Right to Work to Capitol Hill: 'Keep Your Promises'

Right to Work to Capitol Hill: 'Keep Your Promises'

(Source: January 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Former Speakers Newt Gingrich (R-Ga., left) and Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) both made campaign pledges to support roll-call votes on forced-dues repeal, but blocked action on such legislation when Congress was in session. Politicians Pledging to Back Right to Work Take Charge of House Thanks in significant part to the efforts of National Right to Work Committee members across the country, starting this month the U.S. House of Representatives will be led by a speaker and a majority leader who have pledged full support for Americans' Right to Work without being forced to join or pay dues to a union. Now Committee members' job is to make sure Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and other members of Congress turn their pro-Right to Work promises into action. John Boehner, Eric Cantor Owe Leadership Posts to Worker-Freedom Advocates Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor enjoy their top leadership positions in the House in part due to pro-Right to Work Americans' support for congressional candidates nationwide who had pledged to oppose compulsory unionism. Millions of pro-Right to Work Americans mobilized against candidates who supported compulsory unionism, or tried to hide their position on freedom in the workplace. These Americans expect Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor to lay the foundation for a new federal labor policy respecting each employee's ability to decide for himself or herself whether or not to join or financially support a union, declared Committee President Mark Mix. "Poll after poll shows nearly four out of five Americans who regularly vote support the Right to Work," explained Mr. Mix. "When these citizens helped John Boehner and Eric Cantor become the new House leaders, they sent an unmistakable message to Capitol Hill -- roll back Organized Labor's compulsory-unionism privileges." In the 2010 elections, voters firmly rejected major Big Labor power grabs such as the "card check" forced-unionism bill, which sailed through the House as recently as 2007 and seemed close to becoming law in early 2009, after Barack Obama became the 44th U.S. President. Momentum Swings Toward Right to Work A full-fledged Committee effort to get federal candidates on the record against the "card check" bill, or "Employee Free Choice Act," as proponents cynically mislabeled it, surpassed expectations in mobilizing citizens and increasing the number of Right to Work supporters in Congress. To activate Right to Work supporters, the Committee distributed a record-smashing total of nearly 8.4 million federal candidate Survey 2010 "information packets" through the U.S. Postal Service last year. Above and beyond that, the 2010 program had a massive Internet component, including nearly half a million e-mails transmitted in October alone. All this plus radio, TV, and newspaper advertising. Lobbying by Committee members persuaded hundreds of House and Senate candidates to take a pro-Right to Work position, which in turn helped many get elected. That's not surprising, given the Right to Work principle's overwhelming public support. "The political momentum is now against compulsory unionism," commented Mr. Mix. "That means in this Congress the Committee actually has a chance, if members keep up the pressure, to pick up enough votes from the 'mushy middle' to push pro-Right to Work legislation through the House." Committee Pushes For Floor Votes
Taxpayer Funded Union No-Show Jobs Everywhere

Taxpayer Funded Union No-Show Jobs Everywhere

Public Sector Employee Monopoly Bargaining Running Amok! Taxpayer funded federal, state, and municipal no-show jobs exist throughout the country.  In 2002, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union Local 12 had 9 such full-time union time jobs at the United States Department of Labor.  These 9 union officials were working full-time on union activities as union employees and officers and never spent any time working as federal employees.  Yet, they were paid by the federal government (taxpayers). In 2003, the NY-NJ Port Authority Police Department union was allowed to have four union officers/"police officers" spend their entire time working on union activity, and none for the Port Authority.  Yet, the Port Authority paid their salaries and benefits. Now, during the NY City Big Snow Slowdown controversy, it comes to light that New York City taxpayers pay six (6) SEIU sanitation officers to work full time on union business, not city business.  BigGovernment .com has the report: [Additional supporting information (to download complete supporting documentation packet, click here)] Big Labor and politicians across the United States have transferred union costs to taxpayers.  For example, SEIU Local 444 (The Sanitation Officers Association, see related snow  slowdown stories) has six full-time union officials who are paid full-time city benefits and salary, yet work 0.00% of the time for New York City.  These Sanitation Officers are working on everything but New York City business – including political activities and golf outings – all on the taxpayers’ dime. SEIU Local 444 – NY City Contract Language (pertinent part)
Workers Forced to Bankroll Agenda They Oppose

