Michelle Malkin: Obama’s Big Labor ethics loophole

On August 18, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

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Michelle Malkin highlights the non-existent ethical standards applied to Obama Big Labor politcal appointees like  SEIU/AFL-CIO lawyer Craig Becker who Obama appointed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB):

Everything you need to know about President Obama’s fraudulent ethics pledge can be summed up in four words: SEIU lawyer Craig Becker.

It’s no surprise that Becker now refuses to hold himself accountable for the ethics pledge he himself signed in April. As the past two years have taught us, Team Obama’s operational slogan is: Rules are for fools. The contractual ethics commitment states: “I will not for a period of two years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.” Yet, Becker has participated in numerous NLRB cases involving the SEIU and its affiliates — and is parsing the definition of “former employer” by arguing that local SEIU chapters are “separate and distinct legal entities” that don’t fall under the ethics rules.

The National Right to Work Foundation, which has fought both national and local SEIU officials in court on behalf of rank-and-file workers’ rights, eviscerates Becker’s lawyerly blather. SEIU’s own constitution considers local affiliates “constituent subordinate bodies” of the national union, the foundation notes. “Moreover, in 2009 over 85 percent of the SEIU’s receipts came from a per capita tax on the locals’ membership dues and fees. The national union even has the power to assume control over its locals if they do not conform to International policies.” (more…)

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Posted in: AFL-CIO, Arbitration, Big Labor Ethics, Card Check, Card Check, Economics, Exclusive Representation, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Monopoly Bargaining, NLRB, NRTWLDF, Obama Administration, Personnel Alert, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Right to Work, SEIU
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NRTW “aggressively” pursues recusal motions against NLRB member Craig Becker

On August 13, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The New American Reports:

The National Right to Work Foundation [NRTW] has aggressively pursued recusal motions against Craig Becker, a recess appointment by President Obama to the National Labor Relations Board. Becker had previously served as associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, an organization which has come under increasing scrutiny in connection to illicit activities by Obama and his supporters.

Becker took an ethics pledge last April, at the time of his recess appointment, in which he swore to abstain for a period of two years from involving himself in any matter before the board in which a client or former employer had been involved. Despite this pledge, the NRWF [NRTW] has identified cases involving SEUI locals and in which Becker participated in the cases. Becker has insisted that local unions are “separate and distinct entities” from the SEIU itself. This contradicts the SEIU Constitution, which presumably Becker would know something about as counsel for that organization, and which describes local affiliates as “constituent subordinate bodies” of the national union. (more…)

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Posted in: ACORN, NLRB, NRTWLDF, Obama Administration
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Union Lawyer Admits Forced Unionism is the Goal

On July 14, 2010, By NRTWC Staff

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation was in court this week in Michigan defending home-based day care workers from the threat of forced unionism.  During the course of discussion with the judge, a lawyer for big labor admitted the effort was a “slippery slope” for forcing people into unions.  Under the union lawyer’s theory, anyone who takes a subsidy from the state, including Medicare or perhaps even Social Security, could be unionized.  It’s an amazing admission and likely a peek into the future of Big Labor’s union organizing strategy.  As union bosses help drive jobs overseas, they will have to be looking for other areas to coerce people into monopolyt unions.

Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, Forced Dues, Forced-Unionism Abuses Exposed, Michigan, NRTWLDF
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yoU Are Wrong — Gettelfinger's Misinformation

On February 11, 2010, By Post

Mark Mix, the President of the National Right to Work takes on the UAW’s boss Ron Gettelfinger’s recent misinformed op/ed attacking the Right to Work:

It’s telling that in union boss Ron Gettelfinger’s screed against Right to Work laws (“King exposed folly of right-to-work ,” Feb. 3), the United Auto Workers president never takes the time to explain what the Right to Work principle actually stands for.

Setting aside Big Labor’s atrocious record of discrimination against minorities, forced unionism occurs when a worker is forced to be a member of or pay dues to a union to get or keep a job. In states without Right to Work laws, like Michigan, union officials such as Gettelfinger have the power to order workers fired for refusal to pay union dues. Right to Work laws give employees the choice of whether or not to support a union with their hard-earned dollars.

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have provided free legal aid to hundreds of thousands of employee victims of compulsory unionism, and they have taken 14 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The foundation is asking the court to take up a case regarding a Michigan employee of faith who is challenging the forced dues policy of Gettelfinger’s UAW union, which smacks of religious discrimination.

Everyone should have the right, but no one should ever be forced, to join a union. Under the protections of a Right to Work law, if union membership is of value to workers, they’ll join without being forced to do so, and workers’ ability to withhold their financial support can help keep the union hierarchy accountable to the rank-and-file.

Regardless of union bosses’ mischaracterizations of the Right to Work principle, polls have shown that 80 percent of Americans agree that union membership and dues payment should be fully voluntary.

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Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, Do Union Bosses Speak, Exclusive Representation, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, NRTWLDF, Organizing, Union boss power
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Teacher union bosses hiding taxpayer-funded political communications from public

On January 28, 2010, By Post

Detroit, MI (January 28, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a citizen activist announced today that he will file an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court in an ongoing public disclosure battle over the use of school district e-mail systems for union political activities.

In 2007, political activist Chetly Zarko from DeWitt – invoking Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure law – requested e-mail communications among Howell Education Association (HEA) union brass regarding heated collective bargaining negotiations between the Howell Public School (HPS) system and union officials.  The HEA union is a local affiliate of the Michigan Education Association and National Education Association unions.

