NILRR Clipsheet, July 25, 2014
It’s unions that treat nonmembers as ‘whipping boys’: Guest opinion
Oregonlive.com, July 22, 2014
The normally calm Nesbitt states that the high court has made “whipping boys” of both unions and home care workers. I disagree. It is government employee unions that have been treating home care workers as whipping boys. Until the Supreme Court’s ruling last month, these workers had to join the union or pay a special fee to cover the costs the unions incurred representing non-members. And Oregon school teachers and public workers still have to join a union or pay the union a fee as a condition of employment. These workers are the real whipping boys and girls, and government employee unions are the ones cracking the whip.
Unions Weird Old Survival Trick Coming to a Congress Near You
LaborPains.org, July 22, 2014
An MSNBC report indicates that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) intends to introduce legislation to make union organizing a “civil right.” While Ellison’s legislative language has not yet been introduced, he expressed the desire to make it easier for pro-union employees who felt that their rights were violated to sue their employers.
Obama Honors Union Fronts at White House Ceremony
Washington Free Beacon Online, July 22, 2014
The White House honored several union front groups on Tuesday for their work supporting President Barack Obama’s agenda.
Right-To-Work Study Destroys Obama’s Claim That Forcing Americans To Join Unions Helps The Economy
Independent Journal Review Online, July 21, 2014
In December of 2012, speaking in front of a union audience, President Obama was cheered when he claimed that “right-to-work” laws – laws that allow employees to decide for themselves whether to join a union – were all about politics and had nothing to do with economics. In other words, he was advocating for forced unionism.
Turns out he was incredibly wrong.
City Council overrides mayor’s veto on “right-to-work” ordinance
wane.com, July 22, 2014
Fort Wayne City Council members have voted to override Mayor Tom Henry’s veto of an ordinance that would affect public safety workers’ right to belong to a union. the second time in just over a month, Fort Wayne City Council overrode Mayor Tom Henry’s veto, making police and fire union membership optional.
The Latest Public-Sector Pension Scandal
Reason.com, July 14, 2014
The bribing of Buenrostro was part of a successful effort by a New York money management firm (which claims it had no knowledge of the bribe and has not been charged with any wrongdoing) to win $3 billion in business managing pension money for California state employees and retirees.
Big Labor wants ‘schedules that work’ — just not for them
Washington Examiner Online, July 24, 2014
Leading Democratic lawmakers and allied liberal groups are promoting the legislation this week to end abusive work scheduling practices. The bill, titled the Schedules that Work Act, would give employees more rights to demand flexible work schedules and demand an end to long, irregular work shifts.
Major Union Handily Defeated As Adjunct Professors Reject Unionization
thecollegefix.com, July 24, 2014
Last month’s vote to unionize by Hamline University’s adjunct faculty apparently had little effect on its fellow Minnesota private school, the University of St. Thomas, whose adjuncts resoundingly voted against joining the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) this week.
The 136-84 St. Thomas vote against unionizing showed a rare setback for the union’s Adjunct Action project, which had boasted of a steady stream of schools’ adjuncts voting to unionize, including at a fellow Jesuit school, Georgetown University.
The union pushed ahead at St. Thomas despite calling off a similar election in June at nearby Macalester College “amid growing dissent about the vote,” the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
The Chattanoogan.com, July 12, 2014
The taxpayers have been left out on a limb and learned through trickle-down information released gradually though the years just what allowing VW to locate here has cost us. That element should not be forgotten by both VW and the politicians when they consider asking anything more from us to buy another slot at Enterprise South for manufacture of an SUV, with UAW chomping at the bits to get part of the action while at the same time sticking their nose into the taxpayers’ and citizens’ political affairs and our business of management, operation and control of our city. I have yet to meet a single person from this city who received one of those 2,500 jobs used in the carrot-and-stick exercise as VW began setting up to build and operate their plant.
Indiana seeks stay on right-to-work ruling
WTHR.com, July 23, 2014
Lake County Circuit Court Special Judge George Paras found the state’s right-to-work law unconstitutional in the lawsuit United Steel et al. v. Zoeller et al. Judge Paras ordered on July 17 that the ruling take effect immediately.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office wants an immediate stay of the ruling so the law can remain in effect while the ruling is appealed.
Zoeller’s office already is defending the right-to-work law from a separate legal challenge, Sweeney v. Zoeller.
Bill Vernon: R.I. child-care workers can opt out of union
Providence Journal Online, July 22, 2014
Rhode Island has a similar statutory scheme that requires home day care workers and owners to pay union dues or agency fees to public employee unions. But, after Harris, the entrepreneurs who run a day care center in their home with one or two subsidized children can no longer be treated like public employees. Any dues or agency fees that they pay will be totally voluntary. The era of forced unionization based merely on government subsidy of customers or clients is
United Farm Workers Union Stages Phony Gerawan Protest
Watchdogwire.com, July 21, 2014
Posing as Gerawan Farming employees, a small group of other farm workers and United Farm Worker union posers protested a meeting of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board last Wednesday.
Lee Introduces Bill to Repeal an 80-year-old Wage Subsidy Law
KCSG Television, July 17,2014
Senator Mike Lee introduced a bill that would drive down the inflated costs of federally funded construction projects on our nation’s infrastructure and makes it easier for federal contractors to train and employ workers of all skill levels. The “Davis-Bacon Repeal Act” would also save the American people billions of dollars in wasted taxpayer money and diminish the power of the cronyist alliance between big government and big labor unions.
Philly Union Leader Can’t Kick Racketeering Charges
Law 360, July 23, 2014
A Pennsylvania federal judge has denied requests by Philadelphia ironworkers’ union leader Joseph Dougherty and four others to dismiss charges implicating them in creating “goon squads” that set fires, assaulted workers and sabotaged property to strong-arm contractors into hiring union labor.