In an effort to loosen labor’s grip on workers, two GOP lawmakers want legislation that would require workers to re-affirm the existence of their unions with new votes every three years.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina are pushing the Employee Rights Act that also would place limits on strikes, how fast a union can organize and how membership fees may be used to support political candidates. The bill has yet to receive a committee hearing in either chamber.

Few workers – less than 10 percent of union members – vote to organize. Instead, most workers join an existing union as a condition of employment.

This bill, however, would give workers a chance to voice their opinions. Union officials would be up for re-election every three years. At that time, employees could decide whether to keep or eliminate their union.

“My goal is to make sure that employees of a company make the decision on joining unions,” Mr. Scott said. “This just gives them an opportunity to say, ‘Yes, I want to be a part of the union.’”

“It’s neither anti-union, nor pro-employer,” Mr. Hatch told The Washington Times. “It’s pro-worker.”

“There’s not a single provision in this bill that will empower employers at the expense of the union,” Mr. Hatch said. “The only parties whose position will be improved by the Employee Rights Act are employees.”

“It’s about time we start worrying about the employees and the workers, rather than unions and management people,” Mr. Hatch said. “It is fair to both employers and unions, and, far more importantly, it’s fair to workers.”

Secret-ballot elections, instead of card checks, would be the voting method of choice under the Employee Rights Act, which was introduced last August in both chambers.

The Fiscal Times

From Bloated Union Contracts Have Busted State Budgets:

Consider the issues making headlines: education reform, busted state budgets, the battle to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, free trade agreements,Occupy Wall Street, the fight to make Indiana a right-to-work state. What these stories have in common is the waning influence of organized labor and the all-out battle by union leaders to hold on.

Take the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top initiative. Education Secretary Duncan recently warned that several states, including New York, might not receive monies earlier awarded through that program because they have not followed through on required reforms. The stumbling block? Teacher evaluations.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out new education initiatives in his recent State of the City address, among them a proposal to give $20,000 raises to the best teachers, in return for changing the way educators are evaluated. Today, teachers are rated either satisfactory or unsatisfactory; 97 percent fall in the former category. UFT President Michael Mulgrew immediately denounced the plan, describing Mr. Bloomberg as “lost in his own fantasy world of education.”

Mr. Mulgrew may be the one living in a fantasy world. Pressure to boost our country’s public schools is one of the rare priorities on both Republicans’ and Democrats’ to-do lists. Americans are appalled by our plummeting world education rankings, and by our graduates’ lack of preparedness for today’s job market. While the decline in our schools stems from a number of sources, most reformers – including Secretary Duncan – see the intransigence of unions on the “job for life” rules that perpetuate mediocre teaching as a major roadblock to progress.

Likewise, the recession has forced politicians to confront bloated public employee contracts that have torpedoed many states’ budgets. Estimated at over $3 trillion, the underfunding of state and local pension plans has been described as one of our most serious fiscal problems. Voters now understand that unless elected officials overhaul pay and benefits packages they will face soaring taxes or reduced services.

Governor Walker’s efforts to rein in unsustainable public employee costs in Wisconsin (and to reduce a sizeable budget deficit) became the rallying point for terrified union leaders who see their only growth opportunity – public employees – under attack. Though Walker proposed terms that were still more generous than the national averages… Union leaders struck back, rallying workers from across the country to their cause; they are now trying to force the governor from office.

These confrontations have left Big Labor bruised but unbowed, and eager to turn public anger elsewhere. They have nurtured and funded the Occupy Wall Street protests for just that reason, ginning up resentment against the “one percent” and especially against banks and bankers. Better to raise taxes on the wealthy than to cut government payrolls. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has over one million members and much to lose from widespread government reform efforts, has been especially eager to support the protests. Stephen Lerner, a highly regarded union organizer and former SEIU official, spoke to students at Pace University last March about his plan to “destabilize” the country through civil disobedience, strikes and large-scale protests. Acknowledging that labor was under pressure and needed to stay out of the spotlight, he insisted that students and community groups take the lead. Welcome to OWS.

Happily, the public is not so gullible. On many fronts, Americans see unions as part of the problem, not part of the solution.  Voters can connect the dots, between the interests of the nation…..and defeating the interests of organized labor.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf issued a search warrant for Florida SEIU organizer Clarence Haynes declaring there is “probable cause that Mr. H [Clarence Haynes] voted without the proper qualifications as an elector when he cast a ballot on April 5, 2011.”

Documents exclusively obtained by Media Trackers revealed that Clarence Haynes, along with two other out-of-state SEIU organizers, voted using the address of a Residence Inn in Glendale in the April 5, 2011 spring election. Media Trackers first uncovered these individuals on October 26, 2011, prompting Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf to investigate the matter.