At the time of the collective bargaining conflict, Zarko suspected union boss lobbying was occurring at taxpayer expense.  Zarko is seeking the release of approximately 5,500 e-mails between the union hierarchy and teachers.

HEA union officials claimed a special exception from the requirements of Michigan’s FOIA law, despite the fact that the e-mails were sent over a taxpayer funded e-mail system and the HPS’s “Acceptable Use Policy” explicitly states that e-mails sent on the server are “not consider private communication [and] may be re-posted.” 

Foundation attorneys won a ruling from the Livingston Circuit Court requiring disclosure, but union lawyers managed to convince the State of Michigan Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court’s decision.  

“Public resources should not be spent on the shadowy and self-serving political activities of union bosses,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation.  “Howell Education Association union officials should be subject to the same public disclosure requirements as everyone else who uses taxpayer funds.”

            The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses.  The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in over 200 cases nationwide. Its web address is www.nrtw.org. 
For Release: January 28, 2010
Contact: Anthony Riedel (800) 336-3600 
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Posted in: Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Michigan, Monopoly Bargaining, NRTWLDF, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Union boss power
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Another Victory for Workers

On December 28, 2009, By Post

After years of litigation, the 10th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals has upheld a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling ending a discriminatory Teamster union workplace policy. Kirk Rammage, the victim of union officials’ discriminatory policies, received free assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation during his extended legal battle.

Rammage, an Interstate Bakeries employee of Ponca City, Oklahoma, was involved in the consolidation of two separate corporate divisions in 2005. Part of one division was staffed by a single nonunion sales representative – Rammage – who had put in more time with Interstate Bakeries than any of his coworkers at the office where he worked. Company officials wanted to ensure he retained his seniority during the merger, but union officials from Teamster Local 523 insisted that union members receive preferential treatment, discriminating against Rammage despite his workplace tenure.

After reviewing the facts of the case, the NLRB concluded that the union hierarchy had broken the law by treating employees differently based on their union membership status. However, union officials did not comply with the NLRB’s decision and refused to allow the employer to reinstate Rammage’s seniority.

Teamster lawyers subsequently challenged the NLRB’s decision at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that union officials may discriminate against nonunion workers’ seniority rights when they are merged with unionized employees. However, the 10th Circuit ruled that the union’s conduct violates the National Labor Relations Act, which requires union officials to treat all workers equally, regardless of union membership.

“Union bosses despise those who choose not to unionize, so they try to make an example out of them,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Unfortunately, this type of abuse will continue until Big Labor’s government-granted special privileges are eliminated.”

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Posted in: NRTWLDF
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DOL Insiders Expose Obama's Labor Department

On December 2, 2009, By Post

From the the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation:

Union Watchdog Files Second Disclosure Request to Investigate Obama Labor Department Stonewalling

Media report indicates Department of Labor officials are “in a tizzy and freaking out” over federal lawsuit

Washington, D.C. (December 2, 2009) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed new disclosure demands on the heels of its lawsuit to compel the Department of Labor (DOL) to release information related to high-ranking officials’ connections to powerful union lobbying interests.

A media report indicates DOL officials have deliberately ignored disclosure laws, and Right to Work attorneys are seeking internal DOL records backing up the report.

National Right to Work originally lodged a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last April citing concerns about Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who previously held a key leadership position at the Big Labor-front group “American Rights at Work,” and Deborah Greenfield, who was a lawyer for the AFL-CIO involved in a lawsuit challenging DOL union disclosure regulations that she now oversees as an Administration appointee.

For the last seven months, the Obama Administration has stonewalled the Foundation’s FOIA request seeking disclosure of the high-ranking DOL officials’ contacts with union operatives. Late last month, Right to Work attorneys filed suit in federal court to force the Obama Administration to fulfill its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

Subsequent media coverage [Mark Hemingway in the Washington Examiner] has revealed DOL officials apparently decided to ignore the Foundation’s FOIA request, but facing the lawsuit and negative publicity is now reconsidering. Additionally, one media report cited a high-placed source stating that panicked DOL officials “are in a tizzy and freaking out” because of the Foundation’s lawsuit.

Today, Foundation attorneys filed another FOIA request this time for the DOL’s search plan and interoffice communications – including emails, meeting minutes, notes, and other interoffice correspondence – relating to the initial FOIA request.

“President Obama’s widely-touted promise of unparalleled transparency has been met with unparalleled secrecy,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The Department of Labor’s deliberate stonewalling is unsettling. It suggests the administration is hiding damaging information about whether Hilda Solis and Deborah Greenfield are coordinating their activities with pro-compulsory unionism extremists.”

“Giving Big Labor undue influence over the Department’s rule-making and administrative oversight is a slap in the face of America’s independent-minded workers. The public deserves to know about any collusion between this administration and Big Labor bosses.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in over 200 cases nationwide. Its web address is http://www.nrtw.org/.
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Posted in: DOL, Labor Organizations, NRTWLDF, Obama Administration, Personnel Alert, Public Employees, Union boss power
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Defending Union and Non-Union Workers

On May 21, 2009, By Post
OneNewsNow looks at the efforts of the National Right to Work Foundation to help a non-union member whose rights have been violated.
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Posted in: Forced Dues, NRTWLDF, State RTW
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No Constitutional Right to Government Resources

On April 23, 2009, By Post

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.”

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Posted in: Campaign Finance Reform, Forced-Dues for Politics, NRTWLDF, Public Employees, State RTW, Utah
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