NILRR Right to Work News February 16, 2018

A black and white drawing of two people talking


UAW Provides Another Example of Big Labor’s Disregard For Employee Interests

www.nilrr.org, February 15, 2018

It also means UAW-boss PR campaigns against Right to Work in Michigan and elsewhere have been using the false “premise that [organized] labor protects the interests of the men and women working in auto plants.â€

At the end of 2012, United Auto Workers (UAW) union bosses waged an “Armageddon-like battle†against pro-Right to Work elected officials as legislators adopted and Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law in Michigan that prohibits the termination of employees for refusal to fork over union dues or fees.

Washington Democrats Push Labor Union-Friendly Bills While Republicans Cry Foul Play

Legislature: A Fight Over the Role of Unions Manifests in State Capital

The Chronicle Online, February 15, 2018

However, Senate Republicans argue that both bills were requested by SEIU 775 — a labor union representing around 30,000 home-health care workers in Washington. They say the requested policy changes are an effort by the union to maintain its membership base in the face of a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that invalidated laws requiring public employees to pay union fees even if they are not a member.

The 2014 ruling — resulting from the controversial Harris v. Quinn case — stated that mandatory union fees imposed on non-members violate First Amendment rights.

AFL-CIO plans ‘day of action’ for major Supreme Court labor case

Washington Examiner Online, February 15, 2018

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka announced a “Working People’s Day of Action” for Feb. 24, the Saturday before the Supreme Court hears Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which he called “a case against working people.”

‘Mean Girls’: Union Violated Labor Law By “Ostracizing†and “Humiliating†Its Own Members On Facebook, Says NLRB GC

lexology.com, February 15, 2018

In what reads like a storyline from a movie portraying bullying at a high school, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has just released an Advice Memo from its General Counsel’s office finding that Teamsters Local Union 610 violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by setting up a “secret†Facebook group that ostracized and humiliated some if its own members.

At issue in the case was a facility where the Teamsters had negotiated a “two-tier†wage scale under which more senior employees received more in compensation than newer workers. One of the union members in the lower-paid tier voiced concerns that only workers in the higher tier had seats at the bargaining table during ongoing labor agreement negotiations with the company. In other words, the employee was advocating that he and others in his wage tier have a “voice†in the process. The employee went so far as to circulate a petition requesting that employees from the lower tier be permitted to be on the bargaining committee. These sentiments apparently irked some people within the local’s leadership ranks, and the employee was threatened with having internal union charges being levied against him. It didn’t stop there.

Right to work is freedom to choose

abqjournal.com, February 11, 2018

If a union wins an election in your workplace, you are not allowed to bargain directly with your employer. Only the union can do that. And you will be covered by the collective bargaining agreement whether you like it or not. You can also be forced to financially support the union whether you think the union is doing a good job or not.

Fortunately, there is a legal remedy to this forced unionization: right to work, or as some have called it, freedom to choose. What a great concept in our country, we can choose our own path!

Letters: It wasn’t too long ago that Wisconsin was circling the drain

Sheboygan Press, February 15, 2018

It wasn’t too long ago that Wisconsin was circling the drain. Like Illinois, state government spending was out of control.

It wasn’t easy, but we cut taxes by 8 billion since 2011, saved another 5 billion with the Act 10 entitlement reform, repealed prevailing wage laws and became a right to work state. A billion here and a billion there started to add up. Our economy took off. Our 9 percent unemployment rate dropped to 3 percent.

Campaign Workers’ Union Pushes Democrats to Practice What They Preach

motherjones.com, February 16, 2018

In advance of the 2018 midterms, the newly formed Campaign Workers Guild is seeking to organize election staffers, particularly those who work for pro-labor Democrats.

“We’re calling on Democratic candidates to practice what they preach,†Ackerly says. “We’re starting with Democratic candidates because there is an explicit disconnect between the Democratic platform and how Democratic candidates treat their workers.

Yale Grad Union Withdraws ‘Micro-Unit’ Petition

insidehighered.com, February 14, 2018

Graduate students in eight Yale departments announced they’d voted to unionize as part of a novel “micro-unit†strategy last year, but Yale has challenged the validity of that approach, details of the election and the general notion that graduate students are employees entitled to collective bargaining.

In Strange Twist, Catholic Bishops Back Pro-Abortion Union At Supreme Court

thedailycaller.com, February 14, 2018

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court supporting a pro-choice labor union in a dispute over mandatory union fees.

Still, the Church is staunchly committed to pro-life causes, and the AFSCME is an explicitly pro-abortion lobby. The group denounced fetal-personhood laws, clinic regulations, compulsory pre-abortion consultations, and any measure which might restrict immediate abortion access during its 2014 international convention in Chicago, Ill. They also endorse and finance pro-choice candidates, and co-sponsored a national pro-abortion demonstration in Washington before the 2004 presidential election.

Crossing A Fault Line, Teachers At Two Boston Charter Schools Join Union

wburg.org, February 14, 2018

Teachers at two charter schools in Roxbury are joining the Boston Teacher’s Union. It’s the first time the union, which is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, will have charter school staff in their ranks.

The decision is part of a growing movement across the country. According to Education Week, about 1 in 10 charter schools nationally have organized unions.

Categories