The gentlemen all share a common affiliation with the Service Employee International Union. Media Trackers first uncovered from SEIU documents that Haynes was listed as a “Senior Organizer in Training” and was previously registered as an SEIU employee in Florida. Haynes’ phone number on his Wisconsin election day registration form listed a Tampa area code.

Mercure also explained that in a conversation with ADA Landgraf, Landgraf explained there was “probable cause” that a crime had been committed and a decision on whether charges would be pressed may come in the next couple weeks.

Union bosses have subsidized these radicals and in the end union workers suffer twice — first they lost their pay checks and second, their union dues paid for the protests.

NLRB biasis a menaceto business

When so many of our fellow citizens are looking for work and America is competing against other countries to land businesses, the National Labor Relations Board continues to pursue an activist, politically motivated agenda thwarting economic recovery and continuing to place our companies at a competitive disadvantage worldwide.

Virtually everyone is familiar with the most glaring example of overreach and union pandering, which is the complaint against Boeing.

Despite not a single example of job loss and despite not a single worker benefit in Washington State being lost, the NLRB sued Boeing seeking to have it close its South Carolina plant, displace the workers hired, and return the work to Washington State.

That is Exhibit A in proving the NLRB has become a sycophant for Big Labor but is by no means the only piece of evidence.

Currently, union elections take place on average within 31 days of the filing of an election petition. Additionally, unions are victorious more often than not when there is an election, but that is not good enough.

Unions want more, so they persuaded the NLRB to propose sweeping changes to the election process, shifting the balance of power even further toward union seeking employees.

By promoting “rush elections,” and ruling that elections can take place in as little as 10 days, the board severely limits the opportunity for workers to hear all sides of the issue and make an informed decision.

Additionally, employers would have only seven days to retain legal counsel and decipher the complex labyrinth of federal labor law before presenting their case before an NLRB hearing officer.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline smartly introduced H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, to level the playing field. This legislation requires no union election occur in less than 35 days, thus granting all parties the ability to present their arguments and ensuring workers have the ability to reach an informed decision.

H.R. 3094 acknowledges that full and complete information is treasured when employees are contemplating how they will vote.

Ironically, some unions have already endorsed President Barack Obama’s re-election bid despite the fact that the election is well over a year away. Clearly they believe they needed the time (12 months) to inform their members of their endorsement.

However, somehow a week is enough for employers to lay out their facts prior to an election that is significant to them.

The hypocrisy and blind advocacy has to stop. The purpose of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is to balance the rights of the employers, the employees and the general public. The NLRA is not calculated to drive up union membership because they are a loyal constituency for the Democrat Party.

Because the NLRB — through its filing and proposed rules and regulations — has lost all pretense of objectivity in labor issues, fair, evenhanded legislation such as Chairman Kline’s Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act are necessary.

Trey Gowdy, a Republican, represents South Carolina’s 4th District in the U.S. House. (Published in the Charleston, SC Post and Courier)

 

When you keep giving Big Labor the green light to ignore the laws and rules that others have to obey, Big Labor begins to believe it has no rules as illustrated at this Seattle port. From the Associated Press:

Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.

Police from several agencies in southwest Washington, the Washington State Patrol and Burlington Northern Santa Fe responded to the violence to secure the scene that followed a demonstration Wednesday.

“We’re not surprised,” Duscha said. “A lot of the protesters were telling us this in only the start.”

Former murdered Mineworkers International presidential candidate “Jock” Yoblonski’s campaign manager and Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes reminds us that Obama has created more Big Labor Boss paybacks than just the NLRB v. Boeing case.

Besides the Obama National Labor Relations Board’s assault on Boeing’s South Carolina employees and workers in Right To Work states in general, Barnes mentions the recent new regulations proposed by DOL to hamper employees getting to hear both sides of the story during union organizing campaigns.

But, the main focus of the article is the Obama Administration’s repeated attempts to overturn multiple defeats of unions to organize DELTA airlines. If you want to get more outraged at the Obama administration for its continuous assaults on free enterprise and individual employee choices, then read Barnes’ America’s Labor Party, Is there anything Obama won’t do for unions? Here are a few quotes to whet your appetite:

How far will President Obama go to advance the interests of organized labor? Awfully far. We know this not only from the effort to keep Boeing from building a plane in a right-to-work state, South Carolina, but also from the way Delta Airlines is being railroaded into recognizing unions its employees have repeatedly rejected.

