WSJ: Obama’s NLRB Appointees Constitutionality Challenged

On February 5, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff

The National Right to Work has filed suit against the unconstitutional appointment by President Obama of members of National Labor Relations Board but that is not the only suit pending.

The Wall Street Journal reports, “the legality of the appointments is being challenged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, where lawyers for the housing complex owner are challenging an injunction sought by the NLRB to end a lockout of members of the Service Employees International Union following a pay dispute. NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon filed for the injunction last week, after the current board members authorized him to do so….The first legal challenge to Mr. Obama’s recess appointments came last month, when three groups—the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Right to Work Foundation and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace—asked a judge to rule on whether the appointments to the NLRB violate the U.S. Constitution.”

President Obama violated the constitution precedent when he made “recess” appointments to the NLRB while Congress was in session.  It is imperative that the courts stand up to this power grab and we are working to ensure that happens.

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Posted in: Economics, Forced-Dues for Politics, NLRB, Obama Administration, Personnel Alert, Political Activity
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Big Labor’s Wisconsin Vendetta

On January 24, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff

WI Teacher Union Losing Its Teacher Healthcare Monopoly

Big Labor will spend millions trying to remove Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office but facts about the local economy and the finances of state government is making the argument for removal much more difficult.  As the Wall Street Journal notes, Walker’s reforms are working — saving taxpayers money and putting people back to work:

It’s not turning out that way: The Apocalypse has not arrived for services, and Mr. Walker was able to balance the state budget without new taxes or looming deficits.

They swore revenge for his offenses, and last week Wisconsin Democrats delivered what they say are a million signatures for the recall of Republican Governor Scott Walker… to campaign against reforms that have already saved taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and rescued the state from a budget crisis. Game on.

Since last summer,  Big Labor waged and lost a bitter fight over the election of a state Supreme Court Justice and spent millions trying to recall Republican state senators.

Last year state senator Spencer Coggs called Mr. Walker’s plan “legalized slavery” while others predicted disaster for school districts and public services.

In districts like Wauwatosa, Racine, LaCrosse and Eau Claire, the changes in health and pension contributions prevented layoffs that were expected to be widespread and in some cases allowed the boards not to fire a single teacher. (more…)

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Education, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, Public Employees, Teacher Unions, Union Work Rules, Wisconsin
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Wall Street Journal roundtable: Right to Work freedom “almost a life-and-death issue for Indiana”

On January 16, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Gigot, Dan Henninger, James Freeman, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Kim Strassel and Collin Levy discuss the individual freedom and business opportunities that Indiana’s Right To Work bills bring to the Hoosier state:

Gigot:  The first big labor fight of the year is taking shape in the Hoosier State. How Indiana’s right-to-work push could change the political and economic landscape in the Midwest.

Gov. Mitch Daniels: The idea that no worker should be forced to pay union dues as a condition of keeping a job is simple and just. But the benefits in new jobs would be large. A third or more of growing or relocating businesses will not consider a state that does not provide workers this protection.

Gigot: He was reportedly booed by protesters in the statehouse hallways for those remarks in his annual State of the State Address this week, but Gov. Mitch Daniels is hoping to make Indiana the first state in more than a decade to approve right-to-work legislation. It would allow individual workers to decide if they want to join a union and ban contracts that require nonunion members to pay dues once their work site is organized. Republican leaders in the state have made it their top legislative priority this year, but Democrats and their union allies aren’t giving up without a fight.

So, Collin, we heard last year, after the brawl in Wisconsin, that somehow this was over for a union reform movement. What’s–why is it happening in Indiana now?

Levy: Well, I mean, I think it is a really interesting situation you see happening in Indiana, because Indiana’s this sort of industrial state of the Midwest. And you have a particular situation now where Indiana is poised to achieve enormous competitive advantages over states in the Midwest like Michigan, like Illinois. These are high-taxed, unionized states. And Gov. Daniels has taken this moment to say, “You know, we’ve already made sort of some significant gains in terms of improving the business climate here. We saw what happened in Wisconsin. But, look, you know, we have an opportunity to lure an awful lot of businesses here if we can make it clear that workers can act as free agents,” you know? Unions are portraying this as a radical change, but it’s really just about worker freedom.

Gigot: Kim, the nearest right-to-work state in the Midwest is Iowa. So how much economic benefit could there be here, really, when you get down to it, for Indiana?

Strassel: It’s huge. When Mitch Daniels talks about this, he is looking at the South. That is where the epicenter of most right-to-work states have been and where there has been a flood of manufacturers who have moved from the North to the South over recent decades to take advantage of those lower-cost, nonunionized states. And if Indiana could do this, it would be a sort of central pole for people to remain in the Midwest and locate and give an enormous advantage over competitors.

