You can say one thing about Nancy Pelosi, when it comes to loyalty to the union bosses, there is no hesitation. When asked whether Boeing should shut down its South Carolina facility because it is not unionized, Pelosi told CNBC — “yes.”
On October 30, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
On April 2, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
(Source: March 2011 NRTWC Newsletter)
Committee Calls on U.S. House Leaders to Block Union Power Grab
On February 4, President Barack Obama’s handpicked head of the Transportation Security Administration publicly announced he would help government union bosses grab monopoly-bargaining control over more than 40,000 airport screeners and other TSA employees.
John Pistole, who was sworn in as TSA chief in July 2010, made the move shortly after Republican John Boehner (Ohio) replaced Big Labor Democrat Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) as speaker of the U.S. House.
The changing of the guard at the House made it impossible, in all probability, for union lobbyists to ram through Congress legislation mandating union monopoly bargaining at the TSA.
Therefore, in order for the Obama Administration to hand federal union officials what they wanted, Mr. Pistole had to act administratively.
Agency Would Likely Become ‘Less Efficient and Flexible’
As a consequence of the Pistole edict, the honchos of one of two large government unions, either the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) or the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), could grab so-called “exclusive” representation power at the TSA within the next few weeks.
If this happens, the already much-reviled federal agency will likely become even “less efficient and flexible,” as National Review Associate Editor Robert Verbruggen pointed out in a February 11 commentary. (more…)
On February 18, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff
Rather than deal with many of the fiscal issues brought about by unsustainable congressional gifts to Big Government Union Bosses and their private sector Big Labor counterparts, Nancy Pelosi threatens to join the movement for a federal government shutdown. A shutdown forces all non-essential federal government employees to go home without pay. (Of course in the past when these “non-essential” employees returned, congress basically paid them for their time-off without a loss in regularly pay or vacation pay.)
It is time for congress to deal with the problem of forced unionism and its costs to society as well as to the future of the American Dream.
From the Politico:
A high-ranking aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democratic chiefs of staff that a government shutdown is more likely than not, according to attendees. Speaking at a regular meeting of the top aides to House Democrats, Pelosi’s floor director, Jerry Hartz, offered up his assessment that the odds favor inaction before the government runs out of money, sources said. A shutdown would only happen if the House and Senate can’t reach a deal on the continuing resolution that expires on March 4.
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 October 13, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
Breaking Big Labor's stranglehold over federal labor policy will require far more than ousting union-label House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif., shown here with government union czar Jerry McEntee) from the seat of power. Image Credit: Jay Mallin
Survey Presses Candidates to Pledge to Roll Back Forced Unionism
(Source: October 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
If respected Inside-the-Beltway political prognosticators like Charles Cook and Stuart Rothenberg are correct, there is a significant possibility that, come January, union-label Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will no longer be speaker of the U.S. House.
As of mid-September, Mr. Cook and Mr. Rothenberg were both reporting there was at least a 50-50 chance that Republicans would pick up, at a minimum, the 39 House seats they need to hold a majority in the chamber and, presumably, to elect a GOP speaker.
Since virtually all Democratic politicians in Washington, D.C., rely on forced union dues-funded support from Big Labor to get elected and reelected, and few GOP politicians are similarly beholden to the union brass, a partisan House switchover would affect the climate for Right to Work-related legislation.
For example, in all likelihood, the arrival of a GOP House would derail, for the time being, Big Labor’s years-long campaign to mandate “card checks” or in some other way rig union organizing campaigns, and thus make it even harder for independent-minded employees to avoid being corralled into a union.
However, if history is any indication, Republican House leaders are unlikely even to try to reverse federal policies that currently force millions of workers to accept monopoly union “representation,” like it or not, and pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
Unlikely, that is, unless pro-Right to Work citizens nationwide are mobilized in unprecedented numbers to put the heat on GOP politicians to act.
Right to Work Movement Hasn’t Forgotten About GOP’s 1995-2007 Record
“From 1995 through 2007, Republican politicians like Newt Gingrich [Ga.], Tom DeLay [Texas], Dennis Hastert [Ill.], and John Boehner [Ohio] were calling the shots in the U.S. House,” recalled Doug Stafford, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee. (more…)
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
(Source: September 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
Since forced-unionism cheerleader Barack Obama became President in January 2009, Big Labor bosses and their yes-men in the U.S. Congress have helped him inflict a lot of damage on employees, businesses, and taxpayers across America.
To take just the latest example, last month union puppet politicians in the Senate and House rubber-stamped a special-interest measure (H.R.1586) that will ultimately extract an additional $10 billion from beleaguered private-sector employees and businesses to maintain and expand wasteful unionized government payrolls.
From 1998 to 2007, the number of instructional employees at K-12 public schools nationwide soared by 15.9% — an increase 3.5 times greater than the 4.5% growth in school enrollment over the same period.
The rapid-fire expansion of school payrolls, roughly 70% of which are unionized, produced no measurable improvement in educational outcomes, but cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
And the terms on which H.R.1586 piles on another $10 billion are expressly designed to ensure that currently strapped states do not pare back the past decade of teacher union boss-driven growth in K-12 payrolls in order to avoid increasing the burden on taxpaying individuals and businesses.
On August 11, just one day after the House had okayed H.R.1586, President Obama signed it into law.
Big Labor Bosses Still Far From Satisfied (more…)
On September 4, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
Excerpt from NRTW President Mark Mix Op-Ed in the Washington Times (to read the full version, click here):
Today, Big Government, not the private sector, is Big Labor’s bread and butter. That’s why union officials push relentlessly for higher taxes and bigger government and seem completely unconcerned that the policies they advocate will slash overall private-sector job growth in future years.
Just three decades ago, less than a third of all employees subject to “exclusive” union bargaining worked for the government. Earlier this year, the U.S. Labor Department reported that for the first time ever, a majority of unionized workers across America are now government employees.
The outsized power and privileges of government union bosses clearly are a major force behind the unsustainable growth of government payrolls. According to data furnished by respected labor economists Barry T. Hirsch and David A. Macpherson, nonunion government employment nationwide actually fell by 2 percent, but Big Labor-controlled government employment grew by nearly 4 percent from 2007 to 2009.
Incredibly, nearly all Democrats and many Republicans on Capitol Hill appear eager to make matters even worse by rubber-stamping legislation (H.R. 413 and S. 3194) that would federally grant public-safety union officials monopoly bargaining privileges over state and local public employees nationwide. (more…)