Fact: Union Members Benefit from Right To Work Laws

Fact: Union Members Benefit from Right To Work Laws

The continues Investors Business Daily its excellent job of defining and promoting Right to Work: Should workers be forced to join unions or pay them dues as a condition of employment? Indiana recently became the 23rd state to say "no," and polls show support for similar right-to-work laws in union bastions like Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio. In Michigan, unions are so fearful that they are pushing to amend the state constitution to prevent such a law. The presumption is that if such laws passed, many employees would drop out of unions or stop paying dues, weakening labor. There's just one thing: There is little evidence that right-to-work laws cause people to leave unions. In fact, what evidence there is suggests the vast majority stick with their unions. That may be in part because the laws force unions to be more attentive to members' needs. "Somebody asked me how many workers got out because of right-to-work and I said, well, we don't track that number," said Jimmy Curry, president of Oklahoma AFL-CIO, whose state adopted a right-to-work law in 2001. He claims that no more than 10% of his members even register complaints.
'70s Radical Mark Dayton Gets Court Smackdown for his Big Labor Scheme

'70s Radical Mark Dayton Gets Court Smackdown for his Big Labor Scheme

Minnesota Judge Dale Lindman ruled that Gov. Mark Dayton's Executive Order (EO) calling for the unionization of child care providers is unconstitutional.  Judge Lindman, an appointee of Gov. Arne Carlson, said that Gov. Dayton's EO is "an unconstitutional usurpation of the Legislature's right to create or amend laws", which "is a violation of the Separation of Powers principle." The Examiner called it s "stinging defeat for Gov. Dayton, AFSCME and the SEIU."   Judge Lindman said that the BMS doesn't have statutory authority through Chapter 179 to get involved in this dispute, adding that they only have the authority to mediate in employer-employee disputes. HotAir.com weighs in on the news: Dayton attempted to bypass the state legislature in this effort by declaring through executive order that day-care centers that indirectly receive state aid through their clients are in effect public-sector workplaces — a definition not found in law or in legislative intent.  In fact, as Gary Gross points out, it arguably contravenes state law.  That way, Dayton could order an election that would allow his union allies to force their way into day-care workplaces, including many independent operations, and start extracting dues on a massive basis. I use the word extreme for a couple of reasons.  First, it fits; had Dayton succeeded in his imposition of public-worker status, the precedent established would have been so broad as to threaten the very notion of a private-sector workforce altogether.
'70s Radical Mark Dayton Gets Court Smackdown for his Big Labor Scheme

'70s Radical Mark Dayton Gets Court Smackdown for his Big Labor Scheme

Minnesota Judge Dale Lindman ruled that Gov. Mark Dayton's Executive Order (EO) calling for the unionization of child care providers is unconstitutional.  Judge Lindman, an appointee of Gov. Arne Carlson, said that Gov. Dayton's EO is "an unconstitutional usurpation of the Legislature's right to create or amend laws", which "is a violation of the Separation of Powers principle." The Examiner called it s "stinging defeat for Gov. Dayton, AFSCME and the SEIU."   Judge Lindman said that the BMS doesn't have statutory authority through Chapter 179 to get involved in this dispute, adding that they only have the authority to mediate in employer-employee disputes. HotAir.com weighs in on the news: Dayton attempted to bypass the state legislature in this effort by declaring through executive order that day-care centers that indirectly receive state aid through their clients are in effect public-sector workplaces — a definition not found in law or in legislative intent.  In fact, as Gary Gross points out, it arguably contravenes state law.  That way, Dayton could order an election that would allow his union allies to force their way into day-care workplaces, including many independent operations, and start extracting dues on a massive basis. I use the word extreme for a couple of reasons.  First, it fits; had Dayton succeeded in his imposition of public-worker status, the precedent established would have been so broad as to threaten the very notion of a private-sector workforce altogether.
Unionists Hijacking Charter Schools

Unionists Hijacking Charter Schools

Terrance Scanlon finds compelling evidence that the union bosses have sent their sights on charter schools which are not required, currently, to join union collective bargaining units. The union bosses see this both as a threat and a pool of potential union dues that are not being tapped: If you can’t beat them, take them over. That seems to be the new union strategy on charter schools. Charter schools are publicly funded schools that are governed by private groups that sign a contract, or charter, with the state. The charter requires that the school meet certain standards of accountability in return for taxpayer funding, but in other areas it exempts the school from many burdensome state or local regulations. Some of the most burdensome are rules required by labor unions. Charter school teachers usually are not required to join existing union collective-bargaining units. This means charter schools can more easily promote good teachers and fire bad ones. But, of course, this has made charter schools targets for hostile union action. Unions correctly view charter schools as a threat to their stranglehold over public education and the tax dollars that come with it. Unions have denounced charter schools for “skimming” off the best students from the public schools, and they have sued school districts that introduce charter schools. Unions have tried to block or repeal charter school laws, and they’ve tried to limit the number of charter schools allowed by states. But in Minnesota, the teachers unions are moving in a new direction. State officials recently have given the Minnesota Guild of Charter Schools, an organization created by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT), the right to authorize charter schools. The prospect of union-authorized charter schools disturbs many observers, who predict it will lead to conflict. A report sponsored in part by the Progressive Policy Institute summarized the source of the hostility between the two sides: “Unions believe in professionalism through clearly defined roles, rights and responsibilities for teachers. Charter school leaders equate this vision of professionalism with resistance to change and protection of unfit teachers. Charter leaders believe in competition and entrepreneurialism. Union leaders equate these ideas with indifference to disadvantaged students and treatment of teachers as commodities.”
NRTW Attorneys file suit against MN Gov. Dayton's SEIU-AFSCME payback scheme

