Big Labor Bosses Went All Out In November Elections

Union Bosses Going All Out to Capture Congress

Recent Radicalization of Big Labor Allies Raising 2018 Stakes

With just a short time to go until Election Day, Big Labor bosses are publicly predicting their enormous, forced union dues-funded political war chest will enable them to switch operational control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress over to avowed supporters of monopolistic unionism.

If control of both congressional chambers changes, union kingpins will be able to install two of their puppets, most likely rabidly anti-Right to Work Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and likeminded Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.),  as the new Senate majority leader and House speaker.

But the National Right to Work Committee and its 2.8 million members are fighting back through their Federal Survey 2018 program.

This program’s basic goal is simply to ensure that pro-forced unionism Senate and House candidates are held accountable.

Right to Work Committee Publicizing Candidate Positions On Right to Work

This fall, Committee leaders and members are going all out to publicize the positions of federal candidates, incumbents and challengers alike, on compulsory unionism.

By the time they have the opportunity to read this Newsletter edition, the vast majority of Committee members and supporters should already have received in the mail a Survey 2018 results roster, informing them whether and how their federal candidates have responded to the Right to Work survey.

Pro-Right to Work Americans who have not yet received their Survey 2018 results may obtain a copy by contacting the Committee by email — Members@NRTW.org — or by dialing 1-800-325-7892.

By putting maximum pressure on their candidates, Right to Work supporters can make forced unionism a telling issue on Election Day.

Fall Contests May Determine Whether or Not Obama-Era Power Grabs Become Entrenched

The outcome of this fall’s elections may well determine whether or not an array of anti-worker, pro-union monopoly power grabs perpetrated during Big Labor President Barack Obama’s two terms in office become entrenched federal policy, or are rolled back.

For example, a December 2014 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulemaking action requires employers facing unionization campaigns to turn over to union organizers multiple forms of contact information for all front-line employees.

This edict covers even employees who explicitly object to having their personal information fall into Big Labor hands.

Now that Trump appointees who appear willing to resist giving Big Labor even more power over individual employees than is authorized by federal statutes hold a majority of NLRB seats, the chronic rewriting of such statutes by Obama appointees could be reversed.

But if AFL-CIO-boss favorites Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are installed as the new leaders of Congress this fall, even rolling back the extremist schemes of the Obama-era NLRB may become very difficult.

Of course, Right to Work supporters hoping to maintain and even strengthen their ability to combat Big Labor abuses over the next two years do have multiple opportunities in U.S. Senate contests.

Three Pro-Coercion Senators Are Currently Tied or Trailing in the Polls

Just to start with, three incumbent senators with pro-forced unionism records are, according to the latest polls available at the time this Newsletter edition went to press in early October, roughly tied or slightly trailing in their re-election campaigns against 100% pro-Right to Work challengers.

Embattled Big Labor Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) have all regularly sided with union bosses who demanded that the federal government make it even easier for them to corral employees into unions and extract forced financial support from them.

Three egregious examples occurred in August and September 2017 and this April, when President Donald Trump’s NLRB nominations of Marvin Kaplan, William Emanuel, and John Ring came to the Senate floor.

Sens. Heitkamp, McCaskill and Nelson all voted to kill all three nominations and keep the NLRB in the hands of Obama-selected champions of monopolistic unionism. (All three were nevertheless narrowly confirmed.)

Three other union-label senators — Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — were narrowly ahead of strongly pro-Right to Work challengers as of early October.

And at least one other pro-coercion incumbent senator who is currently favored to win –- Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) — still faces a potentially close contest against her opponent, an unabashed supporter of voluntary unionism.

Nevada, Arizona and Tennessee Senate Seats Are All Union-Boss Targets

To thwart a Schumer takeover of the Senate, the Right to Work movement will have to be effective at defense as well as offense in 2018.

Nevada, where consistently pro-Right to Work Sen. Dean Heller (R) is running neck-and-neck in a race with union-label U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, is a key example.

In March 2017, Mr. Heller became a cosponsor of S.545, the National Right to Work Act. This legislation would repeal the provisions in federal labor law that authorize the termination of employees for refusal to join or pay dues to an unwanted union.

In sharp contrast, Ms. Rosen has stubbornly refused to support Right to Work legislation and actively opposed legislation designed to reverse bureaucratic rewriting of federal labor law by Obama NLRB appointees.

Open seats in Arizona and Tennessee that are now held by retiring senators who have often sided with Right to Work in legislative battles are also being targeted by Big Labor this fall.

Committee Rallies Members to Hold Candidates Accountable

The Federal Survey 2018, the principal Committee program for holding federal politicians’ feet to the fire, has three phases.

In the first part, candidates received questionnaires asking them how they intended to vote on a short list of forced-unionism related issues, including national Right to Work legislation.

“The Committee’s goal is to gain more support for Right to Work in the Senate and House,” explained Committee President Mark Mix.

“That’s why the Right to Work survey raises the pressure on candidates to oppose the expansion of Big Labor’s forced-unionism privileges, and also to support rolling those privileges back.”

In part two, Committee members called and wrote to the candidates, asking them to answer their questionnaires 100% in favor of Right to Work.

In the final phase, the Committee, through TV and newspaper ads, e-mails, and the Postal Service, is reporting back to members and friends at the local level on how their candidates responded. That keeps the heat on non-responsive candidates to take a clear stand on the Right to Work issue.

“The 2018 election stakes for Right to Work supporters are higher than they have been in decades,” explained Mr. Mix.

“More than 120 current members of Congress, including would-be Capitol Hill leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, have recently gone on the record in support of federal legislation that would gut all state-level Right to Work protections for private-sector employees and businesses.

“Fortunately, I’m confident that, with members’ generous support, the federal survey will continue convincing, up to Election Day, candidate after candidate to pledge to defend employees’ Right to Work. And candidates who refuse will be held accountable by the public.”

(source: November-December 2018 National Right to Work Newsletter)