Click here to download a copy Committee Fights Big Labor Judicial Activism — Reforms Can Stop Entrenchment of New Union-Boss Privileges Committee Fights Big Labor Judicial Activism — Reforms Can Stop Entrenchment of New Union-Boss Privileges Union Nonmembers Are…
Click here to download a copy ‘Right to Work Majority’ on the Horizon — Spread of State Bans on Forced Union Dues Changing U.S. Economy China’s Labor Policy Better Than America’s?? — ‘Bob King…
Click here to download a copy Right to Work Challenges Illegal Obama Picks — Unconstitutional NLRB ‘Recess’ Appointments Hang in the Balance ‘Think About [U.K.]…
Click here to download a copy Forced-Dues Repeal Introduced in U.S. House — Would Bar Firing Employees For Refusal to Pay Union Dues or Fees…
"There is no legitimate purpose of labor law served by making a criminal who maliciously discloses someone's name and social security number together to intimidate that person into joining or not joining a union liable to only a wrist slap at most. Especially when a perpetrator of the same offense with any other motive faces a multi-thousand-dollar fine for every count. "The court ruling that ITPA violations by union bosses are preempted by the NLRA is, therefore, preposterous. "But ID theft need not become yet another, to borrow the words of eminent 20th Century American legal scholar Roscoe Pound, 'wrong' labor unions and their officials may 'commit to person and property . . . with impunity.' "In an essay penned back in 1958, this former Harvard School of law dean observed that labor union officials 'now stand where the king . . . stood at common law.' "Over the past five-and-a-half decades, Big Labor has acquired even more legal immunities. But Fisher could prove to be a great opportunity to begin rolling back court-created union special privileges."
Click here to download a copy Right to Work Activism Spreading Like Wildfire — Victories in Indiana, Michigan Build Momentum in Other States Big Labor…
Click here to download a copy Michigan Passes State Right to Work Law — If Forced-Unionism Foes Can Do It There, They Can Do It…
Click here to download a copy Romney Team Should Boost Forced-Unionism Issue — Freedom to Work Without Supporting a Union Hangs in the Balance Right…
The August 2012 issue of The National Right to Work Committee Newsletter is available for download for your convenience to read and share. It is…
Click here to download a copy Wisconsin Voters Rebuff Government Union Brass — Vote ‘Opens the Door’ For Right to Work Efforts in Other States…
Click here to download a copy More ‘Raspberries’ For Compulsory Union Dues — Employees Have Multiple Reasons to Run to Right to…
Compulsory Unionism Negatively Correlated With Compensation Growth (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) By prohibiting compulsory union dues, state Right to Work laws spur the growth of private-sector employee compensation in the form of wages, salaries, benefits and bonuses, as well as employment growth. Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issued its estimates for 2011 state personal income. The BEA also issued estimates for an array of specific kinds of income, including employee compensation, at the state level. The 2011 BEA income data in general, and the compensation data especially, show once again that there is a strong negative correlation between compulsory unionism and economic growth. Overall, private-sector employee compensation (including wages, salaries, benefits and bonuses) grew by 6.4% nationwide over the past decade, after adjusting for inflation. Historically speaking, this was slow growth. However, states that protect employees from being fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union typically fared far better than the rest. (From 2001 to 2011, 22 states had Right to Work laws prohibiting forced union dues on the books. Last month Indiana became the 23rd Right to Work state.) A review of how compensation and jobs grew (or failed to grow) in each state suggests the U.S. Congress could dramatically improve America's economic prospects for the next decade by repealing forced union dues and fees nationwide. Current federal law authorizes and promotes the payment of compulsory union dues and fees as condition of getting or keeping a job. Right to Work States' 2001-2011 Compensation Increase Nearly Double the National Average
Compulsory Unionism Negatively Correlated With Compensation Growth (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) By prohibiting compulsory union dues, state Right to Work laws spur the growth of private-sector employee compensation in the form of wages, salaries, benefits and bonuses, as well as employment growth. Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) issued its estimates for 2011 state personal income. The BEA also issued estimates for an array of specific kinds of income, including employee compensation, at the state level. The 2011 BEA income data in general, and the compensation data especially, show once again that there is a strong negative correlation between compulsory unionism and economic growth. Overall, private-sector employee compensation (including wages, salaries, benefits and bonuses) grew by 6.4% nationwide over the past decade, after adjusting for inflation. Historically speaking, this was slow growth. However, states that protect employees from being fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union typically fared far better than the rest. (From 2001 to 2011, 22 states had Right to Work laws prohibiting forced union dues on the books. Last month Indiana became the 23rd Right to Work state.) A review of how compensation and jobs grew (or failed to grow) in each state suggests the U.S. Congress could dramatically improve America's economic prospects for the next decade by repealing forced union dues and fees nationwide. Current federal law authorizes and promotes the payment of compulsory union dues and fees as condition of getting or keeping a job. Right to Work States' 2001-2011 Compensation Increase Nearly Double the National Average
