Detroit News: Stop the Reid Union Giveaway

The Detroit News takes aim at Sen. Harry Reid's effort to repay union bosses who supported his campaign with your tax dollars: Having survived a near-death experience on Election Day thanks largely to massive donations from labor unions, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is paying back his benefactors. The Democrat from Nevada says that during Congress' lame duck session he will try to once again force through a measure giving police and fire unions the upper hand in dealing with local communities. Reid will seek a cloture vote on the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, which despite its name has little to do with cooperation. Rather, the bill would be a federal clone of Michigan's disastrous Public Act 312, which is blamed with ruining the finances of scores of communities, including Detroit, and pushing many to the brink of bankruptcy — that's you, Hamtramck. The bill would make it easier for police and firefighters to organize labor unions and force all officers to join, even in right-to-work states. That's a brazen usurpation of state authority, and very likely unconstitutional.
Right to Work Poised to Gain Senate Strength

Right to Work Poised to Gain Senate Strength

One of the Survey 2010's top target states is Nevada, where Big Labor Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (pictured at a union event) is now running neck and neck with pro-Right to Work challenger Sharron Angle. Image Credit: USW-Canada Survey Results in, Committee Members Put Heat on the Candidates (Source: October 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) With the results of the National Right to Work Committee's federal Survey 2010 now in, Committee members from coast to coast keep turning up the heat on U.S. Senate and House candidates to publicly pledge 100% support for the Right to Work. Committee members and supporters who receive the Newsletter through the U.S. Postal Service can find out whether and how their candidates responded to the Right to Work survey by consulting the Survey 2010 results roster enclosed with this month's issue. Pro-Right to Work Americans who have not yet received their Survey 2010 results may obtain a copy by contacting the Committee by e-mail -- Members@NRTW.org  -- or by dialing 1-800-325-7892. By calling, writing, and visiting their candidates and urging them to declare themselves in opposition to forced unionism, Committee members are making forced unionism and the Right to Work red-hot issues in state after state this year. Right to Work Activity Key to Stopping Big Labor At this writing, just a few weeks remain until Election Day. And reports from a wide array of pollsters and pundits indicate that the caucus of politicians who support Big Labor's agenda on forced-unionism issues such as federally-mandated "card checks" will shrink significantly after voters go to the polls.
Again, Reid-Pelosi Plan to Expand Government Employee Forced Unionism

Again, Reid-Pelosi Plan to Expand Government Employee Forced Unionism

Excerpt from NRTW President Mark Mix Op-Ed in the Washington Times (to read the full version, click here): Today, Big Government, not the private sector, is Big Labor's bread and butter. That's why union officials push relentlessly for higher taxes and bigger government and seem completely unconcerned that the policies they advocate will slash overall private-sector job growth in future years. Just three decades ago, less than a third of all employees subject to "exclusive" union bargaining worked for the government. Earlier this year, the U.S. Labor Department reported that for the first time ever, a majority of unionized workers across America are now government employees. The outsized power and privileges of government union bosses clearly are a major force behind the unsustainable growth of government payrolls. According to data furnished by respected labor economists Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson, nonunion government employment nationwide actually fell by 2 percent, but Big Labor-controlled government employment grew by nearly 4 percent from 2007 to 2009. Incredibly, nearly all Democrats and many Republicans on Capitol Hill appear eager to make matters even worse by rubber-stamping legislation (H.R. 413 and S. 3194) that would federally grant public-safety union officials monopoly bargaining privileges over state and local public employees nationwide.
Why Are Oakland Burglars Breathing Easier?

Why Are Oakland Burglars Breathing Easier?

Police Chief Anthony Batts to Oaklanders: If your home is burglarized, don't call us. Credit: AP (Source: August 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Public-Safety Union Monopoly Undercuts California Law Enforcement On Tuesday, July 13, Oakland, Calif., became a friendlier place for burglars, embezzlers, car thieves, bad-check passers, extortionists, and an array of other criminals. That afternoon, Oakland, a major West Coast port city with roughly 400,000 residents, laid off 80 police officers, or 10% of its force, to help eliminate a budget deficit of over $30 million. In response, the city police department implemented a new policy in which officers aren't being dispatched to take reports for 44 "lower priority" crimes. Oaklanders whose homes or vehicles are burglarized must now go online or visit a police station to file reports. However, the police department warns them that, even if they do: "There will be no follow-up investigation, and the primary reason for filing the report is for
Committee Members Actions Trip Up Government Union Sneak Play

Committee Members Actions Trip Up Government Union Sneak Play

(Source: August 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Public-Safety Forced Unionism Still High on Capitol Hill Agenda The American people do not support Big Labor's legislative scheme to establish a new federal mandate imposing union "exclusive representation" (monopoly bargaining) over state and local police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide. And powerful union-label politicians like U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) know this public-safety scheme (H.R.413/S.3194) is unpopular. That's why they have repeatedly tried to sneak it through Congress. Most recently, in June, Ms. Pelosi and her top lieutenants cut a deal with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other union bigwigs to attach H.R.413, the House version of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, to a massive spending bill that provides funding for U.S. troops. International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) union boss Harold Schaitberger openly admitted to helping concoct the scheme to tack H.R.413 on to H.R.4899, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act, in a June 30 message to officers of his union subsidiaries. Early last month, the National Right to Work Committee obtained a copy of Mr. Schaitberger's communication. Firefighters Union Chief 'Argued Strongly' For War Supplemental Strategy Mr. Schaitberger reported that he had "argued strongly" for attaching H.R.413 "to the War Supplemental funding proposal for our troops in Afghanistan." The backroom deal between House leaders and the union hierarchy allowed the public-safety forced-unionism measure to come to the floor so quickly that Right to Work members and their allies had virtually no time to mobilize for the vote.