Right to Work Blog

“Millions of people living in countries that belong to the United Nations work in abysmal, unsafe and inhumane conditions that most Americans can’t imagine and wouldn’t tolerate. Yet rather than focusing on these problems, the U.N.’s International Labor Office last week turned its attention to the hardships and deprivations suffered by one group of American workers – the beleaguered airport baggage screener,” writes the Orange County (California) Register.

Pointing out that the “American Federation of Government Employees – a union whose clout and membership grows as government grows” petitioned the U.N. – the U.N. ruled that 56,000 Transportation Security Administration baggage screeners should be forced into union collectives.

This probably surprised members of Congress, who prohibited the monopoly unionization of TSA workers when they passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, which federalized airport security for several reasons, most notably – national security.

“The U.N. edict is unenforceable, thankfully, as are most handed down by the world body. At least for the time being, Americans still make U.S. labor law. But it’s typical of the U.N. to point an accusing finger at the United States for our alleged rights violations, while situations far worse prevail in most U.N.-member countries.

The U.N. evidently hopes the sheer weight of its ‘moral authority’ . . . will give a lift to AFGE’s relentless push to forcibly unionize TSA workers. But most Americans understand that handing over federal airport screeners to big labor bosses would be a disaster, for fiscal and security reasons. ‘Given the critical national security mission of our security officers, collective bargaining is not appropriate,’ said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.”

Let’s see whether the new Congress puts U.S. national security before U.N. dictates and Union demands when this issue is addressed. Mark us down as pessimistic.

After Big Labor allies consolidated control of the legislative and executive branches of government in Colorado for the first time in a generation — with the help of forced-union dues — union officials expect to cash in. Mitch Ackerman, the Boss of the Service Employees International Union Local 105 in Colorado, says that government run health care is tops on their agenda. Expanding the number of workers compelled to pay forced dues will come later — no doubt.

In speaking about the plan, Ackerman resorts to old strategies that have worked “well” in the past. He says that after the framework is established and the system is up and running, “everyone has to play.”

“Play” is an interesting choice of words. Perhaps he meant “pay.”

Because, just like the forced-unionism privileges union officials enjoy, what it really boils down to is, sooner or later, Big Labor will seek to force workers to “pay” to “play.”

With the new make up of Colorado government, Ackerman is sure to get a sympathetic ear.

The People’s Daily World, a publication of the Communist Party of America, reports that AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel is happy “to be playing offense for the first time” in his career. That offensive agenda will certainly include efforts to eliminate elections in the workplace with the “card-check” bill and will certainly offend the rights of millions of Americans.

Federation President John Sweeney said of the election returns, “I think it’s clearly a mandate for a union agenda.”

Samuel said that the newly-elected “Blue Dog” Democrats “all signed on to the EFCA, for example.” EFCA is the Orwellian titled Employee Free Choice Act and will provide union bosses the ability to pressure, cajole and coerce workers into signing a card requesting workplace representation and eliminating the need for secret ballot elections.

The prime House sponsor of the bill — originally drafted by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) — is Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who will chair the House Education and the Workforce Committee. The prime Senate sponsor is Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who will chair the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Both Miller and Kennedy easily won re-election on Nov. 7.

Let’s not forget that Miller signed a letter to the Mexican labor board in 2001 calling for a change in Mexican law to require the use of secret ballots in union representation elections. What’s good for Mexican workers isn’t good for American workers obviously.

The headlines say it all:

Labor Movement Dusts Off Agenda as Power Shifts in Congress
…New York Times

Unions Hope Bill Energizes Organizing
…Houston Chronicle

Unions Push Pays Off in Wins by Democrats
…Wall Street Journal

With Big Labor pushing an aggressive agenda to mandate membership and payment of union dues, it’s critical supporters of the Right to Work be more vigilant than ever.

Supporting the National Right to Work Committee is the first step in protecting worker freedom and defending against Big Labor’s forced-unionism agenda. Please join or renew your membership and please be generous with your contributions. We will need your support, now more than ever.

Big Labor’s backstabbing of its Republican supporters was an unwritten story of the 2006 congressional elections. Now Rep. Randy Kuhl (R-NY) has stabbed back.

Despite being one of 15 GOP cosponsors of the AFL-CIO’s anti-democracy “card-check” bill, which union officials call their “litmus test,” Big Labor endorsed Kuhl’s Democrat opponent, Eric Massa. That appears not to be sitting too well with Kuhl who pulled his name off the cosponsorship rolls of the bill.

There is no word yet whether Kuhl now supports the National Right to Work Act, which would not add a single word to federal law, but simply repeal the federal authorization which allows union officials to have workers fired for failure to tender dues or fees, but we aren’t holding our breath. Come on in Randy, the water’s warm!