Pro-Forced Unionism Federal Candidates Will Have Nowhere to Hide (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) disregarded her pro-Right to Work constituents. Then voters showed her the door. Credit: Bill Clark-CQ Roll Call File Photo Federal and state disclosure reports filed by union officials and their agents show unambiguously that Big Labor controls the most massive political machine in America. In fact, just one type of report, the LM-2 forms that private-sector (and some public-sector) unions with annual revenues exceeding $250,000 are required to file with the federal government, shows that Big Labor pours over a billion dollars into politics and lobbying in every federal campaign cycle. For example, LM-2's for the years 2009 and 2010 show that unions filing such forms spent a total of $1.14 billion in forced dues-funded union treasury money on "political activities and lobbying" in the 2010 election cycle alone. A recent National Institute for Labor Relations Research analysis of data from LM-2's and other federal and state reports conservatively concluded that the union machine spent a total of $1.4 billion on federal and state politics and lobbying in 2009 and 2010. Candidate Survey Is 'One of the Committee's Most Effective Tools'
Union Bosses Plot to Recover All of Their Forced-Dues Privileges (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) Early last year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) infuriated the union hierarchy, in his own state and nationwide, when he introduced legislation (S.B.11) that would abolish forced union dues for teachers and many other public employees and also sharply limit the scope of government union monopoly bargaining. In response, teacher union bosses in Madison, Milwaukee, and other cities called teachers out on illegal strikes so they could stage angry protests at the state capitol and at legislators' residences. Government union militants issued dozens of death threats against Mr. Walker, his administration, and their families. Fourteen Big Labor-backed state senators, all Democrats, temporarily fled the state to deny the pro-S.B.11 Senate majority a quorum to pass the bill. But thanks in part to public support mobilized by the National Right to Work Committee's e-mail and telecommunications activities, pro-Right to Work legislators were able to withstand the Big Labor fury. Ultimately, S.B.11 was sent to Gov. Walker's desk, and on March 11, 2011, he signed into law the measure now known as Act 10. '[T]o Get Things Out of the Contract and Make Needed Changes Was Impossible'
But Big Labor-Appeasing GOP Legislators May Block Reform Measures (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) Arizona has had a Right to Work law on the books for over six decades. And it has no statewide statute handing union officials monopoly-bargaining privileges over state and local government employees. Nevertheless, today many government union bosses in Arizona enjoy special privileges you might expect to find only in notorious Big Labor stronghold states like neighboring California. For example, in Phoenix, as columnist George Will pointed out last month, taxpayers fork over $900,000 annually to pay for the compensation of police union officials as they "work exclusively performing undefined union business, including lobbying . . . ." Mr. Will, citing the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, added that all six of the top officers of the union "derive full pay and benefits from the city, although each is assigned full time to the union -- and each is also entitled to 160 hours of annual extra-pay overtime." So-Called 'Meet-and-Confer' Schemes: Monopoly Bargaining in Disguise
In a just-published book, Big Labor academic Richard Kahlenberg and union lawyer Moshe Marvit (inset) advocate full protection for the right to join a union, but only nominal protection for the right not to join. Credit: The Century Foundation Carnegie Mellon University Big Labor Academics Oppose Equal Protection For Right Not to Join (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the principal federal law regulating employee-employer relations in America's private sector, purports to uphold the right to "form, join or assist labor organizations" and also "the right to refrain from" forming, joining or assisting such organizations. But the NLRA fails utterly to give equal protection to workers who don't want a union. For example, under the NLRA as interpreted by the courts, workers have only a nominal right not to join. As nonmembers, they don't have the right to refuse to pay dues or fees to a union, and still keep their jobs, whenever union officials can obtain "exclusive" bargaining privileges. On the other hand, the NLRA fully protects the freedom of employees who want a union to join and pay dues; it doesn't matter at all if their employer and the majority of their fellow employees oppose unionization. Pro-union employees cannot legally be fired or otherwise discriminated against for joining or financially supporting a union under any circumstances. 'True Civil Rights Are Two-Way Streets'
In a just-published book, Big Labor academic Richard Kahlenberg and union lawyer Moshe Marvit (inset) advocate full protection for the right to join a union, but only nominal protection for the right not to join. Credit: The Century Foundation Carnegie Mellon University Big Labor Academics Oppose Equal Protection For Right Not to Join (source: National Right To Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter) The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the principal federal law regulating employee-employer relations in America's private sector, purports to uphold the right to "form, join or assist labor organizations" and also "the right to refrain from" forming, joining or assisting such organizations. But the NLRA fails utterly to give equal protection to workers who don't want a union. For example, under the NLRA as interpreted by the courts, workers have only a nominal right not to join. As nonmembers, they don't have the right to refuse to pay dues or fees to a union, and still keep their jobs, whenever union officials can obtain "exclusive" bargaining privileges. On the other hand, the NLRA fully protects the freedom of employees who want a union to join and pay dues; it doesn't matter at all if their employer and the majority of their fellow employees oppose unionization. Pro-union employees cannot legally be fired or otherwise discriminated against for joining or financially supporting a union under any circumstances. 'True Civil Rights Are Two-Way Streets'