But the targeting of Delta stands out. Following Delta’s merger with Northwest Airlines in 2008, its flight attendants voted against joining the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), and other employees decided against signing on with four separate unions of the International Association of Machinists and Aero-space Workers (IAM).

That didn’t end what has become a union crusade against Delta, abetted by Obama. Now, from all appearances, the fix is in—against Delta. It starts with the National Mediation Board, which governs labor relations in the airline and railroad industries. Obama stacked the NMB deck by putting two former union senior executives on the three-member board, Linda Puchala of the AFA and Harry Hoglander of the Air Line Pilots.

The unions lost anyway. In the case of the flight attendants, it was the third time they had voted against the AFA. But the AFA and the IAM have doggedly refused to take “no” for an answer.

From the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation:

Worker Advocate Blasts Labor Board Ruling to Allow Charleston Workers Minimal Say in Boeing Case 

Big Labor watchdog slams ruling as insufficient; ploy to quietly sweep workers’ stories under the rug

Washington, DC (June 20, 2011) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C. has ruled three Charleston-area Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) employees are allowed to intervene, albeit minimally, in the NLRB’s high-profile case against Boeing.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, North Charleston Boeing employees Dennis Murray, Cynthia Ramaker, and Meredith Going, Sr. filed a motion earlier this month to intervene in the NLRB’s unprecedented case targeting the company for locating production of some of its 787 Dreamliner airplanes in South Carolina, in part due to its popular Right to Work law.

An NLRB Administrative Law Judge in San Francisco denied the workers’ request and the workers were forced to file an emergency appeal with the national Board in Washington, D.C. The Board in D.C. has ruled that the employees can only file a brief in the case once the hearings, occurring in Seattle, Washington, are concluded.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement in the wake of the Board’s ruling:

“The Obama Labor Board is poised to set a dangerous precedent that would allow union bosses to dictate to job providers where to locate their jobs with the aim, of course, of avoiding states with Right to Work protections for their workers and forcing more workers into union-dues-paying ranks.

“The public outcry regarding the NLRB’s renegade, pro-forced-unionism actions – spearheaded by the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon – thus far has forced the NLRB to try to save face, but the ruling still leaves much to be desired.

“The NLRB’s half measure is just a ploy to quietly sweep these workers’ stories under the rug while allowing the forced unionism advocates on the Board to try to appear they are not ignoring the workers in this case.

“The Board’s ruling is a further injustice to these workers, allowing only a minimal role in a case so vital to their job prospects and the Charleston community at large. Once again the Obama Labor Board is putting union boss priorities ahead of the rights and well-being of individual employees.”

“Foundation staff attorneys plan to pursue all legal options to ensure that the rights of Charleston-area Boeing employees, and America’s independent-minded workers, are protected against the encroaching expansion of forced unionism.”

Late last week, Foundation attorneys also filed a federal unfair labor practice charge for Boeing employee Dennis Murray. This charge alleges that the union unlawfully retaliated against Charleston Boeing workers for removing the union from their facility. The NLRB regional office in Wilmington, North Carolina is investigating the charge.

***

For more information, visit http://www.nrtw.org/boeing.

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 nearly 200 cases nationwide. Its web address is www.nrtw.org.

Madison – Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers.

The court found a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when they hastily approved the measure and made it possible for the Senate to take it up. In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had struck down the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge.

The majority opinion was by Justices Michael Gableman, David Prosser, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler. The other three justices – Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and N. Patrick Crooks – concurred in part and dissented in part.

The opinion voided all orders in the case from the lower court. The court ruled that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi’s ruling, which had held up implementation of the collective bargaining law, was void ab initio, or invalid from the outset.

In its decision, the state’s high court concluded that “choices about what laws represent wise public policy for the state of Wisconsin are not within the constitutional purview of the courts.”

The court concluded that Sumi exceeded her jurisdiction, “invaded” the Legislature’s constitutional powers and erred in halting the publication and implementation of the collective bargaining law.

I can’t tell you how many business leaders have approached me over the past month to express their disbelief, and in some cases outrage, that the NLRB would so blatantly misuse its power by issuing a complaint requiring Boeing to open a second 787 facility in the state of Washington. The NLRB claims the complaint is to remedy what it calls an illegal transfer of work to non-union facilities in North Charleston. In reality, Boeing did what any responsible company in its situation would do — locate in the most manufacturing-friendly place possible. The NLRB should enforce the law as it is written — not as dictated by organized labor.

Here in South Carolina, we enjoy a right-to-work status that makes our state very attractive to companies considering where to locate. Currently, 22 states have right-to-work laws that protect the rights of workers not to be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment. Right-to-work states must protect that tradition, which is under attack as union numbers continue to drastically decline.

