The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) has released a telling study comparing Right to Work states with forced-unionism states in a variety of statistical categories. The statistics, provided by various governmental departments and agencies as well as respected non-profits, show the stunning economic and personal benefits families enjoy from their states' popular Right to Work laws.

The last five years of available data shows that workers in Right to Work states not only enjoy higher non-farm private-sector job growth (9.1% versus 3.6% from 2003-2008), but their real personal incomes are also growing faster (15.8% vs. 9.1% from 2003-2008) and they enjoy a higher disposable income ($34,878 vs. $32,811 in 2008) than their counterparts in forced unionism states.

Families in Right to Work states also benefit from lower taxes and are more likely to buy a home, send their children to college, and gain private, employment-based health insurance for parents and children alike.

While Right to Work is about employee freedom in the workplace, NILRR's analysis shows that rolling back coercive union power has undeniable economic benefits as well.

To view the full details of NILRR's report entitled "Right to Work States Benefit From Faster Growth, Higher Real Purchasing Power -- 2009 Update," click here.

After President Barack Obama made numerous promises for a more transparent government, the Department of Labor (DOL) has, for nearly six months, hidden Big Labor insiders Hilda Solis and Deborah Greenfield activities from National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Witnessing the Administration's corrupt Big Labor political paybacks, the Foundation swiftly sprang into action requesting all documents showing exchanges between Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and union bosses and all documentation regarding policy enforcement concerning Big Labor, the pro-compulsory unionism group American Rights at Work, and ACORN.  The Foundation also seeks all documents showing communications between AFL-CIO union lawyer Deborah Greenfield and her former bosses.

Greenfield, a member of Obama's presidential transition team, is a high-ranking official inside Obama’s Labor Department. One item sending red flags is the fact that Greenfield is an AFL-CIO lawyer in a lawsuit challenging DOL union disclosure rules -- the very disclosures that the Obama Administration intends to end.  Greenfield and her fellow union partisans have fought for and succeeded in rolling back union disclosure rules that provide details to rank-and-file workers about the use and misuse of their forced union dues.

Freedom@Work readers may remember that the Foundation filed its disclosure demand (pdf) in April.  Foundation attorneys are now reiterating that demand and gearing up to litigate if necessary.  (To view a pdf copy of the appeal, click here.)

Upon entering office, President Barack Obama claimed his Administration would be transparent -- but his Administration's behavior has failed to keep the President’s word.  The Obama Administration's delay in this particular raises questions that DOL may be attempting to cover up some embarrassing ethics violations.

You can watch the Foundation's video regarding the original FOIA request here on our Youtube.com channel.

For all the talk of "restoring labor standards," the Obama Administration is cutting four million dollars from the Office of Labor and Management Standards' (OLMS) already small budget for 2010 (see page 13 of the budget appendix under "Employment Standards Administration").

Not coincidentally, the OLMS is the branch responsible for policing union corruption and enforcing basic transparency standards. This follows on the heels of several Big Labor-friendly executive orders that can only be described as payback by the Obama Administration for union bosses' political support. After all, who wants oversight when your union bosses allies are involved in all kinds of corrupt schemes? 

Of course, all the disclosure in the world won't fix the much more fundamental problem of forced unionism, but it's telling that, in the process of exploding the size of the federal budget to unprecedented heights, Obama saw his way clear to cut funding for union oversight.

In our latest Right to Work video report, Foundation President Mark Mix discusses how the Foundation is pressing the Obama Administration to disclose its entanglements with Big Labor's top political operatives using the Freedom of Information Act. Click on the video below to watch the whole thing:

Download the National Right to Work Foundation's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request here.

And visit the Right to Work YouTube channel to watch all our videos.

Regular Freedom@Work readers already know that AFL-CIO bosses just spent a week at a luxurious beachfront resort in Miami with VP Biden and Secretary of Labor Solis. Now they want the Department of Labor to rescind simple disclosure guidelines that would help rank-and-file workers learn when they're funding extravagant union getaways. Check out the National Right to Work video with Committee and Foundation President Mark Mix for more information:

The Foundation's press release urging the Department to retain union disclosure regulations can be found here.

The National Right to Work Foundation provides free legal aid to employees so they can fight back against union coercion and abuse.

The Foundation must rely on the voluntary support of individual Americans who believe in our cause and wish to advance our strategic litigation program. To make a fully tax-deductible donation in whatever amount, please click here.

Right to Work Foundation Urges Department of Labor Not to Trash Union Disclosure Rules

Obama Administration seems primed to make it easier for union bosses to hide lucrative perks from rank-and-file workers

Washington, DC (March 9, 2009) – Prompted by a Rahm Emanuel directive on Inauguration Day, the U.S. Department of Labor seems ready to discard new union disclosure rules developed over two years by the previous administration.

In response, the National Right to Work Foundation has submitted comments urging the Department to maintain or strengthen rules aimed at curbing union boss corruption.

