February 2015

Compulsory-Unionism Advocates Don’t Favor ‘Freedom of Contract’

In West Virginia and other states where grass-roots efforts to prohibit forced union dues and fees are gaining momentum, Big Labor propagandists who aren’t normally known for their libertarian sympathies have adopted a Milton Friedmanesque rallying cry: “Right to Work is an offense against the free market!” But as Laurie Lin, a columnist for the…

Wisconsin Right to Work Advances

The latest on the Wisconsin Right to Work bill and the surrounding union boss protests. Patrick Marley, Daniel Bice and Jason Stein have the story on jsonline.com. In an abrupt vote recalling the chaotic labor protests of 2011, Republicans pushed so-called right-to-work legislation out of a committee Tuesday night after a day of impassioned testimony…

WEAC’s Not the Only One

Apparently other Wisconsin public sector unions are reeling from the curtailment in the scope of monopoly bargaining (Act 10), as reflected in the staggering membership losses experienced by other public sector unions. Robert Samuels comments in the Washington Post. Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and…

WEAC Scrambles for Power

Passage of Act 10 gave Wisconsin teachers the power to refrain from supporting or joining a teachers’ labor union in order to get or keep a job. With a 50% loss in membership, the Wisconsin Education Association Council is turning its money and power to local races in an effort to recoup some of their…

New Mexico Citizens Want Freedom

New Mexico citizens are coming our strongly in favor of a Right To Work law, according to a recent poll. Ellen Marks has the story in the Albuquerque Business Journal. A strong majority of New Mexico voters favor the underlying principle of right-to-work legislation being debated by lawmakers, according to a new Journal Poll. Sixty…

Hey, Union-Label Politicians: Federal Policy Already ‘Inserts Itself’ Into Private-Sector Labor-Management ‘Agreements’

Ever since Congress adopted the Norris-LaGuardia Act and Republican President Herbert Hoover signed it into law in 1932, federal policy has explicitly declared that private-sector workplace contracts in which employees agree not to join or financially support a union in order to get or keep a job are unenforceable in federal court. And starting roughly…

NILRR News Clips February 20, 2015

VW recognizes anti-UAW worker group ACE at Tennessee plant Reuters.com, February 16, 2014 Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) said on Monday it had recognized a new group called the American Council of Employees to represent workers at its auto assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in addition to the United Auto Workers. The ACE is an alternative to…

West Virginia May Reform Prevailing Wage

Hoppy Kercheval, West Virginia Metro News Online, discusses the economic impact of the state’s prevailing wage law, and the importance of SB 361, a bill which would modify the current law. West Virginia State Code 21-5a, enacted in 1933 and amended in 1961, mandates that state construction projects pay “no less than the prevailing hourly…

Wisconsin Right to Work Bill Considered

Steven Walters predicts the Wisconsin legislature will seriously consider the Right to Work Bill during this session. The list of other major decisions that Republican legislators will be making–and many of them in the next few months–is stunning: — Right-to-work law: If former Rep. Duey Stroebel wins Tuesday’s three-way GOP primary in the 20th Senate…

Why Missouri Right to Work Bill May Stall

Trey Kovaks, workplacechoice.org, explains why some Missouri Democrat legislators are doingall they can to keep a Right to Work law from passing in Missouri. Despite the compelling evidence that right-to-work improves workers’ quality of life, Democrats will continue their efforts undercut the passage of the legislation that enhances worker choice and improves the economy. Why…