Gigot: The last state to try to do this was New Hampshire, believe it or not, which had elected huge Republican legislative majorities in 2010. Tried to pass right-to-work. They did. It was vetoed by the Democratic governor. Indiana Republicans also have big majorities, and it looks like they are poised to do it.

Henninger: And I hope they do. I mean, I think this is really almost a life-and-death issue for Indiana. Twenty percent of Indiana’s workforce is in manufacturing. That’s the highest percentage in the United States. (more…)

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced Dues, Government Grants to Unions, Illinois, Indiana, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, Michigan, Right to Work, Right To Work States, State Right To Work
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Indiana Workers Demand Their Right to Work

On January 10, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff

From the Wall Street Journal:

The labor reform story of the year is unfolding in Indiana, which Republicans who dominate the legislature are trying to make the nation’s 23rd right-to-work state. Democrats are resorting to the old run-and-hide ploy, but this could be a huge economic boon to the Hoosier State.

Big Labor portrays right to work as a radical change, but it merely lets individual workers decide if they want to join a union. In non-right-to-work states, workers typically must pay union dues once their worksite is organized—whether they want to pay or not. This enhances union clout and the cash to dominate state politics.

Many industrial and manufacturing businesses only consider right-to-work states as locales for expanding their operations. The nearest right-to-work state in the Midwest is Iowa, so Indiana could set itself further apart from such high-tax, unionized havens as Illinois and Michigan.

According to Chief Executive Magazine’s annual CEO survey, Indiana has climbed to sixth from 16th among state business climates, thanks to reforms since 2004 under Governor Mitch Daniels. But the state’s biggest liability remains its labor market. A Forbes survey last year ranked Indiana 34th in business climate, partially because of a dismal 44th rank in labor “supply,” which includes unionization.

Democrats in the state House played hooky for three days last week in an effort to deny a quorum for voting on the law. They returned to work yesterday after Democratic leader B. Patrick Bauer acknowledged that they “can’t stay out forever.” House members face penalties of $1,000 per day for walkouts longer than three days, so the obstruction could get expensive. (more…)

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Posted in: Big Labor Payback, Economic Development in RTW States, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Indiana, Intimidation Tactics, Labor Organizations, Legislation, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Right to Work, Right To Work States, State Right To Work
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Obama NLRB Actions “Unconstitutional”

On January 5, 2012, By NRTW Committee Staff

Roger Pilon, a constitutional scholar from the CATO Institute, makes a compelling case that President Obama’s outrageous appointments to the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are unconstitutional:

All of Obama’s appointments yesterday are illegal under the Constitution. And, in addition, as too little noted by the media, his appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is legally futile. Under the plain language of the Dodd-Frank Act that created the CFPB, Cordray will have no authority whatsoever.

Yesterday, Professors John Yoo and Richard Epstein, writing separately, made it crystal clear that the president, under Article II, section 2, may make temporary recess appointments, but only when the Senate is in recess. Add in Article I, section 5, and it’s plain that the Senate is presently not in recess, just as it wasn’t under Senate Democrats when George W. Bush wanted to make recess appointments. The difference here is that Bush respected those constitutional provisions while Obama — never a constitutional law professor but only a part-time instructor – ignores them as politically inconvenient. Attempts by Obama’s apologists to say the Senate is not in session are pure sophistry and, in the case of Harry Reid, rank hypocrisy, as this morning’s Wall Street Journal brings out.

But clear beyond the slightest doubt is the language of the statute (itself unconstitutional on any number of grounds not relevant here). As my colleague Mark Calabria wrote yesterday, “authorities under the Act remain with the Treasury Secretary until the Director is ‘confirmed by the Senate.’”  A recess appointment, even if it were constitutional, is not a Senate confirmation. There is simply no wiggle room in that language that gives Cordray any authority, as litigation will soon make plain. (more…)

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Posted in: Bailouts to Unions, Big Labor Payback, NLRB, Obama Administration, Personnel Alert
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NLRB’s Boeing Sham

On December 12, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Wall Street Journal looks at the political decision to file a complaint against Boeing and the political decision to withdraw it:

What a sham, or scam, or choose a synonym. On Wednesday, the International Association of Machinists approved a new contract with Boeing in which the company agreed to make its 737 Max jet with union labor in Washington state. Yesterday, after getting the machinist all-clear, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dropped its lawsuit against Boeing’s investment in South Carolina.

Has there ever been a more blatant case of a supposedly independent agency siding with a union over management in collective bargaining?

Boeing says the new contract wasn’t tied directly to a settlement of the NLRB complaint, and that it always made sense to build the 737 Max in Renton, Washington because its work force has experience on the current 737 and offers natural efficiencies.

