May 06, 2011 NILRR News Clips
New Hampshire House OKs Right-to-Work Bill
Daily Labor Report Online, 5/04/2011
BOSTON–The New Hampshire House May 4 accepted the
Senate-passed version of a right-to-work bill (H.B. 474) and sent the measure to
Gov. John Lynch (D), who has threatened to veto it.
Proving Pension Crisis is Real, Illinois Democrats Enrage Public-Worker Unions
With Drive to Tame Pensions
Bloomberg Online, 5/06/2011
Illinois Democrats are leading a charge to reduce the
state’s pension costs, provoking a million- dollar opposition ad campaign from
their traditional allies, public-sector unions, and signaling a new phase in
efforts to contain retirement expenses.
In Illinois, which has underfunded pensions for decades,
Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has suggested cutting benefits. Senate
President John Cullerton is backing a bill to make retirees pay premiums for
health care and to force school districts to shoulder more teacher-retirement
costs. Lawmakers may act before the session ends in three weeks.
Mitch Daniels, an Alternative to Scary, or A Scary Alternative?
Washington Post Online, 5/04/ 2011
In a rebuke of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), Daniels
told the audience that “collective bargaining has its place, always will.†He
spoke of “social justice†— a verboten phrase among some conservatives — and he
softened his support for private-school vouchers by arguing that children must
have two semesters in public school to be eligible.
NH House Approves Right to Work Bill
Eagle-Tribune Online, 5/05/2011
The controversial right-to-work bill was approved, 225-140.
The Senate approved the measure last month.
But Lynch spokesman Colin Manning said the governor will
veto House Bill 474 once it hits his desk.
“The governor does not believe the state should dictate the
terms of a contract negotiated between private employers and their employees,
which is what this bill would do,” Manning said. “That is why the governor will
veto the bill.”
Unions are chief cause of schools’ degradation
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Online, 5/05/2011
Nate Schnellenberger, president of the Indiana State
Teachers Association, recently suggested that the new law curtailing teacher
collective bargaining was designed to weaken public education.
Local unions hog-tie schools with collective bargaining
agreements chockfull of expensive provisions that suck millions of dollars out
of district coffers every year.
Collective bargaining agreements are also full of
union-designed rules that prevent schools from having the flexibility to
innovate and improve.
The unions have also used collective bargaining to obstruct
efforts to cut labor costs and save programs that benefit students.
Statement from Mass. AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes regarding collective
bargaining and municipal health care reform
Bostondbusinessnews.com, 5/06/2011
“In Massachusetts we are engaged in a public debate about
addressing the rising cost of health insurance, broadly, and doing so without
taking away collective bargaining. Labor and Governor Deval Patrick agree on the
principles necessary for municipal health care reform: that municipalities see
cost savings and that labor maintain a meaningful role in that process through
collective bargaining.
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