The news media was all over the fact that Wisconsin judge Maryann Sumi issued a restraining order on Wisconsin’s new law to rein in out of control union bosses but failed to report a critical fact — Sumi’s son works for the AFL-CIO and the SEIU.
On March 22, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
On January 11, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
A case working its way through the National Labor Relations Board could have profound implications for the Girl Scouts if the union bosses get their way.
(see related National Right to Work Committee amicus brief: For this reason, the Committee strongly urges the Board not to force employers to open their doors to union organizers to make it easier for unions to cram more employees into dues paying union ranks against their will. The Committee asks the Board3 once and for all, to respect the determination of the United States Supreme Court in Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB that “[b]y its plain terms, … the NLRA confers rights only on employees, not on unions or their nonemployee organizers.” 502 U.S. 527, 532 (1992).)
On December 30, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
(Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
Union bosses like AFL-CIO czar Richard Trumka claim that forced-unionism policies are in union members' best interest. But a new scientific poll shows union members overwhelmingly support the Right to Work principle.
New Nationwide Poll Shows Union Members Support Right to Work
A scientific survey of union members nationwide, conducted the week before the November elections by well-known pollster Frank Luntz for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, shows that Big Labor bosses are out of touch with the people they purport to represent as well as the public at large.
The poll gauged the opinions of both private- and government-sector union members regarding key aspects of the agenda Big Labor bankrolls with union treasury funds, which consist primarily of dues and fees that workers are forced to fork over as a condition of employment.
In the 2009-2010 campaign cycle, union officials funneled forced dues and fees extracted from an estimated nine million union members and forced union fee-paying nonmembers into what appears to have been their largest ever federal mid-term electoral war chest.
Top bosses of the AFL-CIO-affiliated American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union openly admit to having spent a total of nearly $87.5 million, mostly union treasury money, on mid-term electioneering.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bosses acknowledge pouring $44 million, primarily forced-dues money, into 2009-2010 politics. National Education Association (NEA) teacher union chiefs have owned up to siphoning $40 million into politicking over the past two years.
Altogether, it’s safe to say Organized Labor shelled out more than a billion dollars in reported and unreported contributions, including “in-kind” support like phone banks and get-out-the-vote drives as well as cash, to its favored 2010 congressional candidates.
Four Out of Five Union Members Reject Forced Union Membership, Dues (more…)
On December 21, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
(Source: December 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
Voters fed up with the Tax & Spend, forced-unionism agenda that Democratic U.S. House leaders have been pushing consigned them to minority status on November 2. See p. 3 of this Newsletter for details.
But Big Labor Retains Hold Over U.S. Senate, Key State Assemblies
Not just on November 2, but throughout this past election year, voters across most of the country sent two clear messages to Big Labor politicians on Capitol Hill: They are dismayed by what the politicians have done at union lobbyists’ behest, and determined to stop them from doing more of the same.
One major object of voters’ ire was the controversial “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (ARRA), otherwise known as the “stimulus” package. In early 2009, AFL-CIO and Change to Win union lobbyists twisted arms to secure majorities in both chambers of Congress for this $800 billion legislation.
Since it became law, ARRA has bilked taxpayers of hundreds of billions of dollars to ensure that bloated, unionized government payrolls stay bloated, but furnished no detectable net benefit for America’s private sector.
Another key source of voters’ displeasure was ObamaCare.
More even than President Obama or any other elected official, top union bosses and their arm-twisting union lobbyists are responsible for Congress’s narrow votes to reconstruct America’s enormous health-care system in late 2009 and early 2010.
November 2′s exit polls clearly indicate that voters across the country punished vulnerable U.S. representatives and senators for doing what Big Labor told them to do.
Undoubtedly compounding the woes of many of the politicians who had voted for the government union boss-crafted “stimulus” package and ObamaCare was that they were also on the record in support of forced-unionism initiatives that, due to stiff Right to Work opposition, have yet to be enacted.
Millions of freedom-loving citizens were furious with their incumbent politicians for having backed Big Labor’s now-moribund “card check” forced-unionism bill and its so far-stalled scheme to federalize government union monopoly bargaining over state and local public-safety employees.
Big Labor Appeasers in GOP Were First Casualties Of Voter Backlash (more…)
On November 12, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
Union bosses continue efforts to appeal to the United Nations to push their Big Labor agenda on the United States appears to have hit pay dirt.
The AFL-CIO, the Teamsters, and Steelworkers and the SEIU have bypassed the United States government to ask the United Nations to use its power to foist the Card Check Forced Unionism bill on American workers. In a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, the union bosses made the claim that failure to eliminate the secret ballot election was a human rights violation. Warner Todd Houston has the story
On September 24, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
CNBC looks at some of the ways the union bosses are spending forced union dues money this Fall:
The AFL-CIO says it will spend at least $53 million on 400 races in 26 states.
The Service Employees International Union, which broke from the AFL-CIO in 2005, will spend $44 million—up 26 percent from the 2006 mid-terms.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will spend $50 million this year, up from $32 million last year.
The union has 300 staff people working full-time until November “out there working with members, making sure they’re registered and informed,” said Larry Scanlon, AFSCME political director for the past 16 years.
On September 24, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
Will Big Labor Machine Rescue Unpopular Union-Label Politicians?
(Source: September 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
Over the past two years, Big Labor bosses have repeatedly succeeded in getting their favored federal politicians in competitive U.S. House districts and states to cast “politically difficult” votes.
Top AFL-CIO union official Richard Trumka is going all out this fall to help U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) retain the power to keep pushing forward his forced-unionism agenda in 2011 and 2012. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America
Early in 2009, for example, union lobbyists twisted arms to secure majorities in both chambers of Congress for controversial “stimulus” legislation. Since it became law, the “stimulus” has bilked taxpayers of hundreds of billions of dollars to ensure that bloated, unionized government payrolls stay bloated, but furnished no detectable help for America’s private sector.
And, more even than President Obama or any other elected official, top union officials are responsible for Congress’s narrow votes to reconstruct America’s enormous health-care system in late 2009 and early 2010.
As the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported March 22, 2010, “in the final push before the vote,” many union bosses and union operatives “displayed their clout through threats to withhold endorsements from lawmakers who failed to back the bill. They also vowed to support primary challenges or third-party bids against incumbents who opposed” ObamaCare.
Now polls indicate that voters across the country are poised to punish vulnerable U.S. representatives and senators for doing what Big Labor told them to do. (more…)
On September 16, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
During the health care debate, the union bosses of the AFl-CIO made bold threats to House Democrats — vote against ObamaCare and we will sit on our hands during your re-election battle. As Miss Emily Letella on Saturday Night Live used to say, “Nevermind.”
With many of their congressional water carriers struggling for their political lives, the AFL-CIO backed of their threat putting power before principle. The Hill reports:
The AFL-CIO released its first round of mailers in support of endangered Democrats this week. In it, the union sought to bolster Rep. Zack Space’s (D-Ohio) campaign with literature attacking his Republican opponent.
Space was the lone Democrat from Ohio’s congressional delegation to vote against the healthcare bill, and his position enraged labor groups.
But he’s not the only lawmaker who voted against the legislation to see union support trickle back his way. (more…)
Federal Legislative Action Alerts
