NILRR Right to Work Clipsheet


A black and white image of an eagle with its wings spread.

 

Unions Are Choking Reform Efforts At The VA, Says Committee Chairman

The Daily Caller Online, October 22, 2015

There are a quarter of a million union members that work for the Department of Veterans Affairs,†he told The Washington Free Beacon. “They have a stranglehold not only on the agency but the leadership there as well.â€

Union policies may bear some of the blame for the scandal. A 2014 report from the Capital Research Center found that many veterans may have died as a result of healthcare officials engaging in a practice known as Official Time.

Labor-Dem money-go-round

Washington Examiner Online, October 18, 2015

It has also become an unconventional vehicle for unions in the corporate world. It’s home to billions of dollars in union pension funds, which it invests strategically across a broad portfolio of companies. Essentially, Amalgamated gives the labor movement a seat at the corporate governance table and thus an influential voice in how big businesses operate.

New guidance on economically targeted investments

in retirement plans from US Labor Department

Employment Security and Benefits Administration, October 22, 2015

The guidance also acknowledges that environmental, social, and governance factors may have a direct relationship to the economic and financial value of an investment. When they do, these factors are more than just tiebreakers, but rather are proper components of the fiduciary’s analysis of the economic and financial merits of competing investment choices.

LABOR GOES ONLINE

politico.com, October 23, 2015

At a White House worker summit earlier this month President Barack Obama urged union officials and other worker advocates to “think creatively” about how they might use mobile apps and the Internet. “Technology actually can help,” Obama said, “in the same ways that in the past sometimes it’s hindered.”

Government didn’t ask for receipts before paying Ontario teacher unions, Liz Sandals says

Thestar.com, October 22, 2015

Sandals, under increasing fire over the controversial payouts, said they were to offset “reasonable costs†such as hotel and meeting room rentals under a time-consuming new collective bargaining system.

“You’re asking me if I have receipts and invoices. No, I don’t,†Sandals admitted after the legislature’s daily question period.

Supporters Predict Right-To-Work Swell If Court Rules In Hardin County’s Favor

WFPL.org, October 22, 2015

Right-to-work supporters say scores of counties in Kentucky and across the country are poised to pass local right-to-work laws if Hardin County’s law is upheld.

Saira Blair on . . .  Right to Work

Morgan County USA, October 21, 2015

Blair also wants to move West Virginia from being a “pro-labor†state, as she called it in her campaign materials, to being a “right to work state.â€

Blair says she believes the legislature will take up the issue in the upcoming session.

Firefighters’ Union Owes Clout to Its Free-Spending Chief

New York Times Online, October 17, 2015

At a time when management gurus and the paragons of corporate leadership talk up the benefits of flattening hierarchies and pulling back curtains, Mr. Schaitberger seems like a throwback. He is a one-man case study in how to consolidate power in the executive suite through deft use of his organization’s funds, which he has managed to dispense to allies and rivals alike with little oversight or checks.

Right to Work proposal introduced in Ohio

Telegraph-Forum Online, October 22, 2015

A Cincinnati lawmaker introduced his plan to bring a right-to-work law to Ohio despite opposition from fellow Republicans.

The proposal from Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, would prohibit mandatory union membership at workplaces. The change would give employees the choice to opt out of unions and their dues. Twenty-five states have right-to-work laws, including recently passed proposals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.

Labor board expands burden on business to disclose worker info to unions

Washington Examiner Online, October 23, 2015

A union will have a second chance at winning an election at Connecticut hospital after the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency, ruled that the hospital’s managers did not comply with a controversial new rule requiring them to turn over all employee contact information to the union.

Major public-sector union AFSCME endorses Clinton

Washington Examiner Online, October 23, 2015

The 1.6 million-member union’s backing will help Clinton fend off the challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has drawn much of his support from labor’s rank-and-file.

The Unions’ Newfound Love for Abood

Education Intelligence Online, October 19, 2015

With Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association on the U.S. Supreme Court docket, unions across the country are worried that the 1977 Abood v. Detroit Board of Education decision will be overturned. They believe an activist conservative Court will jettison agency fee laws in the states that have them, and strip public sector unions of their political power. They emphasize that Abood was a unanimous decision by the Burger court, and that the Roberts court should not lightly overturn an almost 40-year-old precedent.

That unions should become such staunch defenders of Abood is ironic, since the decision was a defeat for unions. Abood and his fellow plaintiffs were public school teachers who objected not only to their dues being used for political activities, but to the requirement that they contribute to collective bargaining costs and join the union against their will or lose their jobs.

 

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