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Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® by Email Click Gov. Walker's image to send him a meesage. A major newspaper in Wisconsin is backing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reform the runaway power of government workers unions: Restoring Wisconsin to fiscal health is not for the squeamish. The medicine is going to be bitter. Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to strip state employee unions of much of their bargaining power illustrates just how bitter. But Walker is right to do this. He must insist that state workers pay a bigger share of their benefits. And he's right to take steps to compel them to do so. The governor is overreaching in some respects. And even if he wins the bruising fight to come in the state Capitol, he risks alienating broad swaths of independent voters. But Walker must fill a gaping budget hole of $137 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a much larger imbalance in the next two-year budget. Something has to give. Walker's proposals affect virtually every unionized public worker in the state, at both the state and municipal levels. But the alternative to trimming benefits is laying off thousands of workers. The state, not to mention the economy, is better served by keeping as many of its workers on board as possible, albeit at a lower cost. Walker estimates his proposals will save the state $30 million between now and June 30 and $300 million over the course of the next two-year budget. That doesn't count savings at the local level, which should help make up for expected cuts in state aid. Our analysis:
Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® by Email Click Gov. Walker's image to send him a meesage. A major newspaper in Wisconsin is backing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reform the runaway power of government workers unions: Restoring Wisconsin to fiscal health is not for the squeamish. The medicine is going to be bitter. Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to strip state employee unions of much of their bargaining power illustrates just how bitter. But Walker is right to do this. He must insist that state workers pay a bigger share of their benefits. And he's right to take steps to compel them to do so. The governor is overreaching in some respects. And even if he wins the bruising fight to come in the state Capitol, he risks alienating broad swaths of independent voters. But Walker must fill a gaping budget hole of $137 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a much larger imbalance in the next two-year budget. Something has to give. Walker's proposals affect virtually every unionized public worker in the state, at both the state and municipal levels. But the alternative to trimming benefits is laying off thousands of workers. The state, not to mention the economy, is better served by keeping as many of its workers on board as possible, albeit at a lower cost. Walker estimates his proposals will save the state $30 million between now and June 30 and $300 million over the course of the next two-year budget. That doesn't count savings at the local level, which should help make up for expected cuts in state aid. Our analysis:
AFL-CIO President Applauds Obama Bureaucrats

AFL-CIO President Applauds Obama Bureaucrats

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® by Email Kudos Go to NLRB Members For 'Encouraging' Monopolistic Unionism The four current members of the powerful National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), all appointed or reappointed by President Barack Obama, are poised to make a series of major decisions expanding forced unionism over the next few months. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO union conglomerate, is licking his chops at this prospect -- and it's no mystery why he and other union kingpins are eager to see the Obama NLRB reinvent the federal rules for unionization campaigns. Chairman Wilma Liebman, an NLRB veteran first appointed to the agency in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton and elevated to the leadership position by Mr. Obama in 2009, is an ex-Teamster union lawyer. And Obama appointees Craig Becker and Mark Pearce both come out of union legal ranks. More important, Ms. Liebman, Mr. Becker, and Mr. Pearce have all already demonstrated a willingness to go well beyond the pro-forced unionism letter of federal labor law to make it as difficult as they can for independent employees and businesses to avoid union monopoly control. Federal Labor Law Itself Tramples Freedom of Independent-Minded Workers Only one current NLRB member, former GOP Senate staffer Brian Hayes, has shown any real reluctance to rewrite the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) whenever they turn out to be inconvenient for union organizers. But Mr. Hayes is evidently destined to be perpetually outvoted by the three forced-unionism zealots who now sit with him on the Board. (The fifth NLRB seat remains vacant as this month's Right to Work Newsletter goes to press.)
Deficit Driver

Deficit Driver

What is Big Labor's role in driving our deficit spending to unimaginable levels?  The Washington Examiner answers the question: To hear President Obama, liberal mainstream media outlets and congressional Democratic leaders tell it, Washington is "still" in the grip of evil special interests like Big Oil, Wall Street and the pharmaceutical drug industry. It's a familiar line, but when the actual numbers for campaign donations by the top 100 special interest donors are toted up, it becomes quite clear which is the biggest one of them all -- Big Labor. The union bosses spent more than $500 billion on campaign donations between 1989 and 2009, with well more than 90 percent of the total going to Democratic presidential and congressional candidates. That's more than 10 times as much as was spent by Big Oil during the same period, according to federal campaign finance data compiled by professor Antony Davies of Duquesne University. In fact, Big Labor gave twice as much as the totals for the Big Oil, telecommunications, insurance, pharmaceuticals and real estate industries combined. Probe a little deeper, as blogger Doug Ross did recently, and something else becomes clear: More than half of all union members are also public employees. In the federal government alone, three unions represent nearly half of the 2 million civil servants. Overall, more than a third of all government workers at all levels are union members, compared with only 11 percent in the private sector. That's why it is no coincidence that for the third consecutive year, the federal government will spend more than a trillion dollars it doesn't have. That money will be borrowed, much of it from China and other foreign powers that don't necessarily have the best interests of America in mind. Federal spending under President George W. Bush and the Republican congressional majority greatly increased, to be sure, more so than it did under Democrat President Clinton during the prior decade.
Is Indiana Gov. Daniels Trying to Whistle Past the Right To Work Graveyard?

Is Indiana Gov. Daniels Trying to Whistle Past the Right To Work Graveyard?

According to an article at BigGovernment.com, the only thing holding Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels back from holding a Republican presidential primary frontrunner position is his holding back Indiana's Right To Work law passage.   Numerous calls and other contacts from our members in Indiana confirm that on several occasions Republican politicians have put the blame directly on Daniels' shoulders for the legislative hold-up on Right To Work.  Certainly, trying to avoid the issue will not enhance any presidential hopes that he may have nor help working Hoosiers breath free air again. From BigGovernment.com: The rise of the Tea Party movement illustrates that people are looking for political leaders who will forcibly address issues and stand on principle. Yet, according news reports, Gov. Daniels is trying to avoid a decision and even a debate on freedom that influences every worker and business in Indiana. This is not leadership. On the other hand, should Gov. Daniels embrace Right To Work legislation that provides all Hoosiers the right to choose or not to choose to pay into a union, then he could easily ride a wave of success and become the Republican Presidential Nominee to beat. Should Gov. Daniels sign the 23rd state Right To Work law, he will be able to bounce back-and-forth from appearances in early presidential primary Right To Work states like Iowa and South Carolina to ribbon cutting ceremonies for new businesses in Indiana boasting of rising employment numbers and a more stabilized state budget. Gov. Daniels will be able to say that he fought the Democrat party’s most fierce ally, Big Labor, and he won it for Hoosiers and that he will stand up for all Americans as well. Or, Gov. Daniels can let the golden opportunity for the citizens and businesses of Indiana, as well as for himself, slip through his hands in attempt to avoid Big Labor attacks – attacks that will come against any Republican presidential nominee regardless of their mollycoddling. Unfortunately, it appears that Gov. Daniels has chosen to make the Right To Work issue his Waterloo rather than his San Juan Hill.