NILRR News Clips March 07, 2015
UPDATE: Assembly passes right-to-work on party line vote
WAOW.com, ABC, March 06, 2015
After a marathon session, the Wisconsin Assembly has passed the right-to-work bill.
Republicans said the bill was called good for workers. “We’re fighting for the right of every single worker in this state to have their own personal liberty,” said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
National Right to Work Committee Attacks WI Union Bosses
PRWatch.org, March 03, 2015
“Imagine leaving the [Capitol] today, ready to get some food when a cab pulls up. Two guys grab you, throw you into the back of the cab. The driver announces that the cab is on its way to Green Bay. You protest. But the other passengers don’t let you out. They pull over in Green Bay, the car stops, they untie you and demand $300.”
This, says Greg Mourad, VP of the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC), is the way that unions in Wisconsin organize, and why the bill should be passed.
Scott Walker plans to sign right-to-work bill Monday
The Cap Times, March 04, 2015
“By Monday, I’ll be able to sign into law something that will make Wisconsin the 25th state in the nation that says you have the freedom to work anywhere you want without having to be part of a labor union,” Walker said.
Walker said “the reason why we brought that up” is because looking at rankings provided by publications like Chief Executive magazine and speaking with site selectors — particularly those in manufacturing — “one of the things that’s always on their checklist is where you stand in terms of freedom to work legislation.”
Steelworkers strike: More labor board charges filed
fuelfix.com, March 04, 2015
The National Right to Work Foundation announced Wednesday that three employees at LyondellBasell filed unfair labor practice charges against the United Steelworkers Union.
The foundation accused an unnamed local union official of making threats toward workers who continue to work during the strike. The group also alleges that union officials have allowed a union Facebook page to threaten union-represented employees who have gone back to work along with those who may be considering it.
Strategy shift for Wisconsin unions after right-to-work vote
Lancasteronline.com, March 06, 2015
The state’s union workers, resigned to the inevitability of Walker signing the bill on Monday, said they would increase efforts to educate members about the importance of their financial dues and encourage them to turn out to the polls. And while some unions have banded together, reinvigorated by a sense of betrayal by Republican lawmakers, they recognize that it might take decades to completely recover from the blows.
Is Scott Walker Losing His Ability to Enrage the Left?
Slate.com., March 05, 2015
Walker Derangement Syndrome is dead. A few hours ago, unions and their supporters held one last protest before the passage of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin, and it was a staid affair. This is not normal. People who don’t like Scott Walker typically aren’t calm about it.
United States: House And Senate Consider Resolution Disapproving Of NLRB Election Rule
mondaq.com, March 05, 2015
The same day the Senate advanced a joint resolution (S.J. Res. 8) seeking to block implementation of the National Labor Relations Board’s expedited election rule, the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, held a hearing to discuss a companion measure (H.J. Res. 29). Both resolutions are attempts to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to void the Board’s rule. As previously discussed, the CRA permits Congress to vote in favor of nullifying federal agency rules by a simple majority vote. While such attempts rarely succeed, in 2001 Congress did approve a joint resolution voiding the Department of Labor’s ergonomics rule.
Glenn M. Taubman, testifying on behalf of the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc., pointed out what he considers the hypocrisy of the Board “continuing the odious process of blocking decertification elections” while “speeding up certification elections.” The new rule, he said, skews the process “to wholly favor unionization while invading employee privacy.”
NFL Players Association Offers Weak Argument Against Right-to-Work
Maciverinstitute.com, March 05, 2015
They’ll appear on boxes of cereal or appear with trial lawyers in television ads, but don’t expect professional athletes to endorse Right to Work. That’s the message of the NFL Players Association.
The players may wear the union label next to their Nike swooshes, but the reality is a little bit further removed from the picket lines.
When the NFL referees were locked out for the beginning of the 2012 season, there was grumbling from the players but no honoring of the picket line. Hey, the players have to eat, right? The labor dispute was not solved by pressure from the players union but pressure from the fans, the consumers frustrated with an inferior product.
Workers Fight Back Against Union Over Intimidation Tactics
Daily Caller Online, March 04, 2015
“We were told that if anyone crossed the line, they would lose their job,†Yvonne Hendrix told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Though Hendrix left the strike, more workers are possibly continuing out of fear of retaliation.
‘They’re confused but they’re mostly scared,†Hendrix noted.
National Review Online, March 05, 2015
But, as the Indiana Supreme Court recently noted, when unions bargain on behalf of all workers they do so voluntarily. A union may disavow exclusive-representative status and negotiate a “members-only†contract. A union that does not want to bargain exclusively and represent non-payers need not do so. The Supreme Court has expressly upheld the legality of members-only contracts.
Wall Street Journal Online, March 04, 2015
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2003-13 states with such laws increased their employment rolls by 9.5%—nearly three percentage points more than the national average and more than double the growth in non-right-to-work states.
. . . They were good-paying positions with increasing wages. Personal incomes in those states grew 12% more than in states without right-to-work protections during that same 10-year period, according to a 2014 study by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Vermont’s child care providers to remain non-unionized
Watchdog.org, March 03, 2015
On Dec. 9, home child care businesses voted 418-398 against unionization. The election was a defeat for Vermont Early Educators United, AFT (VEEU-AFT), which aimed to become the representative for the state’s home child care businesses.
Unions Hate Right-To-Work Laws But Taxpayers Should Love Them
Forbes, March 04, 2015
What that political spending buys is politicians who support unions and will vote favorably on raises and generous pensions for public employee union members. In a very real sense, that means politicians are giving public sector employees money, the employees pay part of that money in dues to their unions, the unions donate part of the dues to the politicians’ campaigns, and the cycle repeats.
London School of Economics and Political Science, March, 2015
In many states, Republican Governors have moved to end collective bargaining rights for public employees, with the aim of curtailing their ability to mobilize politically. In new research covering 34 states with mandatory collective bargaining laws, Patrick Flavin and Michael T. Hartney find that these laws can have a large effect on the likelihood that public employees will participate in politics. They say that with the rise of new laws to prevent collective bargaining for state employees, the membership and influence of labor unions is likely to decline.