National Right To Work Indiana Ad Blitz Conference

From the joint appearance by the National Right To Work Committee President Mark Mix and Indiana Right To Work Committee President Rob Beiswenger.  Mr. Mix's comments follow or his complete statement can be downloaded  by clicking this link. Thank you for coming today. I have a brief statement about the National Right to Work Committee’s joint multi-media campaign with the Indiana Right to Work Committee, and then I’ll take your questions. This $100,000 media campaign, which has been kicked off with an initial ad running this morning in the Indianapolis Star, will also include mail, phones, internet, a state-wide newspaper ad buy and hopefully TV and radio advertising. Our objective will be to urge Hoosier citizens to put pressure on Speaker Brian Bosma and Governor Mitch Daniels to use their Constitutionally-granted authority to force the Democrats to return to work and hold roll-call votes on the Indiana Right to Work Bill. More than four weeks ago, Indiana Democrats fled to Illinois to avoid voting on Right to Work because they understood if allowed to come to the floor for an up-or-down vote, the Right to Work Bill would pass and become law. The good news is, the Indiana Constitution requires legislators to legislate. And the Indiana Constitution, which requires a quorum of two-thirds, is also very clear on what to do about a walk out. Should legislators refuse to perform the jobs they were elected to do, the Indiana Constitution allows the majority party to authorize stiff fines and seek other remedies to force law-breaking legislators to return to work. Currently, Speaker Bosma is fining the Democrats who fled to Illinois a measly $350. The truth is, the Democrats know that these fines can easily be covered by the union bosses’ “special funds,” which is why they’ve done little or more than chuckle at this threat. Unless they want to continue being a laughingstock, it’s time for Speaker Bosma and Governor Daniels to start showing some backbone and force the Democrats to come back to work. To force the Democrats to come back to work, Daniels and the Republican majority should impose a $10,000 a day fine on each legislator until they return to work. If the Democrats still don’t return, the sitting legislature should take out liens on their property to force them to do the job they were elected to do. This would get the Democrats to come back to work, and the people of Indiana could get what they voted for on Election Day 2010 -- including Right to Work. The fact is, if passed, an Indiana Right to Work law would simply state that Hoosiers cannot be forced to pay dues or fees to a labor union as a condition of employment. And as the Governor has conceded in the past, forced unionism has put Indiana at an enormous disadvantage when compared to those states with Right to Work laws. The U.S. Department of Labor’s own statistics reveal that while Right to Work states were busy gaining jobs, Indiana has continued to lose them. Over the past decade, private-sector employment increased by 3.7% in Right to Work states, but fell by 8.8% here in Indiana.
Don't Forget the Lights

Don't Forget the Lights

Will the last person living in Detroit, please turn out the lights. It may be a bad joke, but it is quickly become sad reality. Detroit is dying thanks to the greed, power and corruption of the labor union bosses and the politicians who did their bidding. An Investors Business Daily editorial asks: Who Killed Detroit? Poor Detroit. It hasn't had any good news for decades, and now, despite a $77 billion bailout of the auto industry, its population continues to implode. The No. 1 reason: the United Auto Workers union. Census data released Tuesday show Detroit's population has plunged 25% since 2000 to just 713,777 souls — the same as 100 years ago, before the auto industry's heyday. As recently as the 1970s, Detroit had 1.8 million people. What's happening is no secret: Detroiters are fleeing an economic disaster, the irreversible decline of the Big Three automakers. In his now-famous Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler, rapper Eminem drives up to a theater in a sleek new 200 model and says, "This is the Motor City. And this is what we do." But, sadly, that's no longer the case. Detroit's decline has been shocking. Sure, a lot of the blame goes to a generation of bad management. But the main reason for Detroit's decline is the greed of the industry's main union, the UAW, which priced the Big Three out of the market. As recently as 2008, GM, Ford and Chrysler paid their employees on average more than $73 an hour in total compensation. The 12 foreign transplants, operating in nonunion states mostly in the South and Midwest, averaged about $42 an hour. Guess which manufacturers are healthiest and expanding their market today? In 2008, the Big Three still made 59% of all cars in the U.S. But, according to recent estimates, their market share is now 46% — with foreign companies selling the bulk of all U.S. cars. So Detroit's loss has been the South's and Midwest's gain. Behind this is the gold-plated benefits package once guaranteed to UAW workers. We're not against workers getting what they deserve, but total pay and benefits for a full-time worker for the Big Three until recently averaged about $140,000 a year.
Don't Forget the Lights

