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More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work, pass Right To Work legislation!

More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work, pass Right To Work legislation!

From Missouri State Sen. Robert N. Mayer's Op-Ed in the Southeast Missiourian 'Right to work' equals jobs: More than 280,000 Missourians are out of work. The alarm is sounding and we should all hear the wake-up call that now is the time to put all the pieces in place so Missouri can truly compete for jobs. Currently, Missouri is missing out on new jobs because companies are drawn to other states with better worker protection laws. Fifty percent of manufacturers refuse to consider Missouri as a place to locate new jobs because we have no protections against forced unionization of our workers -- that's according to testimony given to the Senate General Laws Committee by Mark Sweeney. Sweeney is a site location consultant who works to find new plant sites for both domestic and foreign manufacturing companies. He says Missouri is off the radar for 50 percent of his clients, plus the rest consider right-to-work laws when weighing which state they will choose. Not having right-to-work has cost us in many ways. First, Missouri is losing a congressional seat due to the most recent census data. That data shows businesses with jobs and the workers who take them are fleeing to states with worker protection laws. Non-right-to-work states lost a total of nine congressional seats and, due to population shifts, right-to-work states gained 11. This session we have the opportunity to correct this wrong by bringing beneficial jobs to Missouri while keeping hard-working citizens in our state. Second, we have underperformed compared with the six of our eight neighboring states that are right-to-work states. All those states have lower unemployment rates than Missouri. Tennessee, the only one with a comparable rate to ours, gained jobs in 2010 while Missouri lost jobs. Plus, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows unemployment is lower in the 22 states that have adopted right-to-work laws. In the last decade, those states have added 1.5 million private sector jobs, while non-right-to-work states have lost 1.8 million jobs. With more than 160,000 jobs lost in our state since June 2008, we cannot afford to stand by and not take action.

Big Labor Disdained 'Alleged Religious Beliefs'

Big Labor Disdained 'Alleged Religious Beliefs'

(Source: February 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Unjust Firing Helped Make Frank Partin a Right to Work Leader There are many paths to becoming a leader in the Right to Work movement. Frank Partin's was an unusually difficult one. In 1973, Mr. Partin was working for Philco-Ford at the New Hampshire Satellite Tracking Station in New Boston, when the facility was targeted by International Association of Machinists (IAM/AFL-CIO) union organizers. Mr. Partin’s Efforts to Keep His Job Honorably Ran Into Big Labor Wall The Big Labor campaign soon succeeded, and in short order IAM officials obtained from Philco-Ford a forced-unionism contract with a clause requiring the termination of any employee who refused to become and remain "a member in good standing of the Union" once the contract had been in effect for 30 days. Mr. Partin's problem was not simply that he didn't want to join the IAM union, but that he couldn't do so without compromising his faith in God. He was then, and remained for the rest of his life, a member of the Church of the Kingdom, a Christian denomination that teaches, as a matter of doctrine based on its understanding of the Bible, that no member may belong to, join, or participate in any labor union. But Frank Partin still hoped, for a time, that IAM officials would accept an alternative arrangement he proposed and thus allow him to keep his job without going against the doctrine of his faith. 'We Have No Alternative But to Process Your Termination' In a letter to the secretary-treasurer of his IAM local, Mr. Partin offered to "donate to the union the equivalent of initiation fees and monthly union dues if it was understood I was not a member of the union, and the union in turn donated that amount to a bona fide charitable organization." IAM Local 2503 Secretary-Treasurer Dwight Mercer was unmoved. Even a signed affidavit from Mr. Partin's pastor certifying that he was a member of the Church of the Kingdom and could not remain one if he joined or participated in a labor union did not cause Mr. Mercer to budge. In an icy letter, dated March 19, 1973, Mr. Mercer sneered that Mr. Partin's "current alleged religious beliefs" did not give him any protection from forced payment of a union initiation fee and full monthly dues. And IAM bosses would spend the conscripted money exactly as they wanted. Frank Partin refused to compromise his faith in the way the IAM hierarchy demanded. Consequently, on March 28, 1973, he received a letter from Philco-Ford stating that, in accordance with Article II of the union contract (the forced-unionism clause), "we have no alternative but to process your termination as soon as possible." 'He Was the Kind of Guy Who Really Loved Life' Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® Website Updates by Email

