AFL-CIO Boss Richard Trumka could not be happier at President Obama’s “recess” appointment of three big labor lackeys to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The problem is that the Senate was never in recess. The appointments raise grave constitutional concerns for the nation. For the union bosses, nothing, including the Constitution, should stand in the way of their ability to extract due’s money from worker’s checkbooks.
On January 4, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff
According to Jeff Harris, Indiana AFL-CIO spokesman Right To Work is a “smack at organized labor” and it w
ill “gut unions.” Apparently, AFL-CIO bosses know that if Hoosiers aren’t forced to pay union dues, then many Hoosiers will spend their own money on something else. This may be why the AFL-CIO embraces the anti-free market Occupy America movement, because these union bosses know that ‘services’ are overpriced and bear no resemblance to free market pricing.
So, will Big Labor convince the Democrats to flee to Illinois again in effort to hide from their legislative responsibilities? We don’t know that answer, yet. But, we do know Big Labor is planning for a January collective hissy fit at the Indiana capitol building.
From Associated Press writers Charles Wilson and Ken Kusmer:
Indiana’s Republican House leader on Tuesday promised swift movement on a push to make his state the first in more than a decade to ban labor contracts that require employees to pay union fees.
Speaker Brian Bosma of Indianapolis told The Associated Press he is confident he can push the “right-to-work” bill through his chamber during the 2012 session that begins Wednesday and is spending a lot “personal capital” to do so.
Bosma, who has been the measure’s most ardent supporter, said he hadn’t yet taken a formal tally of supportive votes, but added he “also wouldn’t bring it forward if I wasn’t confident of success.”
The proposal would bar private employee unions from seeking contracts that mandate all workers pay union fees regardless of whether they are members. Supporters say the law would help attract new business to the state.
Indiana’s House Democrats successfully blocked the measure last year with a five-week walkout that denied House Republicans the numbers needed to conduct daily business. Democratic leaders have so far declined to say whether they will walk out again this session.
Indiana would become the 23rd state to enact a right-to-work law, the first to do so since Oklahoma in 2001.
Republicans hold wide margins in the Indiana Assembly: 60-40 in the House and 37-13 in the Senate and GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels has come out with strong support for the measure.
“There’s nowhere we are we closer than we are in Indianapolis,” said Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee, which pushes the measure in Statehouse’s across the country.
The group has maintained a state executive director to coordinate volunteer support for the measure over the last few years and recently sent three or more new staff to shore up support in tough districts Indiana. (more…)
On January 2, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff
Brian Gallagher Prods Charity Workers to Assist Union Lobbyists
United Way Worldwide President Brian Gallagher thinks it's a good idea for United Way locals to divert charitable donors' money into Big Labor's lobbying campaign for another round of federal "stimulus" spending. Credit: United Way of America
(Source: November-December 2011 National Right to Work Committee Newsletter)
For nearly four decades, the National Right to Work Committee has been warning charitable donors that the United Way of America (UWA) was diverting millions of their dollars to AFL-CIO union-boss slush funds.
Now such abuses of charitable donations appear to be worse than ever at the United Way Worldwide (UWW), the successor group that came into being in 2009 when the UWA merged with the United Way International.
Documents made publicly available by the UWW and AFL-CIO affiliates indicate that today local United Ways bloat their payrolls by employing more than 160 full-time union operatives, known as “AFL-CIO community service liaisons,” across the country.
And the UWW also openly acknowledges using donors’ money to recruit, “train and help place members of organized labor on the decision-making bodies of health and human-service organizations.”
Moreover, the UWW and many of its affiliates have long operated and continue to operate under “memoranda of understanding” with the AFL-CIO in which they agree to discriminate against goods, services and suppliers that don’t wear the union label.
