Unintended Consequences of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis’ Witch Hunt

September 11th 2011 

In less than two weeks, on September 21st, the public comment period will be closing on a Department of Labor scheme to have companies report the amount of money paid by employers to outside vendors (namely, attorneys, PR firms, website developers, video firms, polling firms and just about every type of communications and human resource consultant) as newly-minted “persuaders.”

Once the public comment closes, and because too few people really understand the ramifications to have made comments so far, Hilda Solis and her union cronies inside the Department of Labor will likely issue the new regulations and the union political witch hunt will begin.

You see, the information paid by an employer to anyone of these vendors will then be made available to the public—to unions, to be more precise. Think of it as the DISCLOSE Act for private sector businesses. More importantly, because its a criminal offense not to file disclosure forms with the DOL, failure to file could lead to jail time for the newly-named ‘persuaders’ and the employers who hire them.

For those who already filed with the Department of Labor, the added paperwork will be cumbersome. However, that may very well be worth it when those close to the Democratic Party realize that Hilda and her union cohorts will have caught them up in her new regulations as well.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Some might call it The Law of Unintended Consequences or, another term, could be friendly fire. Hilda Solis and her band of merry collectivists are about to commit a friendly-fire massacre on their own kind. And, if they don’t know who will be caught up in their witch hunt yet, they can read a few of the names shortly.


First, some background: Back in June, Barack Obama’s Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, along with her union cronies in her office, released a proposed rule to broaden the definition of what the Department of Labor classifies as a “persuader.” Under the 1959 Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, a persuader is someone who persuades employees in the exercise of their to unionize or refrain from unionizing.

Since 1959, persons who physically meet with and ‘persuade’ employees have had to file financial reports with the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards to report the amount of money received by employers. Likewise, employers are also required to file reports with the DOL on the amount of money paid to said ‘persuader(s).’

For years, however, unions have complained about the amount of resistance they meet when targeting companies and the amount of money companies spend on ‘union busters.’ While those people who meet directly with employees do routinely file with the DOL, unions have felt that companies that use attorneys or those who do not meet directly with employees should also file financial disclosure statements with the Department of Labor.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a former Congresswoman and board member to the union-funded American Rights at Work* ( the unions’ primary astroturf group that pushed the failed and hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act) has been so zealous in her pursuit of changing the regulations that she reportedly has told people that she cannot wait to “perp walk” a specific law firm.

• Mary Beth Maxwell, American Rights at Work’s founding executive director became Hilda Solis’ senior adviser at the Labor Department.

Now, with the DOL’s proposed rule being written so broadly, there will be many unsuspecting people who know little or nothing about unions and have nothing to do with persuading employees but, because their work product may be considered “indirectly to persuade employees concerning their rights to organize or bargain collectively,” will be considered ‘persuaders.’ Here are a few likely examples:

• A communications consultant who coaches management on how to structure and effectively manage employee teams
• A productivity consultant who designs and implements total quality management teams, which give employees a voice in the success of their companies’ products.
• A safety consultant who helps establish safety committees that give employees the ability to voice safety concerns with their employer and resolve safety issues
• A human resources consultant that designs, writes, or implements employee handbooks or policies [Note: The Society of Human Resources membership is loaded with tens of thousands of full and part-time human resource consultants that the DOL's proposed regulation would likely apply to.]

Those are just a few of those who probably are unaware that they too will be targeted by the Department of Labor. Now, here a just a few of the bigger names that will likely have to file and open their companies’ (or firms’) books as “persuaders.”...

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