We've Moved!

On Friday January 14th the Vancouver Business Journal launched a newly designed website. We are happy to announce that vbjusa.com now hosts the Just Business blog. We'll see you there and don't forget to update your bookmark!

Meet Your Neighbors

Barre3 Vancouver With its unique combination of yoga, pilates & ballet, Barre3 is not your average exercise studio. We visited Carrie Caldroney, owner of Barre3 Vancouver, to get a better idea of what they're all about. Caldroney talks about the challenges of competing with larger gyms and what she hopes to ultimately bring to the Vancouver community.

► On the Record

“Now more than ever, the people of Washington demand access and accountability from their government—and I’m happy to support the Constitutional Transparency Amendment as one important way to give it to them,”

-- Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna, in support of the Washington Policy Center’s recent proposal for a constitutional amendment to improve legislative transparency.

Business From Around the Northwest

WA state lawmakers want better oil spill response, Bloomberg Business Week

Gregoire’s optimism met with caution, The Spokesman-Review

Worried farmers take pesticide fight to Olympia, TriCity Herald

Reporter's Notebook

John McDonagh can be reached at jmcdonagh@vbjusa.com

It’s time for building business not rule making

In slack economies it’s important to focus on customers and core competencies. In many cases, it’s the time to grab market share by better serving local customers. In other cases, it’s by taking your product or service to similar customers in adjacent markets. In either instance, success comes from businesses working with the products and services they know best.

With that in mind, you might understand my disgust when hearing of two government agencies that see it as the time to implement new and onerous rules that, on the surface, serve no purpose whatsoever.

At the Legislative Forecast Breakfast last month, Representative Ed Orcutt reminded the room that as early as last summer he petitioned the governor in a letter to suspend any new rule making at the state level until the economy regained some stability statewide. He went on to say that the Department of Ecology for the state of Washington sees no reason to hold back as it continues to advance new rules affecting everything from development to agriculture.

Just a few days letter, I read that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has suggested a new regulation that has no apparent urgency, other than to let the unions know who the new members of the NLRB are.

The rule would require most employers to let employees know (through the posting of information in break rooms and the like) of their right to organize and collectively bargain. While I support that right of workers and believe it should be preserved, I don’t believe it is incumbent on employers to communicate that to employees.

Let’s look at the facts.

Just 7.2 percent of the private sector workforce is currently covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, there were no specific cases mentioned in support of the new regulation that suggested workers are being somehow oppressed or otherwise shielded from the right to organize.

In support of this new regulation, the NLRB said it believes many employees protected by the National Labor Relations Act are not aware of this right. Wouldn’t a more prudent approach be to determine if their belief has any substance before mandating such an action by employers? And should the responsibility lie with employers to communicate that right? Isn’t that the responsibility of the NLRB or the unions? Employers are already required to allow dissemination of union information at the workplace and during work time.

In my opinion, this appears to be a politically motivated rule for the purposes of advancing unions in the private sector workplace. At a time when businesses are doing everything possible to remain in business, is it really the right time to require us to promote unions? As employers we should strive to create a workplace that respects our employees, clearly lays out expectations and competitively rewards them for their efforts. If we don’t do these things, our employees have a right to organize in an effort to improve their lot. However, educating them about that right should not fall on employers. Rather, business owners should focus on the things within their control to make the need to organize irrelevant.

► On the Record

“With a national unemployment rate now at 9.4 percent – the lowest rate since May 2009 – this is an indication that the labor market is improving reasonably quickly. However, this does not seem to be the case with the construction industry as today’s numbers may be a reflection of numerous factors in the economy including still subdued confidence among business owners and decision-makers.”

-- Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu following a report by the U.S. Labor Department that said the construction industry ended 2010 with a jobless rate of 20.7 percent.

Business From Around the Northwest

Montana, Washington governors discuss coal exports, Associated Press via Business Week


MASTERING HIS FIELD: Self-educated Eugene developer Steve Master calls himself an “opportunist” and credits persistence for much of his success, Eugene Register Guard


Verizon to Finally Get iPhone, The Wall Street Journal


A special link from the editor