From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Unions are pushing state lawmakers to pass legislation that would make organizing workers easier, as efforts to rewrite federal organizing laws remain stalled in Congress," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "Oregon passed the Worker Freedom Act, which prohibits companies from holding mandatory employee meetings to talk about organizing. Employers say mandatory meetings, known as 'captive audience meetings,' are necessary to counter misleading information disseminated by union organizers. Unions say employers use the meetings to gauge worker sympathies and pressure workers not to join the union."

• "President Obama's nominee for a top weapons-buying job at the Pentagon recently served as a paid adviser for a big defense contractor and is declining to disclose whom else he has worked for on a government ethics form designed to help the public guard against potential conflicts of interest," the Washington Times reports. "Frank Kendall III, Mr. Obama's pick for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, received $75,000 in consulting fees last year from defense contractor SAIC Inc., according to his recently filed disclosure form. He also reported fees totaling $8,500 from Centra Technology, another defense contractor."