The last thing we need is for the union to force the same formula on South Carolina that helped bring Detroit to its knees. In fact, the formula we have is working just fine. Consider this. The auto industry has created 85,000 full-time jobs across the state. Many are available thanks to international automotive plants in places like Greer, Timmonsville, Spartanburg and throughout South Carolina. We are fortunate to be such a sought-after location for successful manufacturers to bring new jobs to South Carolina. And, it is important to note that at the same time that South Carolina was developing these 85,000 new jobs, UAW members were losing almost 1.2 million throughout the U.S.

Global manufacturing facilities have been an important lifeline for the Palmetto State, providing steady jobs and benefits even while tens of thousands of manufacturing workers in other states were forced to collect unemployment checks. Manufacturing is often credited as the leading opportunity for future economic growth in the state, which means South Carolina is doing something right.

According to Doug Woodward, an economist at the University of South Carolina, “If you want to create jobs, this is the way to do it.”

He’s right: We’ve recently heard that expanded manufacturing facilities are on the way. But the continued protection of our state’s right-to-work law, which gives employees the legal right to decide whether or not they’d like to join a union, is paramount to increasing jobs.

Maintaining right-to-work helps ensure that companies continue to believe it makes sense to set up shop in South Carolina, because their employees won’t be pressured or intimidated to join a union. The truth is, we don’t need unions to increase jobs, provide competitive wages, establish open and collaborative working environments and, ultimately, support ongoing economic growth. Companies across the state are already doing it just fine on their own.

For the past two years, we have seen the Obama administration’s special treatment of unions, from mandating that federal contractors use only union labor, to exempting them from the crippling mandates of Obamacare, to appointing union officials to top posts within federal agencies that have responsibility for workplace issues.

Now we see these appointed officials doing everything they can to rebuild union membership. The NLRB decision regarding Boeing is a perfect example.

And while South Carolinians certainly have the right to join a union, few actually do. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, few states have lower union membership than South Carolina.

That alone sends a strong message: We don’t want non-unionized companies taking their jobs somewhere else. Let’s make sure we keep those jobs coming — and keep the unions from forcing them out.

Funds gained through a confiscatory scheme that does not give workers a choice or a say in the matter gives the union bosses the ability to spend an almost unlimited about on political campaigns — and spend they will. Big labor spent over $1 billion in politics in 2010 and will break all spending records in 2012. Larry Scanlon, the political director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, says their spending alone will top the $90 million they spent last year.

Coming off their less than successful protests in Wisconsin, the top minds at the SEIU have decided to spend millions in mandatory union dues money for more protests.

 “The new plan, revealed in a planning document reviewed by POLITICO and in the subsequent interview with Henry, reflects the widening recognition by labor leaders that the shrinking national ranks of union members no longer carry the political heft they once did. The draft plan, titled “Fight for a Fair Economy” in what Henry said was a preliminary planning document, would reach outside union ranks to focus on “mobilizing underpaid, underemployed and unemployed workers” and “channeling anger about jobs into action for positive change.”

Despite a veto threat from President Obama, the House of Representatives rejected a Obama-backed, pro-big labor amendmentto the FAA Reauthorization bill. In July 2010, the National Mediation Board — without the consent of Congress — decided that unions could organize airline and railroad workers if a majority of voting workers supported unionization, rather than a majority of all workers in the proposed bargaining unit — as had long been the case. This means that unions can be certified as the sole bargaining agents under the Railway Labor Act with support from a minority of workers.

For example, if a company has 100 workers but only 80 turn out to vote in the election, it would only take 41 pro-union votes for the union to organize the company’s workers. The amendment passed in the House would overturn the Mediation Board’s appeasement of the union bosses.

 Sixteen Republicans voted with Big Labor. The bill now goes to the Senate.

• Rep. Diaz-Balart (FL)
• Rep. Emerson (MO)
• Rep. Gibson (NY)
• Rep. Grimm (NY)
• Rep. Johnson (IL)
• Rep. Jones (NC)
• Rep. King (NY)
• Rep. LaTourette (OH)
• Rep. LoBiondo (NJ)
• Rep. Platts (PA)
• Rep. Reichert (WA)
• Rep. Rivera (FL)
• Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
• Rep. Runyan (NJ)
• Rep. Smith (NJ)
• Rep. Young (AK)

Labels Proposed Rollback of Union Monopoly Powers As an ‘Assault’

As the cover story of this Right to Work Newsletter edition reports, last month Wisconsin teacher union bosses encouraged educators in Madison, Milwaukee, and other school districts to strike illegally in order to participate in protests against GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s monopoly-bargaining rollback proposal.