After spending hundreds of millions of workers’ dues money to ensure a Democrat controlled Congress, the AFL-CIO has produced a top five “must do” list of legislative items for Congress to pass. The list includes the “card-check forced unionism” bill that would force employers to recognize a union if a majority of workers signed cards — even under duress — favoring representation, according to the Houston Business Journal.

Labor unions poured more money than ever into this year’s elections and finally got what they wanted.

Now they expect a return on their investment.

This card-check legislation never got anywhere in the last Congress, but the bill’s two main sponsors, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., will now chair the committees that handle labor issues in the new Congress.

“We have high expectations,” AFL-CIO Boss John Sweeney says of the bill’s prospects.

The National Right to Work Committee will be leading the fight to mobilize Americans against this bill and will surely be joined by others.

The AFL-CIO claims voters from union households accounted for more than 80 percent of the Democrats’ total margin in congressional races.

“It was (forced-dues) money well-spent,” Boss Sweeney says.

A general manager of a New York construction firm has asked a federal judge to dissolve an 800,000 member union because several supporters of the local in New York allegedly waged a three-year “campaign of terror” against him, according to the New York Sun newspaper.

The lawsuit filed against the Laborer’s International Union of North America claims that a group of members of the Local 78 threatened and stalked the employees of a nonunion construction firm in Queens. The construction firm, Asbestos & Lead Removal Corporation, and its general manager, George Kourkounakis, filed the suit recently in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

The legal complaint catalogs a long list of alleged run-ins between Mr. Kourkounakis and local union members. Most recently, a union member last month struck Mr. Kourkounakis with a billy club, breaking his hand, according to the legal complaint. Starting three years ago, union members have been harassing Mr. Kourkounakis by throwing bricks through the windows of his home, leaving threatening phone calls, and vandalizing his car and his employees’ cars, the complaint alleges.

The suit claims the union would also tamper with his job sites in order to create safety violations for regulators to discover. In one instance, union members littered one of the company’s job sites with asbestos roofing material so the company would be fined, the complaint said.

According to the U. S. Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards, Cheryl Martin, Michael Martin, and Leroy Holmes were sentenced last month for their roles in an embezzlement scheme which defrauded the Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) of approximately $4.6 million.

Cheryl Martin, daughter of former WTU Executive Assistant to the President Gwendolyn Hemphill, had pled guilty on February 10, 2004, “to conspiracy to launder money for assisting her husband, Michael Martin, in laundering more than $500,000 in WTU funds, most of which was then funneled back to Hemphill and then-WTU President Barbara Bullock.”

On April 11, 2003, Michael Martin had “pled guilty to money laundering for conspiring to launder more than $500,000 in WTU funds by creating a sham third-party business, Expressions Unlimited, at the request of the WTU President and the WTU Executive Assistant. WTU funds were paid to Expressions Unlimited, which never in fact provided any services to the union, and were then funneled to the WTU President and Executive Assistant.”

Leroy Holmes, Bullock’s chauffeur, had pled guilty on February 6, 2003, “to conspiracy to launder proceeds of an unlawful activity for cashing more than $1 million in WTU checks and giving most of the proceeds to Bullock and Hemphill.”

As the campaign season comes to a close, Big Labor is throwing everything it has into the political process. Unfortunately, much of what it has is money collected from workers as a condition of employment.

On one day last week, the press reported that union officials from just two unions spent workers’ dues as follows:

AFSCME is up with a $50K ad buy against State Sen. Michele Bachmann (R), while the SEIU has bought $68K on radio ads on behalf of Democrat Patty Wetterling.

The SEIU just spent $67K on radio ads supporting Nevada Democrat candidate Jill Derby.

AFSCME is up with a new $40K ad buy against Republican Tom Reynolds.

The SEIU is up with $76K worth of direct mail on behalf of Democrat Tim Walz.

The SEIU spent $45K in a new radio buy on behalf of Democrat State Rep. Angie Paccione.

AFSCME is up with a new $50K ad buy against Republican Rep. Don Sherwood.

Even in the American territory of Guam, the Right to Work is a winning issue.

Guam’s five major business groups endorsed the gubernatorial team of incumbent Gov. Felix Camacho and his running mate Sen. Mike Cruz.

“What tipped the scale” in favor of the Camacho-Cruz team, said Bruce Kloppenburg, of the Japan Guam Travel Association, was Camacho’s support for the “Right to Work” issue.

The Guam Chamber of Commerce, Guam Hotel & Restaurant Association, Employers Council, Japan Guam Travel Association and the Guam Contractors Association make up the five business groups under the Committee to Keep Guam Working.