NILRR Right to Work Clips
Washington Examiner Online, March 29, 2018
“The OIG issued a report finding that an NLRB official violated the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the executive branch because he improperly disclosed nonpublic deliberative information. We believe that, by disclosing privileged deliberative, pre-decisional communications in his two reports on Member Emanuel, IG Berry has committed the same violation,” Raymond J. LaJeunesse, the foundation’s legal director, said in a letter Thursday to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, the independent federal office that oversees the inspectors general.
UAW added members in 2017, but union dues fell
autoblog.com, March 30, 2018
The United Auto Workers added new members for the ninth consecutive year in 2017 and the union remained in the black, but overall dues fell versus the previous year, according to the union’s annual filing with the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday.
Membership in the Detroit-based union rose more than 3.5 percent to 430,871 in 2017 from 415,963 in 2016. But union dues dipped nearly 4 percent in 2017 to $175.8 million from $182.5 million in 2016.
In August 2014, the UAW raised the share of a union member’s normal monthly pay that goes to dues for the first time since 1967.
Watchdog Calls for Investigation into Obama Labor Appointee
freebeacon.com, March 29, 2018
CEI, a pro-free market think tank, says the agency must investigate whether Pearce violated agency rules designed to protect internal proceedings. NLRB guidelines say “no present or former employee or specially designated agent of the Agency will produce or present any files, documents, reports, memoranda, or records of the Board or of the General Counsel … without the written consent of the Board or the Chairman of the Board,” and it remains unclear whether Pearce obtained permission before he disclosed the decision to vacate the Hy-Brand ruling.
Boston Mayor’s Aides Return To Work, Paid Leave Costs Taxpayers $410K
boston.cbslocal.com, March 28, 2018
Two high-ranking aides to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh have quietly returned to their jobs at City Hall. The development comes after a judge dismissed the high-profile extortion case against Timothy Sullivan and Kenneth Brissette. Federal prosecutors had accused the pair of threatening to withhold permits if Boston Calling concert organizers did not hire union workers. Sullivan and Brissette’s paid leave cost taxpayers more than $410,000, according to payroll records obtained by the i-Team’s Ryan Kath.
Labor unrest mars countdown to Pilgrims’ 400th anniversary
washingtonpost.com, March 30, 2018
Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which recreates daily life around the time the Pilgrims first landed on New England’s shores in 1620, has reopened for the season with no end in sight for a yearlong labor impasse.
Since the museum closed for the winter after Thanksgiving, management has withdrawn its recognition of a union representing actors and other workers. Federal labor regulators have become involved, and the largest teachers union in the state has asked its members to reconsider field trips to the venue, which typically draws about 300,000 visitors a year.
Hoover.org, March 19, 2018
Between 2009 and 2013, California law allowed state and local employees with over five years of service to purchase with their own funds up to five years of “fictional years of retirement service creditsâ€â€”commonly called “airtimeâ€â€”that they could then add to their years of actual service in order to increase the value of their pensions at retirement.
This novel airtime benefit was supposed to be cost-neutral to public employers, but it never was: each unit of airtime represented a huge windfall to the lucky state employees and a drain on the public treasury. The Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) sought to end the practice moving forward, without taking away airtime rights that had already been purchased by public employees. The union’s position is that the right to purchase future airtime rights was vested in all current employees on passage of the statute, so that PEPRA violates the state constitution’s contracts clause by preventing employees hired before 2013 from making purchases after 2013.
Rep Mike Bishop drops gun, union stances from campaign site
detroitnews.com, March 28, 2018
The “issues†page of Bishop’s website no longer mentions guns or the Second Amendment. Also scrubbed from the page are descriptions of Bishop as a supporter of right to work laws, his opposition to abortion and to amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
Union-versus-business lawsuit over ‘stalking’ sign remains in limbo in Porter County
nwitimes.com, May 29, 2018
In a brief court hearing Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer dismissed one lawsuit between Davis & Sons Excavating of Liberty Township and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, but couldn’t rule on another lawsuit involving the sign in question because the lawsuit had been shifted to a federal case.
Here’s how $10M from Phil Murphy’s budget could help trade unions
nj.com, March 29, 2018
New Jersey’s trade unions stand to benefit from Gov. Phil Murphy’s first budget to the tune of $10 million, the governor announced Thursday.
That’s because the new governor wants to spend $10 million to help support union apprenticeship programs and other partnerships the administration has yet to detail.
Oklahoma approves teacher pay increase but union says it’s not enough, walkout still on
cnn.com, March 29, 2018
Oklahoma legislators approved a measure including a $6,100 pay raise for teachers, but the state teacher’s union says the bill doesn’t go far enough and plans to walk out Monday.