Idahoans Commemorate Right to Work Anniversary

Idahoans Commemorate Right to Work Anniversary

Gem State Politicians Eager to Be Associated With Successful Law (Source: September 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Back in the 1970's and 1980's, as they successfully pressed first for passage of a state law prohibiting forced union dues and fees, and then to prevent Big Labor from overturning this law in a statewide referendum, Idaho Right to Work activists had few friends in the political establishment. Last month, former National Committee President Reed Larson joined with grass-roots Right to Work activists and elected officials in Idaho to applaud the Gem State's 25-year-old ban on forced union dues and fees. Credit: Courtesy of Gary Glenn The Gem State's union-label Democratic governors during those decades, Cecil Andrus and John Evans, were unabashed cheerleaders for compulsory unionism. Meanwhile, establishment Republicans' relationship with the Right to Work movement was often frosty. For example, 1986 GOP gubernatorial nominee David Leroy tried to have it both ways during his campaign, announcing late in the game that he would oppose efforts to reinstate the then-fledgling Right to Work law if Big Labor succeeded in overturning it. (Ironically, this craven attempt at self-preservation probably cost Mr. Leroy the governorship.) Also in 1986, Republican James McClure, then Idaho's senior U.S. senator, poured cold water on both local and national pro-Right to Work efforts, publicly declaring: "I've urged Republicans not to raise the issue for years. I think it's a bad political issue for us, and it's a real motivational issue for the union people." But after Idahoans upheld their Right to Work law by a solid 54% to 46% margin on November 4, 1986, and also reelected their staunchly pro-Right to Work junior U.S. senator, Republican Steve Symms, on what was otherwise a bleak day for GOP U.S. Senate candidates, Mr. McClure admitted he had been wrong. Most Idaho Politicians Have Finally Decided to Stop Arguing With Success In 2010, 25 years after the Idaho Legislature overrode Gov. Evans's veto and adopted a state Right to Work law prohibiting the termination of workers for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union, most of the Gem State's politicians have finally decided to stop arguing with success.

Keep Bailing

Bailouts for big banks and Wall Street firms.  Bailouts for car companies and the United Auto Workers. Proposed bailouts for union pension funds.  And now this -- a massive $26 billion bailout for state government and teacher's unions.  Not only is the country on its way to bankruptcy but it appears the moral bankruptcy of this Congress has already come. The Wall Street Journal takes on the latest bailout head-on: To treat Washington's spending addiction, the November elections are the taxpayer's best chance to stage an intervention. But until then, President Obama and the Democratic Congress are determined to keep pushing strung-out state governments to take one more fix. Witness yesterday's 247-161 largely party-line House vote to approve a Senate bill shovelling another $26.1 billion out to state education and Medicaid programs. The White House has promoted the bill as emergency assistance for strained state budgets. But this unique brand of therapy drives states to spend more, not less. The "assistance" is so expensive that several governors were begging for relief even before Mr. Obama
'Too Bad For Recently Hired, Talented Teachers'

'Too Bad For Recently Hired, Talented Teachers'

(Source: June 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Union Bigwigs Make Sure Public School Layoffs Are 'Quality-Blind' In recent years, forced dues-funded teacher union lobbyists and union negotiators played a major role in convincing public officials to increase the number of instructional employees at K-12 public schools at a blistering clip. Nationwide, the number of K-12 public school instructional employees (full-time equivalent) grew roughly 3.5 times as much as the number of school-aged children (15.9% vs. 4.5%) from 1998 to 2007. This spring, Gaylene Hayden was one of just six Indiana K-12 public school teachers to be recognized for their "outstanding service." Teacher union boss-perpetuated seniority rules have since cost her her job. (Fox 59 News, Bloomington, Ind.) Since an estimated 65% of U.S. public schoolteachers are under union monopoly bargaining, and more than 40% are forced to pay union dues or fees as a job condition, K-12 employment growth that far outpaces the growth of America's five to 17-year-old population represents a huge windfall for Big Labor. However, in the wake of the severe 2008-2009 recession, many strapped states now have no choice but to pare back a small portion of the K-12 instructional staff increases of the previous decade. Hoosier Teachers Recognized For 'Outstanding Service,' Then Laid Off When school officials have the power to restrict layoffs to employees they have identified as the least effective, then occasional recession-related reductions in force of 5–10% are not necessarily detrimental to student achievement, according to education experts like Stanford University's Eric Hanushek.
'Too Bad For Recently Hired, Talented Teachers'

'Too Bad For Recently Hired, Talented Teachers'

(Source: June 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Union Bigwigs Make Sure Public School Layoffs Are 'Quality-Blind' In recent years, forced dues-funded teacher union lobbyists and union negotiators played a major role in convincing public officials to increase the number of instructional employees at K-12 public schools at a blistering clip. Nationwide, the number of K-12 public school instructional employees (full-time equivalent) grew roughly 3.5 times as much as the number of school-aged children (15.9% vs. 4.5%) from 1998 to 2007. This spring, Gaylene Hayden was one of just six Indiana K-12 public school teachers to be recognized for their "outstanding service." Teacher union boss-perpetuated seniority rules have since cost her her job. (Fox 59 News, Bloomington, Ind.) Since an estimated 65% of U.S. public schoolteachers are under union monopoly bargaining, and more than 40% are forced to pay union dues or fees as a job condition, K-12 employment growth that far outpaces the growth of America's five to 17-year-old population represents a huge windfall for Big Labor. However, in the wake of the severe 2008-2009 recession, many strapped states now have no choice but to pare back a small portion of the K-12 instructional staff increases of the previous decade. Hoosier Teachers Recognized For 'Outstanding Service,' Then Laid Off When school officials have the power to restrict layoffs to employees they have identified as the least effective, then occasional recession-related reductions in force of 5–10% are not necessarily detrimental to student achievement, according to education experts like Stanford University's Eric Hanushek.