April 27, 2011 NILRR News Clips
Bring federal labor law into the 21st century
Washington Examiner Online, 4/27/2011
“Obama placed Becker on the NLRB with a recess appointment.
Within three months, the National Right to Work Foundation had filed 13 motions
noting Becker’s conflicts of interest in decisions before the NLRB,” The Weekly
Standard’s Mark Hemingway recently noted. “Oblivious, Becker has participated in
handing down rulings in at least 17 cases involving unions he represented as a
lawyer. In each of those cases save one, Becker ruled in favor of the unions,”
Hemingway said.
Those Workers Aren’t Freeloaders
Wall Street Journal Online, 4/25/2011, by W. James Young
Freeloaders? What Mr. Geoghegan fails to mention is that
these so-called freeloaders are actually “forced-loaders,” having had their
individual power to bargain over terms and conditions of employment extinguished
and given over to union leaders.
It is hardly unfair to make those union leaders actually
represent those they purport to represent. At least the courts have so held,
with the judicially imposed “duty of fair representation,” as a condition of the
monopoly bargaining power which is granted to labor unions under federal and
state labor laws. This power is a privilege for which union leaders lobby and
which they jealously guard. Right-to-work states don’t “make unions pay for
these services.” That’s federal law, something Mr. Geoghegan fails to mention.
Pretentious teachers, administrators face day of reckoning
Phillyburbs.com, 4/27/2011
Edwin Viera, constitutional law professor, legal scholar
and strategist for the Right to Work Foundation, arguing in the “De Paul Law
Review” declared: “Through its collective bargaining power, the National
Education Association has claimed privileged access to public policymaking. In
the 1960s rush to recognize public sector unions, what legal scholars regard as
a serious constitutional objection was never answered.”
Professor Viera, later appearing before the U.S. Supreme
Court, charged that exclusive or collective bargaining sessions were violations
of the equal protection clause of the U. S. Constitution.
Seven Unanimous Against Public Collective Bargaining
News-Register Online, 4/27/2011
WHEELING – West Virginia never should extend collective
bargaining rights to its public employees, according to all seven gubernatorial
hopefuls who debated Tuesday night.
Citing fiscal and public safety concerns, each was firm in
his or her stance on the issue – one that has forged deep divisions in other
states like Ohio and Wisconsin in recent months. West Virginia is among the
states that do not bargain collectively with employees.
Supreme Court Denies Virginia’s Petition For Review of District Court PPACA
Ruling
Daily Labor Report Online, 4/25/2011
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected April 25 Virginia’s attempt
to bypass intermediate appellate review of a decision that allowed
implementation of the controversial health care law but declared a key provision
unconstitutional (Virginia ex rel. Cuccinelli v. Sebelius, U.S., No. 10-1014,
review denied 4/25/11).
The high court gave no reason for the denial, and no
dissents were noted on the court’s orders list. Some employers have urged that
the high court take up the case at this early stage, given that the new law
requires them to implement significant administrative changes and the
uncertainty over its constitutionality has left many employers unsure of the
steps they may need to take.
The denial allows cross appeals pending in the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to proceed. Briefing has been completed in the
appeal, and oral argument is scheduled for May 10.
NLRB meddling pure union payoff
Detroit News Online, 4/25/11
The Boeing Co., an innovator in the rebuilding of a
recession-ravaged America, found a way to proceed efficiently on a project that
would help South Carolina with 1,000 employees already hired, but no.
Labor Board Case Against Boeing Points to Fights to Come
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE, NY Times, /23/2011
For businesses, it was the type of action they have feared
from a National Labor Relations Board dominated by Democrats. For labor unions,
it was the type of action they have hoped for. And for both, it may be a sign of
things to come.
GM, Chrysler dominate ‘worst cars’ list. Oh, and the UAW wants to thank you for
bailing them out
Washington Examiner Online, 4/25/2011
Thank goodness we put up $80 billion to bail out GM and
Chrysler. They are now building such wonderful cars that they have achieved
total dominance of the Forbes “Worst Cars on the Road” list, which we could also
call the “Bottom Eleven.”
