NILRR News Clips – May 4, 2012

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“The Free Rider Argument is a Carefully Crafted Fraud”

Legal Newsline, May 1, 2012

The IUOE asserts that the Indiana law violates the equal protection and contract clauses of the Constitution because it does not require nonunion employees to pay for bargaining. . .

“The ‘free-rider’ argument is a carefully crafted fraud,” [National Right to Work Legal Foundation Attorney Jim Young] said.

“Nonunion employees do not demand union ‘representation’ for which they do not want to pay; it is imposed upon them by federal law, a monopoly privilege granted to unions which win a bare majority of a representation election. But unions retain the right to represent only their members.”

You Cant Make This Stuff Up.  Reality Is Often Stranger Than Fiction

Bluefield Daily Telegraph Online, May 1, 2012

Labor unions in Indiana are upset over the state’s recently passed right-to-work law. According to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a right-to-work law “affirms the right of every American to work for a living without being compelled to belong to a union. Compulsory unionism in any form — ‘union,’ ‘closed,’ or ‘agency’ shop — is a contradiction of the Right to Work principle and the fundamental human right that the principle represents.â€

Poll finds support high for ‘right-to-work’

UnionLeader.com, April 30, 2012

The Granite State Poll, released by the University of New Hampshire on Friday, found that 71 percent of state residents favored “right-to-work†legislation, which seeks to prevent compulsory union membership or due paying at a workplace.

Obama Can’t Get Facts Straight:  Attacks Right to work Laws With False Information

Washington Examiner Online, April 30, 2012

“I believe when folks try and take collective bargaining rights away by passing so-called ‘right to work’ laws that might also be called ‘right to work for less,’ laws, that’s not about economics, that’s about politics,” Obama told the AFL-CIO today.  “That’s about politics.” He then credited the AFL-CIO for creating American prosperity, saying “unions like yours made sure that everybody had a fair shake, everybody had a fair shot.”

Labor:  Wrong on Right to Work

Richmond Times-dispatch Online,

The president also said he likes to call right-to-work “right-to-work-for-less laws.” Good one. But studies about wages in right-to-work versus non-right-to-work states differ; some say they’re higher, others say they’re lower. And others note that both economic output and wages have risen faster in right-to-work states.

More Than Good Enough for Government Work

The American Online, April 25, 2012

This is a positive trend, but as Rauh’s estimate makes clear, much work remains to be done. If reform is to succeed, it must tackle head-on the following structural factors that caused pension costs to explode in states across the nation:

Untested South Carolina Outpost is Central to Boeing’s Dreamliner Hope

Wall Street Journal Online, April 30, 2012 

The plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state, is a gamble that a less-experienced, nonunion work force will provide a strong supplement to Boeing’s core operations. The staff includes some management veterans from Washington; workers from Boeing defense sites, including some who worked on the now-retired Space Shuttle fleet; and contract labor. But it also includes trainees with no previous aerospace experience. Boeing has collaborated with the state to cultivate a work force from the region, with some new employees training for 26 to 43 weeks at nearby Trident Technical College.

Public employee unions and borrowing costs

publicsectorinc.com, April 26, 2012 

George Will’s column today draws on some new research by Paul Peterson and Daniel Nadler at Harvard. They find that the higher the percentage of public employee who are unionized, the greater risk investors see of the state defaulting on its bonds, resulting in higher interest rates.

UAW Freezes Rival Out of Rebound

Wall Street Journal Online, April 20,2012

“We did everything we could to keep that plant open and keep our jobs,” said Mitchell Wood, a 44-year-old father of two who used to attach tailgates onto sport-utility vehicles at Moraine. “But in the end, we didn’t have a chance, not being in the UAW.”

EEOC Sues Florida Firefighters Union For Allegedly Aiding Bias in Promotions

Daily Labor Report Online, May 1, 2012

The union representing Jacksonville, Fla., firefighters violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by advocating, bargaining for, and agreeing to a system for promotions that discriminates against black firefighters seeking advancement, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a lawsuit filed April 30 (EEOC v. Jacksonville Ass’n of Firefighters, M.D. Fla., No. 3:12-cv-491-3-34, complaint filed 4/30/12).

BCTD Announces Obama Endorsement As Trumka Urges Political Involvement

Daily Labor Report Online, May 1, 2012

“When it comes to political action, nobody beats the building trades,†Trumka said.

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