But it’s hard to resist the conclusion that Boeing felt obliged to make the agreement to save its more than $1 billion investment in South Carolina, where it is building 787s. Boeing might have won a legal battle in the end, but first it would have to run through an administrative law judge, then the politicized and Obama-stacked NLRB, and only then would it get to an appellate court. Meanwhile, its investment was in jeopardy and its legal bill was rising. (more…)

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Posted in: Big Labor Payback, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, NLRB, Obama Administration, Personnel Alert, Right to Work, Right To Work States, State Right To Work
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Jerry Brown’s Union Salute

On October 19, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

The Wall Street Journal takes California Gov. Jerry Brown to task for his continued efforts to put Big Labor union’s interest ahead of the interest of the taxpayers of the Golden State:

This month marks the centennial of California’s voter initiative process, and Governor Jerry Brown has commemorated the occasion by signing a law that makes it easier for unions to defeat ballot measures they don’t like. Consider it more evidence of Mr. Brown’s disappointing return to Sacramento.

The California constitution stipulates that ballot measures be placed on a general election ballot unless lawmakers call a special election. What constitutes a “general election” was hotly debated during the 1960s and early 1970s. However, when the legislature wanted to put several bond measures on a primary ballot in 1971, Mr. Brown, then the secretary of state, obliged. Initiatives have since appeared on either primary (typically in June) or November ballots.

This has benefitted voters since initiatives receive more scrutiny and debate when there are fewer measures on the ballot. The November ballot is chock full of local and statewide races and measures. Adding more initiatives would make the ballot even more crowded, but that seems to be the union point. This month Mr. Brown signed a law restricting voter-sponsored initiatives to the November ballot only in even years. The same rules, by the way, don’t apply to ballot measures that the legislaturesponsors.

Democrats say this is more democratic because voter turnout is higher than in primary and special elections. But then why does the legislature retain for itself the power to place bond and revenue-raising measures on primary and special-election ballots?

Voter turnout in primaries tends to be more conservative than in general elections because most incumbents are Democrats and thus more Republicans run as primary challengers. Unions would also prefer not to have to mobilize their troops to fight taxpayer-backed initiatives twice each year. Doing so would be particularly challenging in 2012 because unions drained their coffers taking down Republican gubernatorial and Senate candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina last November.

Taxpayer groups are also promoting initiatives to modify government collective bargaining and pensions. Most of the groups are aiming their initiatives for November, but one group filed an initiative for the primary ballot that would bar labor unions from spending members’ dues on political campaigns. Moving all initiatives to November will now give unions a better shot at defeating this and other initiatives.

The new law also postpones to November 2014 from June 2012 a ballot measure to bolster the state’s rainy day fund. Democratic leaders agreed two years ago to place the measure on the 2012 primary ballot in return for Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a few GOP lawmakers supporting a temporary tax hike. Democrats are now double-crossing the GOP, though Republicans were foolish to agree to any deal that raised taxes immediately in return for future spending reforms. This should warn Republicans tempted to compromise with Mr. Brown on taxes in return for illusory pension or regulatory reforms.

Some Californians hoped an older, perhaps wiser, Mr. Brown could pull off a Nixon goes to China his second time around as Governor. Alas, he’s still stuck in Sacramento.

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Posted in: California, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Public Employees
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What if the NFL Played by Teachers’ Union Rules?

On October 6, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

Hall of Famer Quarterback Fran Tarkenton imagines what it would be like if the National Football League (NFL) adopted teacher’s unions rules with regard to hiring. It’s worth a read:

Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player’s salary is based on how long he’s been in the league. It’s about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he’s an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player’s been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct.

Let’s face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt?

No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn’t get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money.

Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: “They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans.” The only thing that might get done would be building bigger, more expensive stadiums and installing more state-of-the-art technology. But that just wouldn’t help.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers’ salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn’t rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they’ve been teaching. That’s it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you’re demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation’s children.

Inflation-adjusted spending per student in the United States has nearly tripled since 1970. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we spend more per student than any nation except Switzerland, with only middling results to show for it.

These same misguided beliefs are front and center in President Obama’s jobs plan, which includes billions for “public school modernization.” The popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We’ve been spending billions of dollars on school modernization for decades, and I suspect we could keep on doing it until the end of the world, without much in the way of academic results. The only beneficiaries are the teachers unions.Over the past 20 years, we’ve been told that a big part of the problem is crumbling schools—that with new buildings and computers in every classroom, everything would improve. But even though spending on facilities and equipment has more than doubled since 1989 (again adjusted for inflation), we’re still not seeing results, and officials assume the answer is that we haven’t spent enough. (more…)

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Posted in: Education, Public Employees, Teacher Unions
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