NILRR Right to Work News March 24, 2017
nrtw.org, March 23, 2017
Seven Phoenix-area Fry’s Food Stores employees have won a federal court decision in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals after United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99 union and company officials refused to honor their legal right to refrain from union dues payments.
Wall Street Journal Online, March 19, 2017
Why are unions so happy about Trump’s Labor nominee?
It would be good to know if Mr. Acosta conferred with any unions prior to his nomination or Senate hearing. Also, how does he see the Labor Department’s main responsibilities, and how do his enforcement priorities differ from those of his predecessor, Tom Perez? The Obama Administration pursued its labor agenda by executive fiat. Which regulations—including administrative interpretations and guidance—does Mr. Acosta believe should be repealed, replaced or modified?
Bill Would Could Affect Teacher Union Representation
WIBQAM.COM, March 22, 2017
There is a measure in the Indiana State House that would require the publicizing of the percentage of teachers who are union members and, in some cases, informing them that they can get rid of or change that representation.
ACCORDING TO AFSCME’S NUMBERS, FEWER THAN HALF OF ILLINOIS STATE WORKERS VOTED TO AUTHORIZE STRIKE
Illinoispolicy.org, March 17, 2017
Union leaders representing Illinois state workers held a strike authorization vote Jan. 30 to Feb. 19, 2017. The results were issued Feb. 23, and only 49 percent – maybe even fewer – voted to authorize a strike.
Another Case Showing Why People Shouldn’t Be Forced Into Unions
Forbes.com, March 23, 2017
Labor unions have been known to do many despicable things to grab dues money from workers who don’t want anything to do with them. A current Minnesota case is about as bad as you’ll ever find.
Trump Budget Axes Union-Funding Harwood Grant
LaborPains.org, March 23, 2017
On the chopping block is the DOL’s Susan Harwood Training Grant Program, which gives out grants to nonprofit organizations to train workers in dangerous jobs (in theory, at least). That includes labor unions and labor-affiliated advocacy groups, who received millions of dollars from the grant program under President Obama. The United Auto Workers (UAW) received $148,500 to lecture about “injury and illness prevention†and “cultures of safety in small and medium sized establishments.â€
Labor Racket Weekly: $360,000 In Stolen Money and Other Shenanigans
Laborpains.org, March 22, 2017
In New York, Brian W. Scott, former President and Business Manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 503, was sentenced to one year and a day in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. Scott was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $68,771.
Graduate Student Union Challenges
Harvard Magazine, March, 2017
HARVARD’S graduate-student union election ended inconclusively last December. Although 1,456 students voted against unionization, and 1,272 voted in favor, more than 300 additional ballots—larger than the voting margin—remain under challenge. During the past month, officials from the University and the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW) have appeared at the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Boston office to make their respective arguments about whether those ballots were cast by eligible voters;
Teamsters fight back against ‘right-to-work’
Peoples World, March 22, 2017
The Teamsters are planning to mobilize and campaign against right-to-work laws (RTW), both on the federal level and in western states, the Southern California Teamster reports.
Lawmakers approve bill demanding workers pay for representation
Tallahassee Democrat Online, March 22, 2017
“We will be asking public sector unions to report how many of its members pay dues,†Plakon told the Government Accountability Committee. “And we will be asking them to be sure at least 50 percent of its members are paying dues.â€
If they failed what Plakon called “these simple measurements of democracy†then groups representing scores of workers from bus drivers to college professors would need to seek recertification every year they fail the test.
Our View: AB 199 shows unions’ power
desertdispatch.com, March 23, 2017
Introduced by Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, and authored by Chu and the California Building and Construction Trades Council, AB 199 has the building industry in a tizzy. That’s because it would require workers to be paid “prevailing wages” — read, union wages — on residential housing projects that have any agreements with the state or “a political subdivision.”
Union members rally against state bill
Citizens Voice, March 24, 2017
About 30 union members and leaders and state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, rallied under the statue of union hero John Mitchell on the Lackawanna County Courthouse Square to protest Senate Bill 166, called the Protection of Public Employee Wages Act.
The bill would ban the state from automatically deducting union dues, which the bill refers to as “political contributions,†from state employees’ paychecks.
madisonrecord.com, March 23, 2017
According to the Illinois Policy Institute, currently state workers represented by government-worker unions have little control over their personal information, which union officials can now demand access to even if workers have not officially signed on to be represented by the union.
House Bill 660 stood to change all that, before failing to get enough votes to pass out of committee. The bill would have officially made it illegal for the state to pass along information about workers, including their social security numbers, as part of any collective bargaining agreement.
Trumka: No dealmaking on Gorsuch
Politico.com, March 24, 2017
TRUMKA: NO DEALMAKING ON GORSUCH: Senate Democrats willing to haggle over confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch are delivering “a slap in the face to every worker out there.†That’s what AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told Morning Shift Thursday shortly after he sent a letter to senators urging them to oppose Gorsuch.
FIGHT AGAINST DUES CHECKOFF GETS SEMI-VICTORY:
Politico.com, March 24, 2017
The appeals court ruled that the Labor Management Relations Act requires unions to allow workers to withdraw permission to deduct dues from their paychecks after the expiration of a contract.
JUDGE ORDERS DISNEY UNION TO PAY BACK DUES
politico.com, March 24, 2017
A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ordered Teamsters Local 385 to return union dues, with interest, to eight Disney workers in Florida