(Source: October 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

With the results of the National Right to Work Committee’s federal Survey 2010 now in, Committee members from coast to coast keep turning up the heat on U.S. Senate and House candidates to publicly pledge 100% support for the Right to Work.

Committee members and supporters who receive the Newsletter through the U.S. Postal Service can find out whether and how their candidates responded to the Right to Work survey by consulting the Survey 2010 results roster enclosed with this month’s issue.

Pro-Right to Work Americans who have not yet received their Survey 2010 results may obtain a copy by contacting the Committee by e-mail – Members@NRTW.org  — or by dialing 1-800-325-7892.

By calling, writing, and visiting their candidates and urging them to declare themselves in opposition to forced unionism, Committee members are making forced unionism and the Right to Work red-hot issues in state after state this year.

Right to Work Activity Key to Stopping Big Labor

At this writing, just a few weeks remain until Election Day.

And reports from a wide array of pollsters and pundits indicate that the caucus of politicians who support Big Labor’s agenda on forced-unionism issues such as federally-mandated “card checks” will shrink significantly after voters go to the polls.

Consequently, union lobbyists may be hard-pressed in 2011 and 2012 to ram through legislation expanding union bosses’ coercive privileges over independent-minded private-sector employees and small businesses.

However, pro-forced unionism President Barack Obama will retain the power, for at least the next two years, to promote forced unionism by issuing executive orders and by appointing Big Labor shills to powerful federal agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Congress has the constitutional authority to thwart the President from unilaterally giving away the store, but doing so requires a strong commitment to principal on the part of senators and representatives.

Moreover, passage of Big Labor legislative schemes that do not blatantly attack private businesses and employees, including the AFL-CIO-backed Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, is likely to remain a grave threat in the 2011-2012 Congress regardless of the 2010 election results.

“Election results that are merely unfavorable for Barack Obama’s Democratic Party won’t nearly suffice to turn back the tide of forced unionism now that the President has already put Big Labor cheerleaders in charge of key agencies like the NLRB,” observed Committee President Mark Mix.

“And since several key legislative union power grabs such as the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill are backed by a significant number of GOP politicians as well as virtually all Democrat politicians, Right to Work supporters won’t be able to let their guard down on the legislative front, either.

“Whatever happens on November 2, Right to Work activity will remain critical for stopping Big Labor.”

Several Big Labor Senators Face Strong Challenges

This fall, Right to Work supporters hoping to enhance their ability to fight forced unionism over the next couple of years have multiple opportunities in U.S. Senate contests.

Just to start with, five current senators with pro-forced unionism records are, according to the latest polls, either trailing or running neck-and-neck in their re-election campaigns against 100% pro-Right to Work challengers.

Big Labor Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln is in the worst shape of all. Sen. Lincoln, who is seeking a third term, has a long track record of backing union special-interest legislation.

For example, in 2007 she voted to quash a Right to Work filibuster and help Big Labor ram through its notorious “Card-Check” Forced-Unionism Bill. And in the current Congress, she is a cosponsor of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill.

Realizing too late that her history of subservience to Big Labor could kill her 2010 re-election hopes, Ms. Lincoln has tried to backpedal from her past votes for the “card-check” measure and other employee-coercing, economy-crushing schemes.

But freedom-loving Arkansans apparently aren’t fooled by the senator’s half-hearted gestures. Recent surveys indicate she is running well behind her GOP challenger, staunchly pro-Right to Work Congressman John Boozman.

Two other union-label senators, 2009 appointee Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and three-term incumbent Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), are also trailing their unabashedly pro-Right to Work challengers, Republicans Ken Buck (Colo.) and Ron Johnson (Wisc.), in recent polls, but by relatively small margins.

Yet another two union-boss lackey Democrats, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Patty Murray of Washington State, are statistically tied up with the across-the-board Right to Work supporters who are aiming to unseat them, Sharron Angle (R-Nev.) and Dino Rossi (R-Wash.)

Several ‘Open’ Seat Gains Likely or Possible For Right to Work Adherents

The number of Right to Work opportunities is even greater when it comes to “open” seats that have up to now been under union lobbyists’ control.

100% pro-Right to Work candidates are now narrowly leading in contests for “open” Senate seats now held by Big Labor water carriers in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The candidates who are standing up to the union bosses are former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats (Ind.), former Congressman Pat Toomey (Pa.), and John Raese (W.Va.). Their Big Labor-backed Democrat rivals are Reps. Brad Ellsworth (Ind.) and Joe Sestak (Pa.) and Gov. Joe Manchin (W.Va.).

