Right to Work Blog

SEIU’s boss Andy Stern could not be happier at Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to leave the Republican Party.  Perhaps most ominous is Stern’s desire to rewrite America’s labor law with his new found ally.

The Hill reports Sen. Specter will feel “liberated” to support union boss demands on labor law changes that tilt the playing field in favor of the union bosses and Sen. Majority Leader Reid suggests a new iteration of the Card Check Forced Unionism bill will earn Specter’s key vote. 

Contact your Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them there is no compromise on forced unionism: Vote NO on S.560

Despite Sen. Arlen Specter’s promise to oppose the Card Check Forced Unionism bill, AFL-CIO head lobbyist Bill Samuel says the time has come to move the legislation to the Senate floor. The decision by the Senator to switch parties has breathed “new life” into the legislation Samuel says. 

Now we will see if Big Labor backed Senator Harry Reid will listen to his masters and try to ram more forced unionism down the throats of American workers. Stay tuned!

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed suit in United States District Court for an employee forced to pay unjustifiable fees by Teamsters officials at a Luzerne County government office.  See the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation’s release.

“Giving union officials free reign to deduct money from workers’ paychecks is an open invitation to abuse,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Enacting a Pennsylvania Right to Work law to make union dues fully voluntary is the only way to ensure employees are protected from avaricious union bosses.”

Paul Carpenter of the Pennsylvania Morning Call was called out for using the term union goon in describing the murder of a union worker on orders from United Mine Worker bosses.  But Mr. Carpenter isn’t backing down, nor should he.

Mr,. Carpenter reminds readers that ”there is a new federal lawsuit involving a union with a history of corruption even worse than that of the UMW.

It cites officials of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the Teamsters Union, which represents some PTC employees.

The lawsuit says PTC Chairman Mitchell Rubin, two other PTC officials and Teamsters official Mark Rowe had PTC employee Donald Kovac fired because Kovac violated an ”unwritten rule” that union employees ”had favored political connections” and ”would be afforded favorable treatment” in grievance cases.

In this case, Kovac acted against a toll collector who assaulted a motorist, in full view of a video camera.

When Teamsters Local 77, based in Montgomery County, challenged Kovac’s action, the suit says, Kovac was ordered by a PTC manager to reinstate the toll collector; when he balked, it was Kovac who got fired — with Rubin’s approval.

One peculiarity was the way Kovac was fired on Nov. 20. He was driving a PTC vehicle as part of his duties, the lawsuit says, when a Pennsylvania state police trooper was sent to pull him over on the road and tell him he was fired.

So it seems that if a Teamsters member beats up a motorist, it will be the guy who bothers the bully who winds up fired — and it is now a function of the state police to enforce the rules of the union goons.

A PTC spokesman said he could not comment on the litigation, even though I asked general questions about whether the PTC had ”unwritten rules” to coddle politically connected union people. I also contacted Teamsters Local 77, repeatedly, but the people there did not get back to me.

Thanks to the efforts of the National Right to Work Foundation, Utah teacher unions no longer have the right to use government resources to collect money for partisan political activities.

From the Deseret News:

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed itself and ruled to uphold a Utah statute prohibiting union officials from using payroll deductions to divert teachers’ and other government workers’ money into union electioneering.

“Utah has a legitimate interest in avoiding the reality or appearance of government entanglement with partisan politics,” according to the ruling, and Utah’s Voluntary Contributions Act “plainly serves the state’s interest in separating public employment from political activities.”

Five Utah labor unions and one association of labor unions – representing several thousand Utah public employees – brought the suit against Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, seeking a declaration that the Utah VCA, a law passed in 2001, is unconstitutional as applied to all public employers other than the state itself.

After initially siding with union attorneys who argued the law somehow violated the constitutional rights of the union, the 10th Circuit Court put the case on hold pending the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving a similar Idaho statute.

“The recent Supreme Court’s decision and now this 10th Circuit ruling makes clear what should have been obvious: Union officials have no constitutional right to use government resources to line their pockets,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation, which advocates for right-to-work states, including Utah. “It is bad public policy for government bodies essentially to act as bagmen for union political monies.”

In an extraordinary letter to Congress, 3,000 construction companies expressed their “strong opposition” to S. 560, the Card Check Forced Unionism bill.  Perhaps most critically, the companies also made their intention clear — “there is no room for compromise on this piece of legislation.”  Hopefully Senators positioning themselves to be negotiators of some grand bargain will hear the message loud and clear.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) - a cosponsor of the Card Check Forced Unionism bill in 2008 (S. 560 in this congress) – is now indicating that he may withhold support for the bill.  His spokesperson Jessica Smith said,

“He doesn’t believe this is the appropriate time to introduce this legislation or to be debating it.”  

In other words, he wants the issue to go away so he doesn’t have to take a stand on the issue.

Of course, forced unionism is not fair and equitable in any form but its good to see that Sen. Webb is feeling the heat from Virginians and most assuredly folks across the country on this forced unionism abomination.  

Everyone should contact Sen. Webb again to oppose S. 560 and any  bill that would expand forced unionism.

Toll Free Number: 866-507-1570

Contact Senator Webb Online

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is refusing to take a position on the Card Check Scam; certainly making it harder for the union bosses to jam the bill through the Senate in its current form.  Unfortunately, it appears that he is trying to “increase his position to forge a compromise in Congress,” according to the Denver Post.  Of course, there is no room for compromise on issues of forced unionism.  

Now is the time to let Senator Bennet know that there is no compromise on worker freedom and that he should vote NO on S. 560 or any subsequent card-check legislation. 

E-mail the Senator using his online web form here

Washington, D.C. Office
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South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson is a sponsor of the Card Check Forced Unionism bill, S. 560, but his recent quotes in the Rapid City Journal leaves one wondering whether he is having second thoughts:

“Not everybody votes for everything they sponsor, especially when they’ve had a chance to hear the feedback.”