NILRR Weekly News Clips — June 21, 2013
‘Under 18′ Population of Forced-Unionism States Sank by Nearly 1.5
Million Over Past Decade
National Institute for Labor Relations Research, June 16, 2013,
U.S. Census Bureau data released last week (see the link above) show that, from 2002 to 2012, as in previous 10-year periods, Right to Work states’ population-growth advantage over forced-unionism states was widest among children aged 17 and under.
All 10 States Suffering Young-Adult Population Declines Over Past Decade Lack Right to Work Laws
National Institute for Labor Relations Research, June 16, 2013
U.S. Census Bureau data released this past week (see the link above) report for the first time on age-aggregated population totals for the 50 states in 2012. The Census Bureau also released revised data for earlier years.
Right to Work and a Test for Republicans
Wall Street Journal Online, June 14, 2013
According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, a nonprofit that analyzes the effects of mandatory unionism, private nonfarm employment in right-to-work states grew 12.5% between 2001 and 2011, compared with an anemic 3.5% in states with forced unionism. Those opposed to right-to-work laws claim that wages in states that have such laws are lower. But according to NILRR studies, the cost-of-living adjusted per capita disposable income was more than 7% higher in right-to-work states than in forced-unionism states in 2011.
New Study Blames Collective Bargaining for Education Stagnation
National Review Online, June 12, 2013
Over the past several decades, American teachers’ salaries and benefits have increased steadily, while the academic performance of the nation’s students has stagnated. In a new paper released on Wednesday, Sally Lovejoy and Chad Miller of the American Action Forum argue that teachers unions’ and their collective-bargaining policies are at least partly to blame for both issues.
Los Angeles Labor Unions Play Politics Like It’s Monopoly
Forbes Magazine Online, June 11, 2013
Labor unions view Los Angeles politics like it’s a game of Monopoly. They do their best to buy up as much property as possible through spending millions of dollars on friendly candidates. Then no matter which space the public voters land on, the union expectation is that they’ll directly benefit from the policies that come down from the City Council—even if those policies directly harm others.
Nuclear option uniting Republicans
Politico.com, June 18, 2013
Senate Republicans have found an issue to rally around as immigration reform threatens to cleave them: opposition to the Senate Democrats’ filibuster reform threat.
“We wanted to lay out the kind of agenda that a Senate Republican majority might pursue,” McConnell said of a post-nuclear option to-do list that would include repeal of Obamacare, right-to-work laws nationwide, approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Sean Higgins: Big Labor unprepared to battle new right-to-work laws
Washington Examiner Online, June 11, 2013
The four cases show how ill-prepared Big Labor is to fight right-to-work laws. Even top leaders struggle to debate the issue.
Right-to-work laws allow states to prohibit union contracts that require all employees to belong to a union or at least pay dues to one. In other words, they prevent workers from being forced to support a union.
Union groups trade barbs pending reorganization vote
fdlreporter.com, June 18, 2013
The corrections officers will decide whether or not to rejoin their former union, strike out on their own with the WACLE or continue to work without representation. The vote will take place by mail between June 28 and July 18. The workers will remain unrepresented unless one of the two groups gains 51 percent of the support from its membership. Union groups trade barbs pending reorganization vote
State Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal holding up Act 10
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online, June 14, 2013
The state Supreme Court announced Friday it was taking up a case that struck down parts of Gov. Scott Walker’s signature law limiting collective bargaining.