Workers Forced to Bankroll Agenda They Oppose

(Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Union bosses like AFL-CIO czar Richard Trumka claim that forced-unionism policies are in union members' best interest. But a new scientific poll shows union members overwhelmingly support the Right to Work principle. New Nationwide Poll Shows Union Members Support Right to Work A scientific survey of union members nationwide, conducted the week before the November elections by well-known pollster Frank Luntz for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, shows that Big Labor bosses are out of touch with the people they purport to represent as well as the public at large. The poll gauged the opinions of both private- and government-sector union members regarding key aspects of the agenda Big Labor bankrolls with union treasury funds, which consist primarily of dues and fees that workers are forced to fork over as a condition of employment. In the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, union officials funneled forced dues and fees extracted from an estimated nine million union members and forced union fee-paying nonmembers into what appears to have been their largest ever federal mid-term electoral war chest. Top bosses of the AFL-CIO-affiliated American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union openly admit to having spent a total of nearly $87.5 million, mostly union treasury money, on mid-term electioneering. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bosses acknowledge pouring $44 million, primarily forced-dues money, into 2009-2010 politics. National Education Association (NEA) teacher union chiefs have owned up to siphoning $40 million into politicking over the past two years. Altogether, it's safe to say Organized Labor shelled out more than a billion dollars in reported and unreported contributions, including "in-kind" support like phone banks and get-out-the-vote drives as well as cash, to its favored 2010 congressional candidates. Four Out of Five Union Members Reject Forced Union Membership, Dues
Iowans Repudiate Pro-Forced Unionism Governor

Iowans Repudiate Pro-Forced Unionism Governor

Right to Work Makes Major Gains in State Legislative Contests (Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) It takes a lot to convince Iowa citizens to oust a sitting governor. Until this fall, the last time a Hawkeye State chief executive failed to get another term after seeking one was in 1962! But over the past four years, Big Labor Democrat Gov. Chet Culver wore out Iowans' considerable patience. On November 2, he was one of 13 incumbent governors on the ballot across America. Eleven of these incumbents won, but Mr. Culver lost by a hefty 53% to 43% margin. What had Chet Culver done to receive such a harsh rebuke from normally amiable Midwesterners? He tried to gut Iowa's popular Right to Work law -- and he was sneaky about it. After saying nothing about the Right to Work issue during his successful 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Mr. Culver announced, almost as soon as the votes were counted, his support for legislation imposing forced union dues and fees on Iowa workers as a condition of employment. Since Mr. Culver's fellow Democrats controlled substantial majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature that greeted him upon his inauguration in early 2007, it seemed Big Labor's stealthy scheme to bring back forced unionism to the state six decades after it had been banned would succeed. For four years, Gov. Culver tried to help union bosses extract forced fees from workers who choose not to join. But freedom-loving Iowans first thwarted him legislatively and then defeated him at the polls. But the National Right to Work Committee and the Iowans for Right to Work Committee were already mobilizing resistance. Pro-Right to Work Iowan Stopped Forced-Union-Fee Schemes in 2007 and 2009 Even before the new Legislature convened in January 2007, the National Committee began sending out a series of statewide and targeted mailings to members and supporters in Iowa, with a focus on selected House and Senate members in vulnerable seats.
Voters Give Forced Unionism a 'Shellacking'

Voters Give Forced Unionism a 'Shellacking'

(Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Voters fed up with the Tax & Spend, forced-unionism agenda that Democratic U.S. House leaders have been pushing consigned them to minority status on November 2. See p. 3 of this Newsletter for details. But Big Labor Retains Hold Over U.S. Senate, Key State Assemblies Not just on November 2, but throughout this past election year, voters across most of the country sent two clear messages to Big Labor politicians on Capitol Hill: They are dismayed by what the politicians have done at union lobbyists' behest, and determined to stop them from doing more of the same. One major object of voters' ire was the controversial "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" (ARRA), otherwise known as the "stimulus" package. In early 2009, AFL-CIO and Change to Win union lobbyists twisted arms to secure majorities in both chambers of Congress for this $800 billion legislation. Since it became law, ARRA has bilked taxpayers of hundreds of billions of dollars to ensure that bloated, unionized government payrolls stay bloated, but furnished no detectable net benefit for America's private sector. Another key source of voters' displeasure was ObamaCare. More even than President Obama or any other elected official, top union bosses and their arm-twisting union lobbyists are responsible for Congress's narrow votes to reconstruct America's enormous health-care system in late 2009 and early 2010. November 2's exit polls clearly indicate that voters across the country punished vulnerable U.S. representatives and senators for doing what Big Labor told them to do. Undoubtedly compounding the woes of many of the politicians who had voted for the government union boss-crafted "stimulus" package and ObamaCare was that they were also on the record in support of forced-unionism initiatives that, due to stiff Right to Work opposition, have yet to be enacted. Millions of freedom-loving citizens were furious with their incumbent politicians for having backed Big Labor's now-moribund "card check" forced-unionism bill and its so far-stalled scheme to federalize government union monopoly bargaining over state and local public-safety employees. Big Labor Appeasers in GOP Were First Casualties Of Voter Backlash