NILRR Clipsheet August 14, 2015
AZ Court Rejects Taxpayers Pay for Union Workers
Washington Free Beacon Online, August 12, 2015
The Arizona Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) wrongfully used taxpayer dollars to pay union representatives who had ceased to perform the duties of their government jobs in order to serve their labor representatives.
Labor watchdogs, such as Patrick Semmens of the National Right to Work Foundation, said the court decision eliminates “an outrageous giveaway to big labor that needs to be ended nationwide.â€
“There is absolutely no justification for having taxpayers foot the bill for union officials to conduct union business,†he said. “If what the union officials are doing is worthwhile then union members will voluntarily pay dues to support those activities. Official time lets government union bosses avoid accountability from both taxpayers and rank-and-file union members.â€
Wall Street Journal Online, August 11, 2015
One of President Obama’s legacies will be his abuse of executive authority, and his hits keep coming. On Friday a federal appeals court struck down a ruling of the National Labor Relations Board because, incredibly, its acting general counsel was in the job illegally.
Daily Beast, August 08, 2015
The union’s clout can be assessed by several measures: the sheer size of its membership, its spending on campaigns and lobbying, and the depth and breadth of its connections with New York’s ruling elite. With well over 300,000 members in Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Washington, D.C., and New York (where over half of that total resides), 1199SEIU is the largest union local in the nation, and possibly the world.
A Trillion-Dollar, Federal Taxpayer-Funded Bailout For Government Union Bosses?
www.nilrr.org, August 11, 2015
The 26 states that lacked Right to Work protections as of last year had an average unfunded liability of $18,125 per capita. In contrast, the 24 states that had Right to Work laws as of 2014 had a large, but much more manageable average per capita pension liability that is 38% lower.
Two Bills: One Protects Union Member Rights; The Other Protects All Of Us Against Union Violence
Forbes.com, August 11, 2015
As I have argued here before, the United States has lousy labor laws, but two bills have been introduced in Congress to deal with the circumstances discussed above. If enacted, they would make our law substantially less bad.
Hillary Clinton pledges to push Employee Free Choice
People’s World, July 31, 2015
“I was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act while I was in the Senate and will do everything I can to pass it” if elected to the Oval Office, she declared.
Why The ‘Most Trusted’ Professionals’ Union In The Nation Endorsed Bernie Sanders
thingprogress.org, August 11, 2015
In all, on the questionnaire, the three Democratic candidates only fully agreed on one thing — opposing right-to-work laws. Those laws allow union-represented workers to opt out of paying union fees, meaning they can benefit from collective bargaining without paying dues. Sanders, O’Malley, and Clinton all said they would veto a national right-to-work law should Congress pass one.
Two teachers explain why they want to refrain from union membership
Washington Post Online, August 11, 2015
Both of them say that they decided to become plaintiffs because they don’t want to support a politically powerful union with which they frequently disagree. Current law allows them to opt out of paying for the union’s political activities — about 30 percent to 40 percent of annual dues. But they must continue to pay “agency fees,†which support the union’s collective bargaining activities.