NRTW Attorneys file suit against MN Gov. Dayton's SEIU-AFSCME payback scheme

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, like former governors Gray Davis (CA), Rod Blagojevich (IL), and Jennifer Granholm (MI) to name a few, knows how to payback the SEIU union bosses -- they all indentured parents and family members who take care of relatives to Big Labor.  It is a shameless act of pure political power compelling people who are not even employees of the state to be required to pay union dues and fees.  In Michigan,  Governor Rick Snyder ended Granholm's SEIU payback scheme.  But, in other states like Minnesota, parents and family members have not been so fortunate.  That is why the National Right To Work Legal Defense is taking the case in an effort to expose the scheme and have the court system eventually rule against everyone of these schemes. Legal schemes that were in a large part a brainchild of Obama's former NLRB member Craig Becker. From The StarTribune article by Jim Ragsdale and Paul  Walsh: Opponents of the drive to unionize in-home child care providers have filed a second suit aimed at blocking a union vote. A group of 12 child-care providers, aided by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order authorizing a union election. The group argues that the order is unconstitutional because it could ultimately require all providers to be represented by the union, whether they want to or not. The federal complaint says that if either or both unions win the elections in their geographic areas, the union would become the "exclusive" representative of all providers. It said the providers who filed the suit do not want to associate with either union "in any way" and "wish to retain their individual right to choose with whom they associate to lobby the state.'' "In the order, the state is going to designate a representative of these providers for the purposes of petitioning the state,'' said William Messenger, an attorney for the foundation, based in Springfield, Va. "It infringes on the freedom of association -- the First Amendment protects to right to associate or not associate.'' After an organizing drive by the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Dayton issued an order setting a union election for those providers who care for children with state subsidies -- about 4,300 of the state's 11,000 licensed in-home providers. The foundation is focused on fighting what it considers "compulsory unionism,'' such as workplaces where employees are required to be members. It is providing legal work on the lawsuit for free, Messenger said. From the related National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation press release:
NRTW Attorneys file suit against MN Gov. Dayton's SEIU-AFSCME payback scheme

NRTW Attorneys file suit against MN Gov. Dayton's SEIU-AFSCME payback scheme

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, like former governors Gray Davis (CA), Rod Blagojevich (IL), and Jennifer Granholm (MI) to name a few, knows how to payback the SEIU union bosses -- they all indentured parents and family members who take care of relatives to Big Labor.  It is a shameless act of pure political power compelling people who are not even employees of the state to be required to pay union dues and fees.  In Michigan,  Governor Rick Snyder ended Granholm's SEIU payback scheme.  But, in other states like Minnesota, parents and family members have not been so fortunate.  That is why the National Right To Work Legal Defense is taking the case in an effort to expose the scheme and have the court system eventually rule against everyone of these schemes. Legal schemes that were in a large part a brainchild of Obama's former NLRB member Craig Becker. From The StarTribune article by Jim Ragsdale and Paul  Walsh: Opponents of the drive to unionize in-home child care providers have filed a second suit aimed at blocking a union vote. A group of 12 child-care providers, aided by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis against Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order authorizing a union election. The group argues that the order is unconstitutional because it could ultimately require all providers to be represented by the union, whether they want to or not. The federal complaint says that if either or both unions win the elections in their geographic areas, the union would become the "exclusive" representative of all providers. It said the providers who filed the suit do not want to associate with either union "in any way" and "wish to retain their individual right to choose with whom they associate to lobby the state.'' "In the order, the state is going to designate a representative of these providers for the purposes of petitioning the state,'' said William Messenger, an attorney for the foundation, based in Springfield, Va. "It infringes on the freedom of association -- the First Amendment protects to right to associate or not associate.'' After an organizing drive by the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Dayton issued an order setting a union election for those providers who care for children with state subsidies -- about 4,300 of the state's 11,000 licensed in-home providers. The foundation is focused on fighting what it considers "compulsory unionism,'' such as workplaces where employees are required to be members. It is providing legal work on the lawsuit for free, Messenger said. From the related National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation press release: