Labor Day Statement: “Union Officials Are Mounting A Billion Dollar Campaign to Reelect President Barack Obama”

Forced-dues funded billion dollar machine enables union officials to wield immense political clout, even though voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline Washington, DC (August 31, 2012) – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and National Right to Work Committee, released the following statement regarding this year’s Labor Day holiday. “This Labor Day, many workers will enjoy a well-deserved long weekend. But as we celebrate with friends and family, union officials are mounting a billion dollar campaign to reelect President Barack Obama and elect more pro-forced unionism allies in Congress. “Throughout the United States, tens of millions of American workers are already compelled to pay dues or fees to union officials as a condition of getting or keeping a job.  And millions more workers are required by law to accept a union’s so-called ‘representation,’ even if they would rather negotiate with their employer themselves on their own merits. “Recently, the National Institute For Labor Relations Research and Wall Street Journal independently reported that Big Labor spends about four times on politics and lobbying than what was previously thought.  This forced-dues funded billion dollar machine enables union officials to wield immense political clout, even though voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline.

Book: Unionizing America's Health Care System via ObamaCareless

Mallory Factor's new book outlines how big labor pushed for enactment of ObamaCare so it could coercively unionize 20 million new government health care workers. The National Right to Work Committee warned of the dangers to workers back in 2009 and will continue to work to see that the law is repealed. From David Martosko at the Daily Caller: In a book set for publication Tuesday, a politics and government professor at The Citadel claims President Obama’s 2009 health care reform law was, in part, a union-driven effort to organize 21 million health care workers. In "Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind,” Mallory Factor describes a December 9, 2008 memo from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare president Dennis Rivera to the Obama-Biden transition team. That memo outlined a legislative proposal calling for “increasing the capacity of the health care workforce” as part of a larger health care reform initiative. The SEIU and the [American] Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Factor writes, later coordinated with other public-sector unions to spend “literally hundreds of millions of dollars promoting Obamacare.” The Daily Caller requested comments for this article from the SEIU, AFSCME and a White House spokesman. None of them responded. Factor, who is also a Forbes columnist and senior editor of money and politics for The Street.com, recounts emails from former federal Office of Labor-Management Standards staffer Don Loos, now a senior adviser to the president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. (also see: 21.1 Millon Reasons Big Labor Pours Money Into ObamaCare)

Book: Unionizing America's Health Care System via ObamaCareless

Mallory Factor's new book outlines how big labor pushed for enactment of ObamaCare so it could coercively unionize 20 million new government health care workers. The National Right to Work Committee warned of the dangers to workers back in 2009 and will continue to work to see that the law is repealed. From David Martosko at the Daily Caller: In a book set for publication Tuesday, a politics and government professor at The Citadel claims President Obama’s 2009 health care reform law was, in part, a union-driven effort to organize 21 million health care workers. In "Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind,” Mallory Factor describes a December 9, 2008 memo from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare president Dennis Rivera to the Obama-Biden transition team. That memo outlined a legislative proposal calling for “increasing the capacity of the health care workforce” as part of a larger health care reform initiative. The SEIU and the [American] Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Factor writes, later coordinated with other public-sector unions to spend “literally hundreds of millions of dollars promoting Obamacare.” The Daily Caller requested comments for this article from the SEIU, AFSCME and a White House spokesman. None of them responded. Factor, who is also a Forbes columnist and senior editor of money and politics for The Street.com, recounts emails from former federal Office of Labor-Management Standards staffer Don Loos, now a senior adviser to the president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. (also see: 21.1 Millon Reasons Big Labor Pours Money Into ObamaCare)
Indiana Passes Right To Work -- National Right to Work Committee Statement

Indiana Passes Right To Work -- National Right to Work Committee Statement

Indianapolis, Indiana – Today, Mark Mix, President of the 2.6 million-member National Right to Work Committee, praised the Indiana House and Senate for passage of the Indiana Right to Work Law. Mr. Mix said, “This is a great day for Indiana’s workers and taxpayers. “After a ten-year struggle involving hundreds of thousands of mobilized Hoosiers, Indiana will finally be able to enjoy all the benefits of a Right to Work law,” said Mr. Mix. “Today, the Indiana Senate passed the Right to Work Bill by a vote of 28 to 22. The bill has already passed the House, so it now goes straight to Governor Daniels, who has vowed to sign it, making Indiana America’s 23rd Right to Work state,” continued Mix. Mr. Mix continued, “The Right to Work Law will free nearly 200,000 Hoosiers who have been forced to pay tribute to a union boss for the privilege of getting up everyday and going to work so they can provide for their families.” Proponents of the bill expect that passage of the Right to Work law will provide significant economic benefits for Indiana and Indiana workers. For the past decade, non-agricultural employment in Right to Work states grew twice as fast compared to that in non-Right to Work states like Indiana, according to data from the Department of Labor. “On the job front,” said Mr. Mix, “virtually every site selection consultant on record has testified that as many as half of their clients will not even consider expanding or relocating to non-Right to Work states.” Governor Daniels experienced this problem firsthand, reporting recently that when Volkswagen was looking to build a production facility in America, he was unable to get the company to even return his phone calls. Volkswagen ended up choosing to open its new facility in the Right to Work state of Tennessee. Today’s action makes Indiana the first Right to Work state in the Manufacturing Belt, and supporters say it will give Hoosiers a significant advantage over all of its neighbors and the rest of the 27 non-Right to Work states. “Besides enjoying an influx of new jobs, Right to Work states also enjoy higher personal income,” said Mr. Mix. In particular, Mr. Mix drew attention to a study by Dr. Barry Poulson, a past president of the North American Economics and Finance Association and also a professor of economics at the University of Colorado, who compared household incomes in 133 metropolitan areas in Right to Work states with those of 158 metropolitan areas in non-Right to Work states. “Among other results, he found that the average real income for households in Right to Work state metro areas, when all else was equal, was $4,258 more than non-Right to Work state metro areas,” said Mr. Mix.
Forced-Unionism Issue Looms Large For 2012

Forced-Unionism Issue Looms Large For 2012

Right to Work Committee Begins Lobbying Presidential Hopefuls (Source: July 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) This summer, New Hampshire is the site of an extended battle over the Right to Work issue, as pro-Right to Work citizens seek to secure two-thirds majority votes in the state House and Senate to override Big Labor Gov. John Lynch's veto of legislation (H.B.474) prohibiting compulsory union dues and fees. Because Right to Work has been in the New Hampshire news since both chambers of the state's General Court approved H.B.474 earlier this year, WMUR-TV (ABC) news anchor Josh McElveen decided to bring up the issue at the June 13 GOP presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Mr. McElveen asked former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, one of the seven 2012 presidential hopefuls participating in the debate, whether he would, if elected, support "a federal Right to Work law." Mr. Pawlenty ignited the debate's longest and most enthusiastic round of applause with his response: "We live in the United States of America, and people shouldn't be forced to belong [to] or be a member in any organization, and the government has no business telling people what group you have to be a member of or not. "I support strongly Right to Work legislation."
Capitol Hill Showdown Looms Over TSA Takeover Bid

Capitol Hill Showdown Looms Over TSA Takeover Bid

(Source: March 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Committee Calls on U.S. House Leaders to Block Union Power Grab On February 4, President Barack Obama's handpicked head of the Transportation Security Administration publicly announced he would help government union bosses grab monopoly-bargaining control over more than 40,000 airport screeners and other TSA employees. John Pistole, who was sworn in as TSA chief in July 2010, made the move shortly after Republican John Boehner (Ohio) replaced Big Labor Democrat Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) as speaker of the U.S. House. The changing of the guard at the House made it impossible, in all probability, for union lobbyists to ram through Congress legislation mandating union monopoly bargaining at the TSA. Therefore, in order for the Obama Administration to hand federal union officials what they wanted, Mr. Pistole had to act administratively. Agency Would Likely Become 'Less Efficient and Flexible' As a consequence of the Pistole edict, the honchos of one of two large government unions, either the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) or the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), could grab so-called "exclusive" representation power at the TSA within the next few weeks. If this happens, the already much-reviled federal agency will likely become even "less efficient and flexible," as National Review Associate Editor Robert Verbruggen pointed out in a February 11 commentary.