Right to Work Revving up Survey 2012

Pro-Forced Unionism Federal Candidates Will Have Nowhere to Hide

(source: National Right to Work Committee April 2012 Newsletter)

Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) disregarded her pro-Right to Work constituents. Then voters showed her the door. Credit: Bill Clark-CQ Roll Call File Photo

Federal and state disclosure reports filed by union officials and their agents show unambiguously that Big Labor controls the most massive political machine in America.

In fact, just one type of report, the LM-2 forms that private-sector (and some public-sector) unions with annual revenues exceeding $250,000 are required to file with the federal government, shows that Big Labor pours over a billion dollars into politics and lobbying in every federal campaign cycle.

For example, LM-2’s for the years 2009 and 2010 show that unions filing such forms spent a total of $1.14 billion in forced dues-funded union treasury money on “political activities and lobbying” in the 2010 election cycle alone.

A recent National Institute for Labor Relations Research analysis of data from LM-2’s and other federal and state reports conservatively concluded that the union machine spent a total of $1.4 billion on federal and state politics and lobbying in 2009 and 2010.

Candidate Survey Is ‘One of the Committee’s Most Effective Tools’

“Mostly forced-dues money from union treasuries pays for political phone banks, propaganda mailings, and the salaries and benefits for tens of thousands of campaign ‘volunteers,'” explained Matthew Leen, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee.

“And AFL-CIO Political Director Mike Podhorzer recently boasted to the Los Angeles Times that the union political machine will be ‘even more engaged in 2012′ than it was in 2010 or 2008.”

To meet union bigwigs’ challenge, the National Right to Work Committee has launched its federal candidate Survey 2012.

As longtime Committee members know, the federal candidate survey asks candidates to commit themselves to oppose forced unionism consistently and support national Right to Work legislation if elected.

The survey is “one of the Committee’s most effective tools,” observed Mr. Leen.

“Senate and House candidates are given several chances to return their surveys and answer 100% in favor of Right to Work. And millions of grass-roots Right to Work supporters are mobilized to lobby candidates to respond to their Right to Work surveys.”

Survey Already Targeting Critical Congressional Contests

This year, as always, the Committee survey is targeting potentially close primary as well as general-election contests in which there is a clear contrast among the candidates with regard to the Right to Work issue.

One recent primary in which thousands of pro-Right to Work citizens were mobilized was the March 6 contest in which southern Ohio GOP Congresswoman Jean Schmidt faced several challengers.

Last June, Ms. Schmidt was one of just a handful of House Republicans to vote in support of so-called “project labor agreements” that effectively force independent-minded construction employees to pay dues to an unwanted union in order to work on federal taxpayer-funded projects.

And in 2007, Ms. Schmidt voted for H.R.980, legislation that would have imposed a new federal mandate authorizing union monopoly bargaining in state and local public-safety departments nationwide, even in states whose elected officials have consistently refused to grant Big Labor such coercive powers.

“Early this year, Jean Schmidt’s freedom-loving constituents repeatedly asked her to change course and stop appeasing Big Labor. But she ignored their pleas,” Mr. Leen noted.

“Then, on primary day, challenger Brad Wenstrup, who had pledged across-the-board support for Right to Work if elected, defeated Ms. Schmidt, 49% to 43%, in what the venerable Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call called a ‘surprising upset.’

“The case of Jean Schmidt should stand as a warning: Regardless of their party affiliation, union-label politicians and Big Labor appeasers will have nowhere to hide this year. They can change their ways and start supporting Right to Work, or face the potential political consequences.”

 

The National Right to Work Committee relies on your voluntary contributions to fund its programs. Please chip in a $10 contribution today.