Debt & Deficits Top Daniels’ Presidential Priorities
Indiana’s News Center Now, 4/25/2011
(Washington Post)– No prospective Republican presidential
candidate has done more to highlight the issue of debt and deficits than Indiana
Gov. Mitch Daniels. He calls it the “new red menace,†an ocean of red ink that
he says is every bit as dangerous as the Soviet nuclear threat during the Cold
War.
Obama’s $5 Billion Giveaway to UAW
National Review Online, 4/25/2011
In less than a year, the Obama administration has given
nearly $2 billion to some of the largest corporations and unions in America, as
well as to a multitude of states. Section 1102 of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act — better known as Obamacare — created the Early Retiree
Reinsurance Program (ERRP), a $5 billion taxpayer-subsidy program for
early-retirement medical costs. The program is about to run out of money, which
is good news for everyone — except, of course, Congress’s favorite
special-interest groups.
The largest recipient of ERRP funds was the United Auto
Workers (UAW) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which got $206.8 million.
The White House vs. Boeing: A Tennessee Tale
Wall Street Journal Online, 4/25/2011
Our goal should be to make it easier and cheaper to create
private-sector jobs in this country. Giving workers the right to join or not to
join a union helps to create a competitive environment in which more
manufacturers like Nissan can make here 85% of what they sell here.
NLRB Prepares to Sue Arizona, South Dakota, Challenging State ‘Secret Ballot
Amendments’
Daily Labor Report Online, 4/25/2011
National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel Lafe
E. Solomon informed the attorneys general of four states in an April 22 letter
that he has instructed NLRB lawyers to proceed with the immediate filing of
lawsuits to invalidate recent “secret ballot†amendments to the Arizona and
South Dakota state constitutions, contending they are preempted by the National
Labor Relations Act and the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Former ATU Headquarters Worker Files ULP Alleging Retaliation for Organizing
Union Staff
Daily Labor Report Online, 4/22/2011
A former communications department worker at the
international office of the Amalgamated Transit Union April 12 filed an unfair
labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the
union and its newly elected president, Larry Hanley, retaliated against him by
terminating him for spearheading an organizing drive among ATU staff employees.
NYC’s fire-proof criminal teachers go back to class
New York Post Online, 4/25/2011
They’ve killed, looted taxpayer funds and committed other
heinous crimes — but the city can’t keep these criminals out of the classroom.
More than 500 teachers convicted of crimes in the last five
years — from drunken driving to assault to manslaughter — are still skulking
around the schools because the Department of Education is hamstrung from getting
rid of them.
Teachers suspended over protests
Milwaukeenewsbuzz.com, 4/26/2011
The Hudson Star-Observer of Hudson, Wis., reports that the
Hudson Board of Education voted recently to mete out punishment to teachers who
called in sick on Feb. 18 to protest’s Gov. Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill.
According to the newspaper, suspensions ranged from one to
15 unpaid days of suspension. In addition, all of the teachers disciplined will
receive letters of reprimand in their personnel files.
Raynor Resigns From Positions of President Of Workers United, SEIU International
VP
Daily Labor Report Online, 4/26/2011
Amid internal charges of allegedly misappropriating union
funds through misleading expense reports, Bruce Raynor, president of the Workers
United affiliate of the Service Employees International Union and international
executive vice president of SEIU, announced April 26 he is resigning from those
positions effective May 7.
Pew Study Finds ‘Widening Gap’ in Funding Of States’ Pensions, While Some
Disagree
DLR 4/26/2011
The study, The Widening Gap: The Great Recession’s Impact
on State Pension and Retiree Health Care Costs, found that the gap between
retirement benefits promised to employees and the money states have to pay out
those promises grew to at least $1.26 trillion in fiscal 2009.
Latest state to curtail PEU bargaining rights is … Massachusetts?
HotAir.com, 4.27/2011
Not only has the Massachusetts state House passed a new law
barring all PEUs from collective bargaining on health care, it passed by a
veto-proof majority — because Democrats pushed the bill:
www.wnyc.org, 93.9 FM, 4/25/2011
. . .the story is a little more complicated in Brick
Township, along the Jersey Shore. It’s one of the 14 towns asking for more than
two percent higher taxes. It’s asking residents to approve a budget that exceeds
it by $8 million, the biggest increase of all the towns.
It’s a big ask, and the town is giving residents a stark
choice: pay the higher taxes, or the town will stop collecting your trash.
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