Made-in-America: Data Shows New Labor Board Rule Speeds Union Votes

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WSJ: NEW LABOR BOARD RULE SPEEDS UNION VOTES
Business groups that feared a new federal rule would speed hundreds of union-organizing elections were right to worry: The average election time has fallen by 40% since the rule took effect in April, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

The revamped process has whittled down the election process for private-sector workers to about three weeks on average, compared with about five weeks or more during fiscal 2014.

The finding—based on data from the National Labor Relations Board, which completed the rule in December to streamline the election process, is drawing fire from groups concerned that companies won’t have enough time to push back against union campaigns under the new guidelines. To read more the new labor-board rule, click here.

OSHKOSH WINS $30 BILLION JLTV AWARD OVER LOCKHEED MARTIN, AM GENERAL
After courting three of the nation’s largest defense contractors for the past three years, the Pentagon on Tuesday (Aug. 25) announced Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense as the winner of a $30 billion award to build nearly 55,000 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps over the next 25 years. Lockheed Martin was a finalist for the big military project, which would have benefitted the company’s Camden facility and other parts of south Arkansas.

NEW BIG RIVER STEEL CEO GIVES PROMISING SALES REPORT TO LAWMAKERS
Big River Steel has pre-sold nearly a quarter of the steel it is expected to produce over the next seven years, the company’s new CEO told a legislative committee Wednesday. Dave Stickler, who replaced the late John Correnti, told lawmakers the flex-mill, which is expected to open in March 2016, will produce 1.6 million short tons of steel each year. Contracts with companies are typically based on seven-year deals, with five years of operating time, Stickler said.

PENTAGON ANNOUNCES ‘FLEXTECH’ MANUFACTURING INNOVATION INSTITUTE FOR WEARABLE ELECTRONICS
As part of the Department of Defense effort to partner with the private sector and academia to ensure the United States continues to lead in the new frontiers of manufacturing, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the Obama administration will award a Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Flexible Hybrid Electronics to a consortium of 162 companies, universities, and non-profits led by the FlexTech Alliance.

The announcement follows a highly competitive nationwide bid process for the seventh of nine such manufacturing institutes launched by the administration, and the fifth of six manufacturing institutes led by the Department of Defense. Part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation announced by President Obama in 2012, this newest institute will bring the best minds from government, industry and academia together to advance U.S. leadership in manufacturing “wearable” or flexible hybrid electronics.

The emerging flexible hybrid electronics sector promises to revolutionize the electronics industry, and the Silicon Valley-based FlexTech consortium, backed by companies as diverse as Apple and Lockheed Martin and major research universities including Stanford and MIT, represents the next chapter in the long-standing public-private partnerships between the Pentagon and tech community.