NILRR News Clips – April 20, 2012
Mark Mix: Union muscling in to O.C. hospital
Orange County Register, April 12, 2012
Unknown figures entering your workplace through the back door without identification. Harassing late night phone calls. Strangers blocking your driveway and studying your exact movements. These are not just the tactics of common criminals and thugs; they are also the tactics of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West organizers at Chapman Medical Center in Orange County.
Obama Administration Sides with Union Bosses Over Workers in Federal Court Case on Backroom Union Deals
www.nrtw.org, April 19, 2012
The Obama administration is weighing in on a worker’s protracted, precedent-setting federal legal victory against a local union and Mardi Gras Gaming.
The case stems from a legal challenge initiated by Mardi Gras Gaming groundskeeper Martin Mulhall with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.
SEIU Watch
Labor Relations Ink, April 19, 2012
According to Anthony Riedel of the National Right To Work, “The workers never voted. The SEIU and Complete Cleaning agreed that if the union could come up with 50 percent plus one, then the company would recognize the union. The union did not come close and is now alleging the company is breaking the law by not recognizing them. The workers are caught in the middle of all this: The company sells the workers out by agreeing to a deal with the SEIU, then when the SEIU couldn’t uphold its end of the bargain of showing majority support, the union seeks to bully the company into recognizing it as the workers’ representative. The workers oppose the union organizing campaign.â€
The Constitutional Right to Spend Dues
Labor Relations Ink, April 19, 2012
You read that right. The union is claiming the constitutional right to “speech supporting finance†and those same rights be damned if claimed by those unionized workers shaken down for union political spending. By finally going on the record that unions do indeed use forcibly collected money to fund the partisan extremist political free speech of a handful of union officials, Operating Engineers Local 150 makes the most powerful case to date for federal Right to Work legislation.
Right to Work is Working for Indiana
Fortwayne.com, April 12, 2012
“It’s working,†she said of that bill. “We are getting more calls to our state for possible expansion or bringing new jobs.â€
AFL-CIO bolsters super-PAC for general-election push
The Hill Online, April 12, 2012
On Thursday, the AFL-CIO will announce that the Workers’ Voice super-PAC is bringing on new staff and revving up its presence online.
On the waterfront Mob stench still fouls New York Harbor
New York Post Online, April 12, 2012
Later that same day, the commission issued a landmark report that made it clear why the ILA wants to keep its hiring practices secret. Among a vast string of abuses, the report describes several ILA shop stewards as “mob and union favorites†whose six-figure salaries “require little or no work.â€
Removing Union Wage Ceilings
The Corner, nationalreview.com, April 19, 2012
Consequently, union members often cannot get ahead through hard work. High-performers get the same pay as slackers. This makes no sense. Even countries with strong union movements, such as Australia or the U.K., allow individual union members to earn higher wages.
Employers Don’t Have to Post Union Notices, Judge Rules
New York Times Online, April 13, 2012
A federal judge in South Carolina ruled on Friday that the National Labor Relations Board did not have the authority to order most private employers to post notices telling workers about their right to unionize under federal law.
Heritage.org, April 13, 2012
Tax increases hurt the economy. They cost jobs. They take money out of taxpayers’ pockets. But they (usually) mean more money for the government—where most union members now work. Small wonder, then, that the union movement campaigns so heavily for them.
New York Daily News Online, April 15, 2012
A News investigation has found the thuggishness Gundersen displayed in the attack on Cosentino remained a constant during the years he’s served as a union member.
Kline Seeks Investigation of Possible Prohibited Communications at NLRB
House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee, April 13, 2012
I respectfully ask you to commence an investigation to determine whether Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon or his staff made any prohibited ex parte communications regarding the Boeing case, 19-CA-32431. Any such allegation must be investigated to ensure parties’ rights are protected.
Right-To-Work Laws Make Unions Accountable, Not DOA
Investor’s Business Daily, April 17, 2012
Should workers be forced to join unions or pay them dues as a condition of employment? Indiana recently became the 23rd state to say “no,” and polls show support for similar right-to-work laws in union bastions like Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio.
Maine Governor Signs Bill to Repeal Bargaining Rights for Child Care Workers
Daily Labor Report Online, April 17, 2012
Under the bill enacted in 2008 (84 DLR A-8, 5/1/08), the Maine State Employees Association was authorized to bargain with the state over seven workplace issues, including reimbursement rates but excluding health insurance and pensions.
AFL-CIO, sticking its head where it doesn’t belong, zeroes in on CEO pay
Daily Labor Report Online, April 19, 2012
The AFL-CIO launched an updated Executive PayWatch website April 19 that President Richard Trumka said shines a spotlight on excessive pay among chief executive officers and encourages shareholders to push for greater corporate disclosure.
Graduate Assistants Sue to Keep Forced Dues
Daily Labor Report Online, April 19,2012
A pair of University of Michigan graduate research assistants sued the members of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission April 17, challenging the constitutionality of a new law classifying graduate research assistants as nonemployees of the university and therefore ineligible to engage in collective bargaining (Gould-Werth v. Callaghan,E.D. Mich.,No. 2:12-cv-11700, complaint filed 4/17/12).
Dissent in the ranks
Timesrepublican.com, April 20, 2012
Over the past year, many union workers from the UFCW Local 1149 at JBS have become increasing disenfranchised with the plant’s union leadership. Linden finally got fed up and began spearheading a campaign to do something about it.
Obama’s pro-union poster mandate in legal jeopardy
Washington Examiner Online, April 18, 2012
Regardless of the content of the poster, the problem is that the NLRB, an administrative body set up to make sure businesses and unions abide by the National Labor Relations Act, has no authority to impose such a requirement, given that Congress never created it.
New Baxter International plant to bring high-paying jobs to metro Atlanta
News 11Alive.com, April 20, 2012
Baxter typically locates plants in right-to-work states and at sites away from major metro areas, Johnston said. The company tries to be the dominant employer in its community and pays on the higher end of the wage scale, Johnson said.
Top Teachers Union Organizer Self-declared Socialist, bin Laden Apologist
Education Action Group, April 11, 2012
It’s been said you can judge a person’s character by the company he keeps. The same can be said of organizations. That’s why it’s so troubling that a national teachers union – the American Federation of Teachers – continues to employ such radicals.