A blog reader called the other day to see if she could excerpt “Regulatory Whack-a-Mole“, below, for her association newsletter.(We blushingly agreed.) In the course of our conversation, she put her finger on an issue that we danced around but didn’t directly hit: FACA.

FACA is the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Enacted a few decades ago, its purpose is to make sure that any group that provides ongoing advice to the federal government does so in an open and transparent way. Under FACA, a federal agency continually seeking advice from a standing outside group needs to charter the group, open any meetings to the public and provide a public record of all proceedings.

Since OSHA appears to be ceding its authority wholesale to ACGIH, ought this not be subject to the rigors of FACA? At the very least, ACGIH meetings where the work is done should be open to the public and a public record made of the proceedings, no? At the end of day, these folks appear to have far more authority than groups that have far more scrutiny. Maybe it’s time for the FACA-ization of the ACGIH.

Let the sun shine.

For those of you looking for some fun facts on manufacturing, here are some PowerPoint slides with some good info on manufacturing’s contribution to the US economy and on the NAM agenda. Use them as you see fit in carrying the manufacturing story out there in the provinces, where the battle is being fought.

Did you know that there’s a World’s Fair this year? Didn’t think so. Aichi 2005 is happening from March 25 – Sept. 25 in Nagoya, Japan. The NAM will be there the week of May 23, meeting with various dignitaries and touting US manufacturing at the US Pavilion, where we will be a sponsor along with a number of prominent US manufacturers. In keeping with the Expo theme of energy conservation, we’ll be releasing a study on energy conservation and innovation sponsored by NAM member and Expo sponsor Johnson Controls. Here’s an information sheet on the NAM’s participation in Aichi 2005.

In a Daily Labor Report article by Michelle Amber earlier this month, she reports that “between 80 and 100″ out of some 400 employees will be laid off from the AFL-CIO as a result of the “refocus of the federation’s resources with a greater emphasis on political action and other priorities.” The cuts will take place later this year. It does make us wonder, though, if they’re cutting staff, shouldn’t they “refocus” on organizing and not on political action? Seems to us that the failed focus on political action is what got them into layoff mode in the first place. What are we missing?

Interesting article by the by the Wall Street Journal’s Sue Shellenbarger in her “Work & Family” column last week, saying that lying is on the upswing in the workplace. Citing surveys by CCH, Inc. and Kronos, Inc. done over the past year, she reports that some 60% of those who call in sick aren’t sick at all. More relevant to needed changes in federal policy, she notes that “Groups that track family leave use say more employees are stretching the reasons for taking time off, even claiming that a common cold warrants a medical leave.” We will note for the record our true and sincere belief that the vast majority of employees are honest and conscientious. However, there are some who are ruining it for the rest. There are people out there who constantly game the system, especially as it pertains to FMLA leave. The initial concept of “serious medical condition” in the law has been rendered virtually meaningless in its application. Hopefully you are tracking your leave and letting us know what you find. Some NAM members have wonderful bar graphs that show inordinate usage of FMLA leave on Mondays and Fridays, for example. If you have any information, you should share it with the NAM’s VP of HR Policy, Sandy Boyd.

In a poll released this week, almost 60% of union members showed interest in creating personal retirement accounts for Social Security, if they had the option. The President’s plan would give people the option of investing a portion of their Social Security in a personal account which would — God forbid — grow at a faster rate than Social Security. Better still, workers would own it and could pass it along to their heirs.

Of course, union members — who have proven time and time again that they are smarter than their leadership — realize this and support it. These would be the same union members who increasingly own stock in their companies, so they get it.

The same poll showed that union members overwhelmingly support Congressional action now to fix Social Security, another position at odds with their leadership. Once again, their leadership is so out of touch with the wishes and beliefs of their membership, from supporting bigger government — and the higher taxes on their members that it brings — to supporting candidates with dismal records on manufacturing, it’s just one more way that they are out of touch with their members.

Soon-to-be retired John Sweeney should pay heed to his members’ wishes.

Birds fly, dogs bark, OSHA regulates. That’s the way of the world. In this regard especially, OSHA has been the Energizer Bunny, relentless in its energy and determination to regulate.

However, in its zeal, OSHA has fairly often overlooked some of the niceties of a thing called the law and more precisely a law called the Administrative Procedures Act. For their sins, OSHA has been repeatedly sued – by unions and companies alike – and rebuffed for their “ready, fire, aim” regulatory proclivities, science be damned.

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Don’t know if you Washingtonians saw Amy Joyce’s article on the front page of the Washington Post last Saturday about how some folks use their blogs as shameless marketing ploys. We were shocked, frankly. Happily, she didn’t mention us, as it appears they are preparing an entire special edition on the NAM blog. We’re that huge.

In any event, on a related topic, here’s a very cool video that we released at National Manufacturing Week last month. If this doesn’t make you proud to be a member of the NA of M, we don’t know what will. You’ll see NAM Board Members Kellie Johnson, Kendig Kneen, the omnipresent Al Stimac, and Ursula Burns. Sharp-eyed viewers will even see the blogger-in-chief at the 1:36 mark. A special thanks to our own Beth “Spielberg” Solomon who put it all together. Way cool.

There are champions and there are champions, but Al Stimac, CEO of Metal Essence is a one-man army for manufacturing. Here’s a great article about him, a true American success story, from The Manufacturer. It covers all his innovation and touches on his passion for manufacturing, but unless you know Al, it doesn’t really do him justice. A Croatian immigrant and a completely self-made man, he has single-handedly put manufacturing on the map in Florida, working tirelessly with his friend Gov. Jeb Bush. He has unified diverse manufacturing groups in Florida and has helped push manufacturing to the top of the agenda there. He really is an inspiration to those of us lucky enough to know him and work around him. Oh, and did we mention that he’s an NAM Board member? Yeah, he does that in his spare time.

Anyway, a great article — enjoy. And watch out, he’s got his sights set on the rest of the country.

For those of us who only now caught up with the summer blockbuster movie, “The Incredibles“, we find that the real villains in the movie are — you guessed it — the trial bar. This was a fact somehow lost in the film’s marketing, we think. But it was a central part of the plot.

Here’s this plot description from the Internet Movie Database (IMDB), the on-line authority on all things film-related:

Mr. Incredible is a superhero; or he used to be, until a surge of lawsuits against superheroes submitted by the people they’ve saved forced the government to hide them in witness protection programs so they could lead normal, anonymous lives.

Of course, Mr. Incredible returns to his superhero status, no thanks to the lawyers, and saves the day. A great film and one that reminded us once again that it’s not only the superhero manufacturers that have to deal with these stupid lawsuits all the time.