February 7, 2011 NILRR News Clips
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Crowd debates right-to-work bill
UnionLeader.com
2/07/2011
A public hearing on the bill Thursday drew a huge crowd of supporters, union opposition and businesses on either side of the bill.
The Obama Administration’s TSA Giveaway
Townhall Online
2/07/2011
In a furtive, Friday-afternoon news dump, the Obama administration informed Americans that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport screeners would be permitted to engage in collective bargaining — effectively handing government employee unions up to 50,000 new members, as any screener who wants a voice in union negotiations with the government will have no real choice but to join.
Bannering: Obama’s latest gift to the unions
American Thinker Online
2/05/2011
With public opinion increasingly critical of overpaid and under-performing labor unions, one might expect that union members and their representatives would be keeping a low profile while mounting a public relations campaign to repair their well-earned and sullied reputations. Not this bunch.
Becoming a Right-to-Work State Will Help Save Michigan’s Economy
Lansing, Independent Examiner Online, MI
2/05/2011
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Becoming a Right-to-Work State Will Help Save Michigan’s Economy – During the last decade, Michigan was the only state to loose population, the last census reveals. In addition, it saw a collapse in its economy that no other state has seen as a result of its declining industry. There are many things that need to be done to reverse this, like fixing Michigan’s tax structure and cutting costs in the public sector. However, these are not enough, and in reality, the latter has actually been occurring during the last decade. However, there is one policy that has made a big difference for other states is becoming a right-to-work- state
Carpenters’ union targets west Michigan company with new strategy
Macomb Daily Online
2/03/2011
The Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters has been organizing demonstrations against an employer in west Michigan that does not use union workers and is, therefore, assumed to be paying substandard wages.
According to the Midland-based Mackinac Center, the demonstrators are often not members of the carpenters’ union – or construction workers at all. The tactic is called “bannering,†which relies on high-profile protests and putting pressure on a company’s customers.
The employer being targeted is Ritsema Associates, a construction contractor headquartered in Grandville, near Grand Rapids. Last summer, the carpenters’ union sent a letter to Ritsema Associates asserting that it had conducted done an “investigation†and concluded that the contractor was paying substandard wages and fringe benefits,, according to the Mackinac Center, a conservative think tank and frequent critic of labor unions.
Idaho lawmakers looking at state granted union power
Washington Examiner Online
2/08/2011
Idaho’s labor unions are already the 97-pound weakling, but the Republican majority in the state Legislature is trying to kick more sand in their face.
GOP consultant hired by safety unions
Columbus Dispatch Online
2/05/2011
A prominent Republican media consultant has been hired by police and fire unions to thwart plans by Gov. John Kasich and GOP lawmakers to kill binding arbitration and eliminate or alter collective bargaining.
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