70% of Union Members Agree: End Bailouts of Governments & Business

On November 5, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

When asked, 70% of public and private sector union members believe that it is time to end bailouts of state governments and businesses according to a recent National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation – Frank Luntz poll.

Question 25.  Now I am going to read you two opposing statements on what Washington should do with remaining funds from the bailout bill of 2008. If you had to choose, which do you agree with MORE?

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Posted in: 2010 Union Member Poll, Do Union Bosses Speak
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Coincidence? Billion $$$ Bailout – Revved Up Political Activity

On August 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Some dare call it a coincidence.

The same day that House Democrats return to Washington to hand state and teacher union bosses a $26 billion bailout, teacher’s union announces a “plan to rev up recess action to protect Democrats’ majority.”  See what $26 billion dollars can buy you?

A coincidence — surely not.

Don’t forget that out of the estimated 3.3 million public school teachers nationwide, teachers unions were expecting about 160,000 layoffs this year — just 4.8 percent of all teachers. 38.1 percent of those layoffs are centered in just three states: 9,000 in New Jersey, 16,000 in New York and 36,000 in California. About 57 percent of those 160,000 teachers are unionized as noted by the Heritage Foundation, with contributions to state and local unions averaging $300 per teacher.  Add another $162 per teacher to the National Education Association and $190 per teacher to the American Federation of Teachers, as reported by Education Next, and the Senate easily has voted to give a minimum $40 million to the public teachers unions’ political coffers.  That money will be mobilized into campaign ads, direct mail, phone banks, you name it, all to help elect Democrats.

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Posted in: Big Labor Ethics, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees
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Payday for the Union Bosses

On June 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Investor’s Business Daily slams the Union Bailout bill introduced by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA):

Those who give to politicians expect a lot in return. That’s clear from the budget-busting payoffs directed largely at organized labor by Democrats in Congress and the White House.

A bill making its way through the Senate would bail out union pension funds to the tune of $165 billion. The bill’s author, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, wants the public to pay for the gold-plated union retirement benefits that the funds have mismanaged into oblivion.

This has to be galling to average working saps who watch as their 401(k)s and IRAs plummet, only to be asked to pony up billions of dollars in subsidies for unionized workers — many of whom get to retire into the lap of unlabored luxury while still in their 50s.

Casey’s bill isn’t the only gift that the White House and Congress have for the unions. Last year, economist and columnist Ben Stein estimated that as much as half of the $862 billion stimulus would go to unions, directly or indirectly. Even that might underestimate organized labor’s take. (more…)

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions
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It is a Big Labor Bailout — Again

On June 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Daily Caller examines the Casey-Pomeroy bailout bill to give union pension funds $165 billion in taxpayer money by tucking it into an “emergency” spending bill making its way through Congress.  Anti-tax groups have weighed in with a letter signed by over 30 organizations opposing the bailout:

Two recently introduced bills fit that description: the Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act of 2009 (H.R. 3936) and the Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act of 2010 (S. 3157). If enacted, they would jeopardize billions of taxpayer dollars to shore up massively underfunded union pension plans.

These two bills mark a stark departure from traditional pension insurance. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) insures the pensions of more than 44 million American workers and retirees in over 29,000 private, company-run single-employer and union-run multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. PBGC receives no funds from general tax revenues. Its operations are supported by insurance premiums—set by Congress—paid for by sponsors of defined benefits plans. 

The two bills propose to use taxpayer dollars to bail out several multiemployer plans. Using taxpayer funds to pay for private pensions would be a first in PBGC history. That would be patently unjust. Most of the funds that would be eligible for this bailout were severely underfunded well before the financial crisis hit. That underfunding is largely due to mismanagement by the plan sponsors, who would now get a pass, at taxpayer expense. (more…)

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Posted in: Government Grants to Unions
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Big Labor Bailout…Continued

On June 9, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the proposed Big Labor bailout:

Union chiefs prefer the power that comes with managing huge pension investments—even if they’re failing. They are now counting on Mr. Casey to preserve their power by making taxpayers pick up the tab for years of pension mismanagement. With the union priority of “card check” stalled, word is that the Casey bailout is Big Labor’s consolation prize. Taxpayers should let Congress know they don’t want to pay.

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Numbers Game

On June 4, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff

Mark Mix, the President of the National Right to Work Committee, writing in the pages of the Investor’s Business Daily, looks at the crony capitalism at General Motors and their corrupt relatioship with the government. It’s a good deal for Big Labor, but it’s bad news for the taxpayers.

Given that the wasteful work rules that UAW bosses — wielding government-granted monopoly-bargaining power over employees — insisted on for decades were largely what drove GM into bankruptcy, they certainly didn’t deserve kid-gloves treatment. Yet that’s what they got.

A UAW-controlled auto retiree health care fund was owed $20 billion by GM before the bailout.

Under the White House-dictated terms, UAW-appointed fund managers got back half of what they were owed in cash, whereas taxpayers who were owed $19.4 billion didn’t get a dime back in cash.

Instead, the Obama administration “forgave” this entire loan on taxpayers’ behalf and earmarked an additional $23.5 billion for the company’s trip through bankruptcy. In exchange for the nearly $43 billion funneled to GM, taxpayers acquired a “60.8% equity stake” in GM.

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions
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