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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.
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Think back to when you were a kid. Did you think about being your own boss someday, growing your own business, working for yourself and hiring a few employees? Hard times or difficulties – you weren’t going to let it stop you, no matter what. The American Dream was going to be yours. And through your teens and twenties, you worked hard and smart. You saved and sacrificed to scrape enough money together to start a business, a franchised small business in this case.

But just when you had everything lined up, business plans finalized, and money saved, you were told by the franchise-granting business that it was both limiting the number of franchises and raising prices and franchising fees considerably, well out of your furthest financial reach. And it was doing this because of the decision of an agency you’d never heard of, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Hopes dashed.

The NLRB in recent years has greatly expanded something called the “joint employer rule.” This rule holds that the people whom you would employ and train are now joint employees of the parent business from which you buy the franchising rights. This rule could open the franchiser up to massive litigation, thus the price hikes and fees. It could also open you up to unionization election challenges of employees at other small businesses, who have no connection to you or your privately held business, except that they share the same franchise tag.

There goes your shot at the American Dream, and you find out that the person most responsible for the “joint employer” rule is Mark Pearce.

Now you can understand why the business community is in lock-step in opposing Pearce’s renomination when his term expires at the end of August. Senate Democrats are arguing that they get 2 seats of the 5-seat NLRB board and are threatening to gum up nominations for many of Trump’s appointees if they don’t get their way. This is a ridiculous tactic – former President Barack Obama said it best: “elections have consequences” and Trump won.

On behalf of businesses and workers across this country, President Trump should tell Democrats to choose another nominee or go pound sand. And he should encourage the Senate to pass the Save Local Businesses Act while he’s at it, following the lead of the House of Representatives.

The Save Local Businesses Act would do a lot to solve the problems created by the joint employer rule, but it’s doubtful that the current NLRB will be able to reverse all the damage done by previous board members. The NLRB is supposed to ultimately be under executive control, but also bipartisan and respecting of precedent and case law.

President Obama’s NLRB, spearheaded by Mark Pearce, was openly contemptuous of the board’s mission and mandate. You are going to think what I am about to say is a typo or an exaggeration, but I assure you it is not. According to a recent study, Obama’s NLRB overturned over 4,500 YEARS of collective precedent and case law.

They did this for one reason and one reason only: To rig the system to pay back labor bosses for their support of President Obama. Pearce and company thus put the good of a very few well connected union bosses ahead of the needs of the employers and workers whose treatment and relations they are supposed to try and improve.

There is no reason that stubborn Senate Democrats such as Chuck Schumer should hold the President hostage on this. Pearce must go, so that many people who are dreaming the American Dream can breathe a deep sigh of relief. Luckily for us, Trump knows exactly what to do – tell Pearce “you’re fired.”

Matt Cordio is co-founder and President of Skills Pipeline, a technology talent solutions company as well as the founder of Startup Milwaukee.