By a vote of 55-53, the Michigan House of Representatives voted to protect teachers by barring school districts from deducting union dues from teachers’ paychecks. Most Republicans supporting the measure and most Democrats opposed. Republicans said money now deducted for union dues will now go into…
Development Counselors International (DCI) ranked the top five and the bottom five states, in terms of what states provide an economic climate most favorable to business. The rankings show that states following right-to-work laws held the top five spots, while states following more union-friendly rules held the bottom five spots. DCI asked corporate executives and representatives to name the three states they thought provided the "most favorable business climates," and the three states least favorable to business. Texas ranked #1 in the final survey results, while California ranked dead last at #50. DCI provided this commentary on the results: Common themes of low operating costs and a pro-business environment emerge for the top five [original emphasis]. Positive responses emphasized costs, low taxes and incentive offerings, while negative opinions cited high taxes, anti-business climates and fiscal problems/state deficits. Here are the top five states, in order: Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida. Here are the bottom five states, starting with with the worst ranked: California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan.
The Rhode Island Commission may tighten rules on union officials serving as elected officials in government. The union ‘umbrellas’ are a point of focus in the state. At this point, in Rhode Island, city or town council members who are union…
The Rhode Island Commission may tighten rules on union officials serving as elected officials in government. The union ‘umbrellas’ are a point of focus in the state. At this point, in Rhode Island, city or town council members who are union…
Trying to increase the number of workers who are forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment is perhaps the TOP priority for President Obama at the moment. Michael Barone takes the president to task for his consistent refusal to say no to the union bosses. Here is his rundown: [Obama] certainly can demonstrate that he cares about certain jobs -- the 7 percent of private-sector jobs and 36 percent of public-sector jobs held by union members. During his two years and nine months as president, he has worked time and again to increase the number of unionized jobs. Some pro-union moves have a certain ritual quality. Democratic presidents on taking office seek to strengthen federal employee unions. Fully one-third of the $820 billion stimulus package passed almost entirely with Democratic votes in 2009 was aid to state and local governments. This was intended to keep state and local public employee union members -- much more numerous than federal employees -- on the job and to keep taxpayer-funded union dues pouring into public employee union treasuries. In arranging the Chrysler bankruptcy, the Obama White House muscled aside the secured creditors who ordinarily have priority in bankruptcy proceedings in favor of United Auto Workers [union]. That's an episode that I labeled "gangster government." Former Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers protested that his White House colleague Ron Bloom had made similar arrangements before. But in those cases Bloom was working for the unions, not for a supposedly neutral government.
Big Labor history of forced unionism abuses from Robert F. Kennedy’s The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee’s Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa And Corrupt Labor Unions: By August of 1958, the McClellan Committee had uncovered a mass of crookedness and wrongdoing in the Teamsters. There were demands that Hoffa take steps to clean up his union. However, I was convinced by this time that he was completely incapable of doing the job-had he cared to. He was dependent on the racketeers and ex-convicts with whom he had surrounded the Barney Bakers. So when in August of 1958 Hoffa announced that he was appointing a special committee to investigate corruption in his union, I was suspicious. And when I heard that George Bender was to be the chairman of the committee I was flabbergasted. Although at that point we had not made it public, we had learned not only from Jim Luken but from a friendly source within the Teamsters that the Hoffa-Bender relationship was an intimate one dating back to the 1954 Bender investigation. (The Committee had found that approximately $109,000-at least $30,000 in cash-went through George Bender's campaign committee bank accounts following that 1954 election. The money was never reported to state authorities-though there may be some question if it is necessary to report campaign funds received after an election is over and won.)
From Charleston Regional Business Journal: The InterTech Group is bringing an aerospace manufacturer and about 350 jobs to North Charleston, the company announced this morning. TIGHitco, pronounced T-I-G-hit-co,…
President Obama speech to Congress was sold as a “job speech” but when you look at the details of his proposal it is clear this isn’t a jobs package as much as a “payoff package” designed to protect his Big…
But, she blames Texas’ job growth on the fact that it is a Right to Work state. From Investor.com’s Ralph R. Reiland: A Labor Chief As Clueless As The President On Aug. 31, with…