NILRR Weekly Clipsheet July 12, 2013
Right to Work and a Test for Republicans
Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2013
Still, a ranking of 22nd out of 50 states leaves plenty of room for improvement and begs the question: What do the top 10 states for business—Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina, Nevada and Georgia—have in common? All are right-to-work states. Ohio is not.
Another union: Hey, whatever happened to “if we like our plans, we can keep them�
Hot Air, July 11, 2013
President Obama’s erstwhile promise assuring Americans that, “if you like your plan, you can keep it,†has since been unceremoniously exploded by the dawning realities of the health care overhaul, and the trend of labor unions — who once so enthusiastically stood alongside the president while he trumpeted the magical benefits the law would produce — now balking at the more limited options with which they and their members are shortly to be confronted, is moving full steam ahead.
AMR Union Election Delayed By Forgery Charge and Voter Challenge
The Street.com, July 10, 2013
Two months after the Teamsters Union called for a union election among mechanics at American (AAMRQ.PK), federal officials are still trying to determine whether the union has submitted enough signatures.
EXCLUSIVE: UFCW Expected To Rejoin AFL-CIO in August
In These Times Online, July 10, 2013
High-level sources within the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions tell Working In These Times that the 1.3-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is in talks to rejoin the labor federation.
Editorial: Lack of works council shouldn’t stop VW plant expansion
knoxnews.com, July 8, 2013
The possible expansion of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga automobile manufacturing plant could hinge on establishing a German-style works council, bringing into sharp relief the differences between German and American labor relations.
phillyburbs.com, July 8, 2013
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to approve the Declaration of Independence, freeing the colonists from tyranny under the British Crown.
Today, some in Pennsylvania still live under a form of tyranny. While they do not live under the rule of a king, they do work under the tyranny of union bosses.
Court rejects request for Michigan right-to-work opinion
Detroit Free Press Online, July 5, 2013
The Michigan Supreme Court has denied the governor’s request for an advisory opinion on whether a controversial right-to-work law the Republican signed in December is constitutional.
Maine remains in the pits on job creation despite LePage’s prolonged focus
Bangor Daily News Online, July 06, 2013
There are other measures championed by LePage that were squashed by the Legislature. When asked by the Bangor Daily News last week what his biggest failure as governor has been, LePage said it was his failed efforts to make Maine a “right to work†state, which means people who work for unionized companies wouldn’t be forced to join the union.
www.nilrr.org, July 5, 2013
For decades, top union bosses and their apologists have rejected the principle that the personal right not to join a union is just as worthy of protection under the law as the right to join a union. From time to time union spokesmen and their allies have been quite frank about this stance.
Grocery Union Bosses Flagrantly Misrepresent the Truth in Keystone State Ad Blitz
www.nilrr.org, July 4, 2013
TV and radio ads bankrolled by the UFCW union hierarchy (primarily with workers’ forced-dues money) ran across the state of Pennsylvania last month. They were designed to defeat an effort by GOP Gov. Tom Corbett and his allies in the Keystone State Legislature to end the state’s monopoly on retail sales of alcoholic beverages consumed off-premises. The reason why grocery union bosses care about this issue is obvious: UFCW Local 1776 currently wields monopoly-bargaining power over roughly 2000 employees at state-controlled stores in eastern and central Pennsylvania, and UFCW Local 23 currently has the same so-called â€exclusive representation†privileges over 1500 employees in the western part of the state. And in non-Right to Work states like Pennsylvania, workers subject to monopoly bargaining are, with rare exceptions, also forced to pay union dues, or be fired.
Teamsters Goodfellas Indicted for Links to Organized Crime
LaborPains.org, July 10, 2013
The Teamsters in Long Island were caught in a scene reminiscent of the gangster classic “Goodfellas†when the president of Local 917 was accused of participating in a $10 million crime ring. Nicholas Bernhard, President of Local 917, was arrested along with nine members of the Bonanno crime family for reputedly engaging in drug trafficking, extortion, loan sharking, and gambling in the New York City area.
McConnell: GOP won’t block votes on Perez, McCarthy; will oppose NLRB nominees
Washington Examiner Online, July 11, 2013
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that the Republicans would not prevent votes on Secretary of Labor nominee Tom Perez and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator nominee Gina McCarthy. But he said the Republicans would move to block votes on President Obama’s five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board.
Illinois Still Flailing About Trying to Do Something About Pensions
reason.com, , July 10, 2013
Fresh off failing to force some gun control efforts onto legislation to finally legalize concealed carry in Ilinois, Gov. Pat Quinn is now trying to withhold state legislators’ paychecks until they deal with the state’s public pension crisis, which is one of the worst i