Right to Work Wins Big in the Beehive State
Utah Right to Work victory: New law ends union monopoly bargaining and protects public servants' freedom to choose their own representation.
Republican Senator’s Love Letter to Big Labor
Josh Hawley Scheme Would Facilitate Forced-Dues Extractions
Career Democrat politicians like U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) don’t really care about the vast public opposition to monopolistic unionism, because they rely on Big Labor treasury money, much of it extracted from workers on pain of firing, to get elected and reelected.
Democrat D.C. denizens like Mr. Schumer represent a major obstacle to the National Right to Work Committee as it seeks to build a successful coalition to oppose all federal laws and legislation that authorize and promote the termination of employees for refusal to join or bankroll an unwanted union.
Moreover, a relatively small but increasingly vociferous number of elected Republicans are joining Mr. Schumer and Co. in scoffing at Right to Work.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), now part of a razor-thin 12-11 GOP majority in his chamber’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, is an especially egregious example.
Soon After Winning on a Pro-Right to Work Platform, Mr. Hawley Started Waffling
In successfully running for the Senate in 2018, Mr. Hawley promised freedom-loving citizens in the Show Me State he would support Right to Work if elected.
But once he got comfortable inside the D.C. Beltway, he started waffling on the issue.
Finally, over the past couple of years, Mr. Hawley has made it plain that he has no intention whatsoever of keeping his campaign vow to co-sponsor and vote for a national Right to Work law. He now openly favors the termination of employees who refuse to bankroll a union to which they don’t belong!
National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad observed:
“Just last year, a nationwide scientific opinion survey commissioned by the Committee and conducted by RMG Research, a research firm founded by legendary pollster Scott Rasmussen, showed that Republican registered voters support the Right to Work principle by a mind-boggling 86% to 8% margin!
“Unfortunately, it seems Josh Hawley doesn’t give a hoot what the rank-and-file members of his party in Missouri and across the country think about labor policy.
“He is by all appearances more concerned about pleasing union bosses like Teamster czar Sean O’Brien than he is about respecting the wishes of his own political base.”
Despite the fact that, thanks to grassroots lobbying by Committee members and other forced-unionism foes, congressional sponsorship of national Right to Work legislation reached an all-time high in the 2023-24 Congress, Mr. Hawley and his staff think the time is now ripe to expand Big Labor’s special privileges.
A Republican ‘Framework’ For More Compulsory Union Dues and Fees
“Josh Hawley has failed to grapple with the reality of what happened in last year’s presidential race,” said Mr. Mourad. “Republican Donald Trump prevailed in the contest because he carried the blue-collar household vote by a whopping 56% to 43% margin — and he did this after pointedly rejecting Teamster bigwigs’ demand that he repudiate his past support for a national Right to Work law in exchange for their endorsement.
“In the face of that reality, Mr. Hawley continues to pretend that, in order to get working-class votes, Republican politicians need to help union bosses corral more workers into unions, like it or not.
“With that goal in mind, just days after the 2025-26 Congress commenced with Republicans holding leadership positions in both chambers for the first time in years, Mr. Hawley leaked to the media what he deceptively labels as a ‘pro-worker framework’ for the 119th Congress.
“This ‘framework’ includes ambush elections that occur no more than 20 days after union bosses demand them, which would routinely deny workers who oppose monopolistic unionism in their workplace sufficient time to make their case to their fellow employees.
“It always includes as-yet unspecified penalties for employers who refuse to cave in quickly to Big Labor demands for forced-unionism privileges and other contract provisions that are not in most employees’ best interest.”
As this Newsletter went to press in late January, Mr. Hawley and his staff were meeting with other GOP senators in an effort to build support for his pro-union monopoly “framework.”
In response, Committee legislative staff members have been reminding GOP senators that it would be politically suicidal for them to sell out their lopsidedly pro-Right to Work base of support in order to appease a handful of forced dues-hungry union bosses.
This article was originally published in our monthly newsletter. Go here to access previous newsletter posts.
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