Many United Way Donors Have Resisted Discriminatory United Way Policies (more…)
On December 11, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
Federal law enforcement officials have issued subpoenas and opened a criminal investigation to determine how union officials were able to work one day as a substitute teacher yet be eligible for $100,000 pension plan — for life.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation into how nearly a dozen union officials became eligible for inflated city pensions, according to subpoenas obtained by the Tribune and WGN-TV through an open-records request.
The Chicago municipal employees and laborers pension funds each received subpoenas from a federal grand jury in October seeking “records pursuant to an official criminal investigation.” The request seeks documentation on 11 labor leaders who appeared in reports from a joint Tribune/WGN-TV investigation.
The reports focused on a 1991 law that allowed union leaders who once worked for the city to receive credit in public pension plans for their private union work. When they retire, the union officials’ pensions aren’t based on their old city paychecks but on their much higher union salaries.
That opened the door for them to land public pensions that far exceeded their pay as city employees — even as they continued to earn lucrative salaries from their unions.
At least eight union officials named in the subpoena who either receive city pensions or are eligible for them also earned credit in union pension funds for the same period of work, despite a state law that was supposed to prevent that. The joint investigation found that some of those labor leaders were participating in up to three pension funds at the same time, accruing retirement benefits that reached as high $500,000 a year. (more…)
On December 9, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
The Washington Post reports:
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted Tuesday to officially endorse President Obama in the 2012 election.
Union officials have already said they planned to spend upwards of $100 million to help Obama win reelection, so the endorsement itself is not a surprise.
Tuesday’s vote was so important to Obama’s team that campaign manager Jim Messina attended the meeting. He told the AFSCME board the union’s backing “demonstrates that its workers know President Obama is the only one willing to make the hard choices.”
On October 27, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
AFL-CIO Boss Richard Trumka responded to the recent mass arrests of Occupy WallStreet protestors Thursday, calling them a “tremendous dishonor to America.”
Protestors at an Occupy Oakland demonstration clashed with police Wednesday as did protestors in Atlanta. More than 100 people were arrested in Oakland and 53 in Atlanta.
“The Occupy Wall Street movement has elevated the national conversation by shining overdue attention on the struggles of the 99% for whom the economy is broken,” Trumka said in a statement. “When people can’t raise their voices around pervasive inequality, there is a fundamental problem with how we’re functioning as a nation.”
On October 13, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
Big Labor’s favorite economists Gordon Lafer’s ‘study’ “Right To Work, The wrong answer for Michigan’s economy” lists several companies that chose Michigan over Right To Work states, but he left out important details according to Tom Gantert at CAPCON. Lafer fails to mention that Right To Work states offered no incentives, but Michigan offered millions in tax-incentives.
Not only that, Lafer uses a laughable term to describe ‘forced-unionism states;’ he refers to them as “free bargaining states.” As most know, unions are still able to bargain in Right To Work states. But, what union bosses cannot do is force employees to pay union fees against their will. For Lafer to refer to compulsory-unionism states as ‘free bargaining’ illustrates the insincerity of his analysis.
Lafer wrote, “Indeed, a series of recent corporate announcements make clear that many auto industry companies continue to prefer Michigan over right-to-work competitors …”
But Lafer never mentioned that some of those businesses cited in his report received deals for millions of dollars in tax incentives to locate in Michigan while the competing states offered no incentives, according to research done by Michigan Capitol Confidential.
In fact, even the Michigan Economic Development Corp. says those companies wouldn’t have picked this state had it not been for the MEDC’s handouts.
MEDC memos received in a Freedom of Information Act request involving the businesses stated in Lafer’s report paint a picture of a state that has difficulty competing with right-to-work states without offering tax breaks. The memos refer to lower taxes and personnel costs in right-to-work states as a reason Michigan has to offer millions in incentives to attract the businesses.
“He (Lafer) is listing successes that are actually evidence of failure,” said James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. (more…)
On October 3, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka apparently has never seen a group of radical leftists he didn’t like. With members of the Communist Party and other socialist organizations protesting Wall Street for the past few weeks, Trumka hailed those who “occupy” Wall Street.