Right to Work Blog

Chicago’s Fran Eaton calls the effects of forced unionism as she sees it:

Just when that house begins to teeter is when the bullies really get mean and desperate. We’re seeing that now at the federal level. Unions want to strip away workers’ right to privacy when they vote on unionizing. The federal “Card Check” legislation will strip away secret balloting for workers.  

“OK, everyone who wants me to be in charge, raise your hands,” imagine the bully shouting on the playground with his trusted goons standing on either side.

Instead, union thugs hike demands and press taxpayers for more under the guise of better education for the kids and compassionate welfare for the state’s helpless. The Illinois Education Association and the Service Employees International Union then have the guts to use those confiscated tax dollars to run radio ads and demand more tax increases.

It gets worse.

In Illinois, only union workers can build bridges, schools or roads. While only 43 percent of Illinois construction workers are in unions, impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s Executive Order 13 made it impossible for non-union crews to bid on state-funded construction projects.

Recently, President Barack Obama signed a similar order for federally-funded plans.

It’s simply a choice between freedom and coercion, National Right to Work’s Mark Mix said Monday during a private meeting in Chicago. “We’re not against unions, we’re just for people being given the choice whether or not they want to belong,” Mix said. “Freedom always works best.”

Mix is an average-sized guy, and one who would surprise you for being gutsy enough to stir up the idea that union bullies should be challenged in Illinois. Mix is the type of guy you always admired for his backbone but who also made you feel a little ashamed you weren’t quite as brave.

Mix, though, has been part of several statewide victories over the past few years and thinks Illinois needs to challenge statewide union tyranny. Twenty-two states are now “Right to Work” states, including nearby Ohio and neighboring Iowa. Indiana is right on the verge of joining their ranks.

“When the cost of government is less, the cost of living is less, and companies find those states more desirable to build new businesses and bring in more jobs,” Mix said.

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.”

Despite Iowa’s strong history of support for workers’ choice, Big Labor is once again pushing a new state law that would allow unions to charge fees to nonunion workers. The Des Moines Register notes that “the measure represents a major expansion of a bill that failed two years ago despite support from Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat.”

Big Labor likes to call the measure the “Fair Share” Bill, but workers know it’s no such thing. The bill would force nonunion members to subsidize the outrageous spending habits of the union bosses.

As Iowa’s legislature came into session, House Minority Leader Chris Rants put Speaker Pat Murphy on notice about efforts to gut Iowa’s job-producing Right to Work law.

Rants, in a speech before the legislature, said:

“Mr. Speaker, this [gutting Right to Work] is the most divisive issue that was placed before this chamber for debate last year, and it would have the most devastating impact on Iowa’s fragile economy. We can spend the next 100 days moving chess pieces around, trying to prepare for this debate – one that would surely destroy any semblance of bipartisanship for the session. Or – you have the power to dispose of the issue today, and take SF413, the so-called “Fair Share” bill that guts our Right to Work Law off the table for discussion this year. Members of my caucus will not support this bill, and there are members of your caucus that don’t want to vote on it.”

Right on!