Candidates who are vowing to support the Right to Work on all votes are also leading in races for two “open” seats that have been held by Republicans who only sporadically opposed union power grabs.

In Alaska, union boss-appeasing Republican Lisa Murkowski, a cosponsor of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, was defeated in her primary contest this summer by forced-unionism foe Joe Miller.

Mr. Miller now leads both Big Labor favorite Scott McAdams (D) and Ms. Murkowski, who is running a long-shot general election campaign as a write-in candidate.

In Florida, former GOP Sen. Mel Martinez, who resigned last August, was another pro-union monopoly Republican. But the Republican nominee for the “open” seat, Marco Rubio, pledges full support for Right to Work.

Polls show Mr. Rubio leading over union-label “Independent” Gov. Charlie Crist and Democrat Kendrick Meek. (Mr. Meek is currently a congressman.)

Finally, in one race for an “open” Senate seat now held by an anti-Right to Work Democratic politician, the pro-freedom candidate is currently trailing, but within striking distance.

Delaware GOP nominee Christine O’Donnell, a staunch Right to Work advocate, is fighting to catch up with Big Labor pet Chris Coons (D).

The National Right to Work Committee and its members (now 2.6 million, and growing) are determined to ensure that congressmen and senators who have carried water for Big Labor time and again are held accountable this fall.

Committee Rallies Members To Put Heat on CandidatesThe principal Committee program for holding politicians’ feet to the fire is the federal candidate Survey 2010.

The ongoing Survey 2010 consists of three phases.

In the first phase, candidates received questionnaires asking them how they intended to vote on a number of forced unionism-related issues, including mandatory “card checks,” federalized public-safety union monopoly bargaining, and national Right to Work legislation.

“The Committee’s goal is not just to secure enough support to block enactment of forced-unionism schemes like ‘card check’ legislation, but also to forge pro-Right to Work majorities in the Senate and House,” explained Committee President Mix.

“That’s why the Right to Work survey raises the pressure on candidates to oppose the expansion of Big Labor’s forced-unionism privileges, and also to support rolling those privileges back.”

In the second phase of the Survey 2010, Committee members called and wrote the candidates, asking them to answer their questionnaires 100% in favor of Right to Work.

In the final phase, the Committee, through TV and newspaper ads, e-mails and the postal service, is reporting back to members and friends at the local level on how their candidates responded. That keeps the heat on non-responsive candidates until Election Day to take a clear stand on the Right to Work issue.

“The aim of Big Labor’s billion-dollar, forced dues-funded electioneering program is to divert public attention from the damage that union-label politicians have wrought on America over the past two years and the even more severe damage they will do over the next two years if they can,” said Mr. Mix.

Public Doesn’t Support Compulsory Unionism

“Big Labor has far more money at its disposal than do Right to Work supporters, but the union bosses have one major problem: The general public, and even the workers they claim to represent, don’t support what they are selling,” Mr. Mix continued.

“Poll after poll shows that nearly 80% of Americans agree that no one should be forced to join or pay dues to a union, simply in order to keep his or her job.

“The Committee survey program works simply by ensuring that the Right to Work issue, which already has overwhelming public support, remains in the spotlight throughout the campaign season.

“With members’ generous support, I’m confident that this fall the federal survey will force candidate after candidate either to pledge to stop attacking employees’ Right to Work, or face serious repercussions at the polls.”

(Source: July 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)

Just before the U.S. Congress adjourned for a week-long Independence Day recess, Big Labor House members rubber-stamped legislation that would federally impose union monopoly bargaining over state and local public-safety employees.

The legislation (H.R.413), cynically mislabeled as the “Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act,” would, at a time when government budget deficits are already sky high, hobble the ability of states and localities to keep their expenditures of taxpayer dollars under control.

Incredibly, the House voted July 1 to attach this scheme to a massive spending bill that provides funding for U.S. troops. The Senate is expected to take up this war supplemental bill, with H.R.413 attached, some time this month.

H.R.413 would empower Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) bureaucrats to survey all 50 states and identify which have failed to meet the legislation’s “core standards.”

And the key “core standard” is mandatory union monopoly bargaining. Localities in all 50 states would be denied the option to refuse to grant a single public-safety union the power to speak for all front-line employees, including those who don’t want to join.

Bill ‘Further Empowers An Already Strong Lobby’

Monopoly bargaining, euphemistically labeled as “exclusive representation,” would be foisted on police, firefighters, and other public-safety employees nationwide. And in most states that already authorize public-safety union monopoly bargaining, H.R.413 would widen its scope.

As Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Maher recently noted, under this legislation, if any state refused to institute monopoly bargaining and comply with other mandates, FLRA bureaucrats “would step in and implement” them themselves.

