing.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Editorial Director Ivan Osorio on the problems with the proposed “card check” rules:
“‘Card check’ circumvents a secret ballot election because it requires only that a majority of employees sign cards showing that they support union representation. Employees are often urged to sign cards publicly and in the presence of union organizers, which exposes them to high-pressure tactics that the secret ballot is intended to avoid.”
2. BUSINESS
Wal-Mart teams up with labor unions to launch a new health care program for workers.
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar Zachary Courser on how public perception has shaped the history of Wal-Mart.
“The current public debate surrounding Wal-Mart fits within a historical context of democratic responses to changes in the retail sector. From Sears Roebuck and the emergence of the mail order industry in the late 19th century to the various chain stores that emerged during the 1920s, the American public has proven wary of retail innovations. Wal-Mart, as the largest retailer in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America and the pioneer of the large discount chain store, is currently experiencing this same public wariness regarding its business practices and its role in the American economy.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
The European Union’s legal officials propose creating a new category of “environmental crimes”.
CEI Experts Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Iain Murray on the impulse to elevate scientific disagreement to the level of criminality:
“In its most extreme form, this phenomenon has involved calls for scientific versions of the Nuremberg Trials (from a writer at the environmental magazine Grist) and the equation of ‘climate change denial’ with Holocaust denial. Others have branded as criminal those who question restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.”