NILRR Clipsheet July 31, 2015
Supreme Court upholds right-to-work for state workers
freep.com, July 29, 2015
The Michigan Supreme Court, in an opinion that has the effect of making state employees subject to Michigan’s 2012 right-to-work law, ruled Wednesday that Michigan’s Civil Service Commission never had the authority to impose union fees on state workers, even before the controversial law was passed.
AFGE Tells VA Secretary Which VA Executives Managers to Fire: Huh?
Fedsmith.com, July 30, 2015
Last week, the Washington Post reported that the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had, in essence, solicited a list of the executives and managers that the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 17, (the union) thought should be fired. According to the article, Secretary Robert McDonald met with the union and told its representatives union he needed their help in identifying problem Executives and managers.
Court Upholds NLRB Union-Organizing Rule
Wall Street Journal Online, July 30, 2015
A federal-district court has upheld a National Labor Relations Board rule that is expected to speed union-organizing elections, a blow to several business trade groups that sued to block it.
Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton vie for labor unions’ favor
msnbc.com, July 30, 2015
It will likely be a split game, as the AFL-CIO itself, a federation of 56 individual unions, is unlikely to make an endorsement anytime soon. Instead, the battle is on for support from individual labor groups.
Mike Huckabee is only Republican to attend AFL-CIO endorsement meeting
Washington Post Online, July 29, 2015
Asked about collective bargaining, Huckabee said he defers to the states on whether to pass right-to-work laws.
“I’m not opposed for people to make their own choices about collective bargaining and unionization,†he said. “That’s a choice that people ought to be able to make.â€
Workplace Democracy Gets Ambushed
Wall Street Journal Online, July 29, 2015
The NLRB rejected calls that workers be allowed to opt out of the requirement that their personal contact information be disclosed to the union. Demonstrating a callous disregard for the rights of workers who are not actively pro-union, the board said the new disclosure requirement “maximizes the likelihood that all voters will be exposed [to messages they] may not be predisposed to.â€
Illinois Needs To Have A Scott Walker Moment
Investors Business Daily Online, July 29, 2015
Walker later made Wisconsin a right-to-work state. It has subsequently seen a steep drop in unemployment while taxes have been cut and the budget balanced.
Madigan and the unions want to wait out Rauner in hopes that he’ll eventually buckle under. But this is a gunfight that the governor and taxpayers can’t lose.
NORMAL MITSUBISHI PLANT CLOSING COULD BE TEST CASE FOR RAUNER’S BUSINESS REFORMS
rebootillinois.com, July 29, 2015
As a Japanese-owned plant with a unionized workforce, the Normal plant was an anomaly in the U.S. auto industry. Its location in a state that actively has opposed right-to-work laws only will burnish that outlier status, Nerad believes.
“I’d say lacking right-to-work changes in Illinois it’s a tough sell. The climate in the auto industry is not to add more union plants. That has been the trend,†Nerad said. Even the workforce of union-friendly German automaker Volkswagen is non-union at its Chattanooga, Tenn., plant.
States Where Regulations Harm Small Businesses The Most
Forbes.com, July 28, 2015
The ten lowest ranked states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) scored poorly across most of the 14 regulatory components measured in the Index. Unsurprisingly, these bottom ranked states experienced significantly slower small business growth compared to the top ranked states.
So what are the bottom ranked states doing wrong?
First, and perhaps most importantly, none of the lowest ranked 10 states in the Index is a right to work state. Right to work laws have a statistically significant and positive impact on economic growth—studies continually show that states with right to work laws experience faster growth than states without right to work laws.