Most teachers rejected union bosses’ exhortations and reported for their jobs. However, the number of teachers who heeded the siren call of union militancy was sufficient to force multiple school districts, including Milwaukee’s, to cancel classes. Madison’s schools were closed for a total of four days.

Many of the striking union militants, convinced that they should be paid for protesting rather than carrying out their assigned duties, collected phony “sick notes” from pro-forced unionism doctors. Wisconsin taxpayers may have to furnish these outlaw teachers with up to $6 million in “sick pay” for work they were perfectly capable of performing, but chose not to.

Wisconsites quoted in media reports, including some who are normally sympathetic to Big Labor, are outraged by the actions of a relatively small share of Badger State teachers (in Milwaukee, for example, just a few more than 600 out of 5,400 teachers joined in the union-instigated “sickout”).

Former Union Czar Andy Stern: President’s Statement ‘Helped Enormously’

Even as they were losing the good will of the people of Wisconsin, however, teacher union zealots and thousands of other government union radicals who joined in their wildcat strikes got a “thumbs up” from the White House.

On February 17, the second day of illegal teacher strikes, President Obama took the extraordinary step of inviting a reporter and camera crew from a Milwaukee TV station to sit down with him at the White House for an interview.

Mr. Obama suggested he was okay with the portions of Gov. Walker’s reform package that authorize public agencies to divert a significantly higher share of employees’ wages and salaries into their health care and pension plans, and thus reduce taxpayers’ total compensation liabilities.

At the same time, the President blasted the provision that would, for the first time in decades, restore for most Wisconsin public employees the Right to Work without being fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union.

He also lambasted provisions that would permanently strip most government union bosses of the monopoly power to negotiate benefits and work rules for employees who don’t want a union and choose not to join as well as for union members.

The President suggested the Right to Work and monopoly bargaining-rollback provisions in the Walker package “seem[] like . . . an assault on unions.”

Former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) czar and Obama crony Andy Stern quickly applauded the President’s statement. “It helps enormously” Wisconsin government union bosses’ bid to block any long-term reduction of their monopoly privileges, gushed Mr. Stern.

Obama Political Machine Reportedly Furnished Material Support to Union Outlaws

News reports in Politico, the Washington Post, and other major media outlets indicate the President furnished government union agents with material support.

Mr. Obama’s political machine, Organizing For America, allegedly provided buses to transport illegal strikers to protest rallies, deployed phone banks to organize protests, and transported protesters from other states.

“As of yet, it’s not clear whether the President’s unprecedented and appalling intervention in support of wildcat strikes designed to perpetuate wide-ranging union monopoly bargaining in the public sector will succeed,” commented National Right to Work Committee Vice President Matthew Leen.

“But the very fact that the current U.S. President is so beholden to Big Labor that he evidently felt he had to do this, regardless of the ultimate outcome, is sad news for America.”

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Why are Democrats afraid of allowing workers to choose or not choose to join a union? They would rather leave town and continue to allow unions to COMPEL Hoosiers to pay union fees and dues than give workers a choice. Worse yet, Speaker Bosma and Gov. Daniels are going to let this runaway-and-hide tactic win the debate.

From WISH TV:

The House Democrat’s walkout, now in its fifth week, started over proposed right-to-work legislation. That bill, [The Right To Work Bill], died right away, but on Tuesday, one group vowed to bring it back.

The group, the Right to Work (RTW) Committee, has two goals: getting House Democrats back in Indiana and passing right-to-work.

But union laborers [union bosses] said they’ll continue to fight against right-to-work.

“Why do you need to have them fired if they won’t pay you $30 a month?” RTW Committee President Mark Mix asked.

The RTW Committee wants Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma to bring the issue back to the legislature.

“There are literally hundreds of thousands of Indianans who believe that a worker should have the right to join a union, but should never be forced to pay dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job,” Mix said.

“If you’re doing your job and you’re representing workers in the bargaining unit where they work, they will join you voluntarily,” Mix said. “Why do you need compulsion?”

One union worker said. “I’m not forced to apply for that[union controlled] job.”

But workers who do not want to join the union could be fired.

Gov. Daniels said right-to-work was off the table weeks ago and remains there.

Right-to-work supporters said they’ll continue to argue their case.

Gov. Rick Snyder is trying to take the bull-by-the-horns enacting legislation to appoint Emergency Managers with broad powers.

Guess who refuses to recognize the stark reality of the state’s finances?

Big Labor. The state’s teacher’s union is considering a strike.

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