In late January, the Department of Labor announced that it was considering changes to recently revised LM-2 disclosure guidelines, which require unions to list the specific compensation – financial or otherwise – of individual union officers and to name all parties involved in any union-related transactions. Unions routinely spend millions of dollars on staff compensation, purchases unrelated to collective bargaining, and lavish perks for top union officials. The disclosure requirements are intended to ensure that dues-paying workers have some idea what they’re paying for . . .

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Click here to read the entire release. The Foundation submitted comments opposing any rescission of existing disclosure regulations, which are available here (.pdf). 

The confirmation of radical unionist Hilda Solis, Democrat congresswoman from Los Angeles, to be Obama's new Secretary of Labor has hit a snag.

While the Senate has approved other Cabinet nominees left and right -- including a Treasury Secretary who has admitted to failing to pay income taxes -- Solis has yet to make it out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Pasadena Star-News has more:

At least one unidentified Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to holdup Solis' confirmation, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, alleged from the Senate floor Thursday.

The anonymous hold -- as the informal delay tactic is known -- essentially prevents the full Senate from voting on Solis' confirmation by threatening a filibuster. It could be lifted at any time.

The hold was placed on the nomination because of Solis' support for legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, the Washington, DC-based Congress Daily reported Friday.

President Obama is asking the Senate -- and the American people -- to approve as Labor Secretary a Congresswoman who chose not to -- or can't -- answer questions about worker freedom, secret ballots, or prevailing wage laws. As we recently wrote, Solis told the HELP Committee that she is "not qualified" to discuss Right to Work.

Solis has made a political career of carrying Big Labor's water -- first in the California legislature and more recently in the U.S. House of Representatives.  She sports a 100 percent lifetime AFL-CIO rating.  In fact, the union bosses hand-picked Solis in 2000 to challenge then-incumbent Congressman Marty Martinez (D-CA) because Martinez "only" voted with Big Labor 80 percent of the time.

Here is what she said at the recent U.S. Senate confirmation hearing in which Solis dodges questions on basic issues any Labor Secretary nominee should be able to address -- issues like card check and Right to Work.  Check out the video below:

We've already told you about the hypocrisy of Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA), President-elect Obama's pick to head the Department of Labor, on the secret ballot, and about how Solis as Secretary of Labor is likely to support cuts to the Office of Labor-Management Standards, which investigates union corruption. On Friday, Solis appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The Ted Kennedy-led committee is presiding over Solis' nomination.

The LA Times has a good rundown of the hearings. Importantly,

Solis also was pressed by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) about preserving "right to work" laws in states such as his that prohibit employers from requiring workers to be members of a union or to pay dues as condition of employment.

But Solis told Alexander she was "not qualified" to give him a response on the issue, except to say that she believed "that the president-elect feels strongly that American workers should have a choice to join or not to join a union. And to me that is the basic premise of our democracy, whether you want to be associated with a group or not."

Empahsis mine.

The incoming Labor Secretary, if she is to be taken at her word, believes that freedom of association is a basic right of American democracy. This is precisely what the Right to Work principle is -- that no worker should be forced to join or pay dues to a union to get or keep a job.

Unfortunately, Right to Work wasn't the only important issue Solis felt "not qualified" or otherwise unable to articulate her own position or that of President-elect Obama. Solis dodged key questions about the secret ballot in workplace unionization drives, mandatory first contract arbitration, the abuse of prevailing wage rules, and union boss corruption.

So what is she qualified to do, exactly? With her vacuousness on full display last Friday, it is increasingly apparent that her main "qualification" to be Secretary of Labor may simply be being good at doing exactly what she's told by union bosses.

The Wall Street Journal has a good editorial up on the incoming Secretary of Labor's skewed enforcement priorities. Key quote (emphasis mine):

From day one of the Obama era, union leaders (sic) want the lights dimmed on how they spend their mandatory member dues. The AFL-CIO's representative on the Obama transition team for Labor is Deborah Greenfield, and we're told her first inspection stop was the Office of Labor-Management Standards, or OLMS, which monitors union compliance with federal law.

Ms. Greenfield declined to comment, citing Obama transition rules, but her mission is clear enough. The AFL-CIO's formal "recommendations" to the Obama team call for the realignment of "the allocation of budgetary resources" from OLMS to other Labor agencies. The Secretary should "temporarily stay all financial reporting regulations that have not gone into effect," and "revise or rescind the onerous and unreasonable new requirements," such as the LM-2 and T-1 reporting forms. The explicit goal is to "restore the Department of Labor to its mission and role of advocating for, protecting and advancing the interests of workers." In other words, while transparency is fine for business, unions are demanding a pass for themselves.

Thank goodness we'll finally get some budget cuts at DOL! After all, union corruption is such a "minor" problem...

Right to Work President Mark Mix discusses Obama's upcoming appointment of forced unionism activist Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor with Neil Cavuto of Fox News:

For more on Solis, here's some background on her career and political views.