Big Labor Disdained 'Alleged Religious Beliefs'

Big Labor Disdained 'Alleged Religious Beliefs'

(Source: February 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Unjust Firing Helped Make Frank Partin a Right to Work Leader There are many paths to becoming a leader in the Right to Work movement. Frank Partin's was an unusually difficult one. In 1973, Mr. Partin was working for Philco-Ford at the New Hampshire Satellite Tracking Station in New Boston, when the facility was targeted by International Association of Machinists (IAM/AFL-CIO) union organizers. Mr. Partin’s Efforts to Keep His Job Honorably Ran Into Big Labor Wall The Big Labor campaign soon succeeded, and in short order IAM officials obtained from Philco-Ford a forced-unionism contract with a clause requiring the termination of any employee who refused to become and remain "a member in good standing of the Union" once the contract had been in effect for 30 days. Mr. Partin's problem was not simply that he didn't want to join the IAM union, but that he couldn't do so without compromising his faith in God. He was then, and remained for the rest of his life, a member of the Church of the Kingdom, a Christian denomination that teaches, as a matter of doctrine based on its understanding of the Bible, that no member may belong to, join, or participate in any labor union. But Frank Partin still hoped, for a time, that IAM officials would accept an alternative arrangement he proposed and thus allow him to keep his job without going against the doctrine of his faith. 'We Have No Alternative But to Process Your Termination' In a letter to the secretary-treasurer of his IAM local, Mr. Partin offered to "donate to the union the equivalent of initiation fees and monthly union dues if it was understood I was not a member of the union, and the union in turn donated that amount to a bona fide charitable organization." IAM Local 2503 Secretary-Treasurer Dwight Mercer was unmoved. Even a signed affidavit from Mr. Partin's pastor certifying that he was a member of the Church of the Kingdom and could not remain one if he joined or participated in a labor union did not cause Mr. Mercer to budge. In an icy letter, dated March 19, 1973, Mr. Mercer sneered that Mr. Partin's "current alleged religious beliefs" did not give him any protection from forced payment of a union initiation fee and full monthly dues. And IAM bosses would spend the conscripted money exactly as they wanted. Frank Partin refused to compromise his faith in the way the IAM hierarchy demanded. Consequently, on March 28, 1973, he received a letter from Philco-Ford stating that, in accordance with Article II of the union contract (the forced-unionism clause), "we have no alternative but to process your termination as soon as possible." 'He Was the Kind of Guy Who Really Loved Life' Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® Website Updates by Email

Right to Work on the March in Statehouses

Right to Work on the March in Statehouses

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® Website Updates by Email (Source: February 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Economic Reality Puts Compulsory-Unionism Apologists on Defensive In a hand-wringing January 21 commentary for the leftist Huffington Post, international Teamster chieftain Jim Hoffa joined the ranks of prominent union officials bemoaning the recent introduction of legislation prohibiting forced union dues and fees in state capitols across America. Mr. Hoffa called on his militant followers to "fight like h***" against what he called "dangerous attacks." In reality, of course, the Right to Work measures he decried would do nothing more than prohibit firing or denying a job to an employee simply because he or she refuses to join or bankroll an unwanted union. Echoing the rhetoric of his late father Jimmy Hoffa, who filled out his last four years as Teamster czar while serving a federal prison term for jury tampering, attempted bribery and fraud, Mr. Hoffa proffered a conspiracy theory about why Right to Work legislation is being considered in so many states this year. "A coordinated network of think tanks, business groups, [and other organizations] has for years been working toward passing these right-to-work … laws. Leading the charge is National Right to Work," he fumed.