A wide spectrum of political observers, inside the D.C. Beltway and around the country, have blasted H.R.413 and its Senate companion, S.3194, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as a budget-busting power grab.

For example, last month both the liberal Washington Post and the conservative National Review ran editorials urging Congress to block H.R.413/S.3194.

“What this bill would do,” charged the Post’s editors, “is impose a permanent, one-size-fits-all federal solution in an area — public-sector labor relations — that has traditionally been left to the states, and where state flexibility is probably more necessary than ever. . . . The bill further empowers an already strong lobby . . . .”

The editors of National Review (online edition) were even more forthright:

“Government employees’ unions already maintain a death grip on the finances of most state and local governments, and a remarkably bad piece of legislation — the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act — threatens to tighten that stranglehold . . . .”

Of course, the fact that liberal, conservative and moderate analysts recognize H.R.413/S.3194 as bad in principle and extraordinarily ill-timed doesn’t trouble Mr. Reid and union-label Democratic Congressman Dale Kildee (Mich.), the lead sponsor of the House legislation.

Harry Reid Cannot Prevail Without GOP Collaborators

The bottom line for them is that their legislation would empower and enrich union officials who are one of the Democratic Party’s “most important constituencies,” as National Review’s editors put it.

However, Democratic politicians, despite controlling the White House and substantial majorities in both chambers of Congress, cannot make Kildee-Reid the law of the land all on their own.

At this writing, due to the death late last month of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Mr. Reid’s majority caucus consists of 58 senators, 56 Democrats plus pro-forced unionism “Independents” Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

But, regardless of the total number of senators at any time, it takes 60 to bring up a piece of legislation for a final vote if opponents seek to block it by launching an extended debate.

And the National Right to Work Committee, which is leading the opposition to Kildee-Reid on Capitol Hill, and its Senate allies already have a plan in place to sustain an extended debate against this legislation.

That’s why Harry Reid must pick up several GOP votes, while holding on to the votes of several Democrats from strong Right to Work states, in order to ram H.R.413 through the Senate.

“At this time, six GOP senators are sponsoring S.1611, monopoly-bargaining legislation that is virtually identical to the Reid bill,” noted Right to Work President Mark Mix.

“To thwart the federalization of union monopoly control over public-safety officers, Right to Work supporters must convince at least three of these senators to back away from their support for this scheme, and also convince at least two or three Democrats to oppose H.R.413.

“One Senate Democrat, North Carolina’s Kay Hagan, has already said publicly she will oppose the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill, even though she usually votes with Big Labor. She reiterated her opposition just last month.”

History Shows Appeasement Won’t Insulate GOP Politicians

“Committee leaders are hopeful that, if pro-Right to Work constituents keep raising the pressure, they can ensure that Ms. Hagan keeps her word, and that a couple of other Democrats join her in opposing H.R.413,” Mr. Mix continued.

“But that won’t be enough to defeat the Kildee-Reid bill unless several would-be GOP appeasers of Big Labor reconsider their support for expanding government union bosses’ monopoly privileges.

“Right now, freedom-loving constituents are turning up the heat on all six GOP sponsors of S.1611, especially Sens. Scott Brown [Mass.], Mike Johanns [Neb.], and Lisa Murkowski [Alaska].

“Right to Work supporters are also reminding these senators that, in 2008 alone, four GOP senators who had tried to appease Big Labor by cosponsoring the 2007-2008 version of the Police/Fire Monopoly-Bargaining Bill were tossed out by their constituents.

“History shows forced-unionism appeasement won’t insulate politicians from Big Labor attacks — but will anger their constituents.”

Bill Would Pave Way For Union Monopoly Control Over All Public Employees

Mr. Mix acknowledged that Right to Work supporters face an uphill battle to block H.R.413 in the Senate. But this power grab is so dangerous, he added, that Committee members must do everything possible to stop it.

“Kildee/Reid would constitute a major step towards Big Labor’s decades-old goal of enacting a federal law that foists union monopoly bargaining on front-line state and local employees of all types across America.

“As union bigwig Anna Burger, head of the ‘Change to Win’ union conglomerate, recently boasted, H.R.413/S.3194 would ‘create a national collective,’ i.e., monopoly, ‘bargaining standard for all public workers.’

“In other words, if Congress federalizes union monopoly control over public-safety employees, the federalization of union monopoly bargaining over teachers, and state and local public servants of every other kind, will be next.

“Enactment of H.R.413/S.3194 would deal a harsh blow to the Right to Work cause. I know Committee members and supporters across the country understand that fact, and will do all they can to stop this legislation.”