NILRR Weekly Clips June 13, 2014


NASA Employee Given the Runaround by Own Union

Washington Free Beacon, June 11, 2014

Walsh and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTWLDF) are now fighting to overturn the technicality that eliminated the possibility of an election. Walsh’s attorney, Bruce Cameron, filed a brief to the three-member FLRA challenging the regional director’s decision. The federal law that allowed the union to prevail, they argued in the brief, does not subject individuals to the time constraints.

Public employers and unions hold breath as high court ponders whether public employees can be compelled to pay dues

Lexology, June 10, 2014

Quinn’s potential significance can hardly be understated. If the plaintiffs succeed in overturning Abood, then any public employer — whether on the local, state, or federal level — would effectively become a “right to work†shop. In other words, unions could still organize their employees but they would have no ability to compel non-members to contribute to them. Public unions would then face what is sometimes characterized as the “free-rider†problem. Workers would lack a strong incentive to contribute to unions as they would be able to capture the benefit of union activities without anteing up any dues. Certainly, experience in “right to work†states — where union “security clauses†requiring non-member employees to contribute to union expenses are already outlawed — teaches that unions rarely thrive under such conditions. As a result, the political and economic landscape of states like Illinois and New, York where public unions have long exerted significant influence, would be greatly transformed.

Pro-Forced Unionism Columnist Tries to Airbrush Rod Blagojevich Out of the Harris v.Quinn Case

nilrr.org, June 10, 2014

As Sean Higgins of the Washington Examiner explained a few weeks ago (see the first link below), forced unionization of participants in the Prairie State’s Medicaid waiver programs was never an issue until the election of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is now serving a 14-year federal prison sentence for crimes that include putting political appointments, such as the U.S. Senate seat that became vacant after Sen. Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, up for sale. Higgins summarized what Big Labor, and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bosses in particular, owe to Blagojevich:

The Nation Online, June 10, 2014

The New Jersey Education Association and the Communication Workers of America each filed suit yesterday to prevent the unilateral pension grab Christie made last month in order to balance the budget for the fiscal year beginning in July. Other unions, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 1 and those representing police, firefighters and engineers, signed on to the lawsuits, representing hundreds of thousands of employees.

Liberal activist lays out plan for UAW do-over at Chattanooga Volkswagen plant

Washington Examiner, June 7, 2014

Rathke’s analysis explains UAW’s sometimes-inexplicable moves since losing an organizing election at the Volkswagen plant by a 712-626 vote on Feb. 14.

The key, he argues, is to get Volkswagen to expand production at the plant — and for the union to portray itself as having facilitated that. This will help win over the workers who rejected collective bargaining and “de-fang†the Republicans and conservative groups who opposed UAW.

Democrats To Farm Workers: Shut Up and Vote (for us)

familiesprotectingthevalley.com, June 8, 2014

In one of the most significant labor relations fights in the country, California farm workers have made history again. But this fight is about trying to get their votes from a November election counted, in order to boot the farm labor union out of their place of business.

The Agricultural Labor Relations Board has steadfastly refused to count the ballots from the Nov. decertification vote.

More Evidence That Wisconsin Should Become A Right-To-Work State?

The MacIver Institute Online, June 12, 2014

Right-to-work states are showing measurable benefits in economic growth compared to non-right-to-work states. According to Opportunity Ohio, 7 of the top 10 states in the country that have experienced the greatest growth in employment since 1990 are right-to-work states. While Governor Walker has reformed collective bargaining for Wisconsin public unions, in the past he has expressed reluctance to expand upon those efforts by pursuing right to work.

This data makes the economic benefits for right to work states clear. So, is it time for Governor Walker to reconsider his stance on the subject?

New UAW boss faces King-size challenge

Detroit News Online, June 10, 2014

It wasn’t cheap, either. The union is said to have spent the equivalent of thousands per head in its effort to organize VW down south. The UAW’s strike fund, a weapon all its own, is $630 million, down from $737 million when King assumed the presidency from Ron Gettelfinger.

Progressive Department of Labor Joins Fight against Home Care Workers

Workplacechoice.org, June 10, 2014

As I have said before, President Obama’s Department of Labor is a prime example of activist bureaucracy. The department’s latest escapade has been to support the notorious SEIU in a bid to absorb home care providers.

Dennis Williams Elected UAW President; Vows to Play Hardball with Automakers

National Legal and Policy Center Online, June 10, 2014

Williams’ main priority is ending the two-tier wage system to which the union agreed in 2007 as part of a deal to keep General Motors, Ford and Chrysler afloat. He’ll get to test his mettle in contract negotiations next year. The union shouldn’t lack for funds in this or any other endeavors; delegates approved a 25 percent dues hike.

More Benefits from Wisconsin’s Collective Bargaining Curbs

Heartland Institute, June 11, 2014

When teachers unions are required to defend their demands in public, they tend to lose. That also recently happened in union-controlled California, where a judge agreed that union-demanded tenure and teacher assignments sent the worst teachers to kids who need the most help. What kids need are laws like Act 10 that force unions to show the public what they’re currently nabbing behind closed doors.

Categories