Don't Forget the Lights

Will the last person living in Detroit, please turn out the lights. It may be a bad joke, but it is quickly become sad reality. Detroit is dying thanks to the greed, power and corruption of the labor union bosses and the politicians who did their bidding. An Investors Business Daily editorial asks: Who Killed Detroit? Poor Detroit. It hasn't had any good news for decades, and now, despite a $77 billion bailout of the auto industry, its population continues to implode. The No. 1 reason: the United Auto Workers union. Census data released Tuesday show Detroit's population has plunged 25% since 2000 to just 713,777 souls — the same as 100 years ago, before the auto industry's heyday. As recently as the 1970s, Detroit had 1.8 million people. What's happening is no secret: Detroiters are fleeing an economic disaster, the irreversible decline of the Big Three automakers. In his now-famous Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler, rapper Eminem drives up to a theater in a sleek new 200 model and says, "This is the Motor City. And this is what we do." But, sadly, that's no longer the case. Detroit's decline has been shocking. Sure, a lot of the blame goes to a generation of bad management. But the main reason for Detroit's decline is the greed of the industry's main union, the UAW, which priced the Big Three out of the market. As recently as 2008, GM, Ford and Chrysler paid their employees on average more than $73 an hour in total compensation. The 12 foreign transplants, operating in nonunion states mostly in the South and Midwest, averaged about $42 an hour. Guess which manufacturers are healthiest and expanding their market today? In 2008, the Big Three still made 59% of all cars in the U.S. But, according to recent estimates, their market share is now 46% — with foreign companies selling the bulk of all U.S. cars. So Detroit's loss has been the South's and Midwest's gain. Behind this is the gold-plated benefits package once guaranteed to UAW workers. We're not against workers getting what they deserve, but total pay and benefits for a full-time worker for the Big Three until recently averaged about $140,000 a year.
More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work, pass Right To Work legislation!

More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work, pass Right To Work legislation!

From Missouri State Sen. Robert N. Mayer's Op-Ed in the Southeast Missiourian 'Right to work' equals jobs: More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work. The alarm is sounding and we should all hear the wake-up call that now is the time to put all the pieces in place so Missouri can truly compete for jobs. Currently, Missouri is missing out on new jobs because companies are drawn to other states with better worker protection laws. Fifty percent of manufacturers refuse to consider Missouri as a place to locate new jobs because we have no protections against forced unionization of our workers -- that's according to testimony given to the Senate General Laws Committee by Mark Sweeney. Sweeney is a site location consultant who works to find new plant sites for both domestic and foreign manufacturing companies. He says Missouri is off the radar for 50 percent of his clients, plus the rest consider right-to-work laws when weighing which state they will choose. Not having right-to-work has cost us in many ways. First, Missouri is losing a congressional seat due to the most recent census data. That data shows businesses with jobs and the workers who take them are fleeing to states with worker protection laws. Non-right-to-work states lost a total of nine congressional seats and, due to population shifts, right-to-work states gained 11. This session we have the opportunity to correct this wrong by bringing beneficial jobs to Missouri while keeping hard-working citizens in our state. Second, we have underperformed compared with the six of our eight neighboring states that are right-to-work states. All those states have lower unemployment rates than Missouri. Tennessee, the only one with a comparable rate to ours, gained jobs in 2010 while Missouri lost jobs. Plus, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment is lower in the 22 states that have adopted right-to-work laws. In the last decade, those states have added 1.5 million private sector jobs, while non-right-to-work states have lost 1.8 million jobs. With more than 160,000 jobs lost in our state since June 2008, we cannot afford to stand by and not take action.
Right to Work on the March in Statehouses

Right to Work on the March in Statehouses

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® Website Updates by Email (Source: February 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Economic Reality Puts Compulsory-Unionism Apologists on Defensive In a hand-wringing January 21 commentary for the leftist Huffington Post, international Teamster chieftain Jim Hoffa joined the ranks of prominent union officials bemoaning the recent introduction of legislation prohibiting forced union dues and fees in state capitols across America. Mr. Hoffa called on his militant followers to "fight like h***" against what he called "dangerous attacks." In reality, of course, the Right to Work measures he decried would do nothing more than prohibit firing or denying a job to an employee simply because he or she refuses to join or bankroll an unwanted union. Echoing the rhetoric of his late father Jimmy Hoffa, who filled out his last four years as Teamster czar while serving a federal prison term for jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud, Mr. Hoffa proffered a conspiracy theory about why Right to Work legislation is being considered in so many states this year. "A coordinated network of think tanks, business groups, [and other organizations] has for years been working toward passing these right-to-work … laws. Leading the charge is National Right to Work," he fumed.