Right to Work President Mark Mix issued a statement commemorating Labor Day and warning of looming Big Labor power grabs. You can listen to the statement using the embedded player below, download an .mp3 recording here, or read the statement here.
Over the Labor Day weekend, columns by National Right to Work president Mark Mix appeared in newspapers across the country and online exposing Big Labor's power grabs and coercive practices over American workers.
In Investor's Business Daily Mix highlighted the extremism and ethics problems of Craig Becker, the Service Employee International Union's (SEIU) inside man at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB):
In the face of bipartisan opposition, Obama bypassed Congress and installed Becker at the NLRB through a recess appointment. Now that he's established at the head of an agency responsible for overseeing American labor law, Becker is poised to expand Big Labor's privileges even further.
Faced with apparent conflicts of interests brought to light by the National Right to Work Foundation, Becker quickly downplayed any connection to the SEIU, his longtime employer. Despite crafting legal strategies on behalf of that union for much of his career, Becker refused to recuse himself from several NLRB cases involving the SEIU's local affiliates.
Despite his relatively brief tenure, Becker's biases are already evident. In one recent case, Becker wrote that the board should consider waiving rules that require union bosses to provide workers with independently audited breakdowns of union expenditures.
On National Review Online, Mix outlined union militants' stealth to bypass Congress to implement radical changes to labor law that grant new special privileges to union bosses at the expense of hardworking Americans:
By cramming the NLRB full of forced-unionism operatives, Obama has successfully laid the groundwork for a stealthy push to undermine the rights of American workers. The NLRB’s administrative agenda and electronic-voting schemes now threaten to undo much of the hard work that went into defeating card-check legislation.
Some doubt that such sweeping changes could be enacted without congressional approval, but we’ve already seen Big Labor’s strategy in action. The National Mediation Board (NMB), a federal agency that governs airline and railway employees, has just enacted a far-reaching rule change that allows for workplace unionization without the consent of a true majority of employees.
Mix exposed Big Labor's plot to monopolize government-sector workers in the Washington Times:
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.
Government union bosses' success in expanding the ranks of employees under their monopoly bargaining power - even as private-sector and nonunion government payrolls have shrunk - spells trouble for the future of the American economy. Our country simply must reverse the long-term trend in which the growth of government-union employment far exceeds that of private-sector employment in good and bad times alike.
Otherwise, American taxpayers and businesses are destined to face ever-more-onerous tax burdens to pay for bigger and bigger government in the decades to come.
Finally, in local newspapers nationwide including the Duluth News Tribune, Mix warned that no worker is safe from the union moguls' designs:
Take Major Stephen Godin, a retired Marine who has instructed ROTC in Worcester, MA, for 15 years. Major Godin’s dedicated service to his country and his students deserves our respect and gratitude.
But three months ago, Massachusetts Teachers Association union officials threatened his dismissal for not paying union dues, even though he is not a member of the union. Because Massachusetts lacks a Right to Work law making union association strictly voluntary, nonmembers can be forced to pay some fees to a union as a condition of employment.
Public outcry prompted the governor to exempt ROTC instructors from forced-dues requirements, but other teachers across the state still labor under compulsory unionism.
Mark Mix also appeared on nationally syndicated and local radio shows coast-to-coast.
National Right to Work Committee Vice President Doug Stafford discussed the importance of employee freedom on The Frank Beckman Show this Labor Day. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below.
Experts from the National Right to Work Foundation and Right to Work Committee took to the airwaves and opinion pages across America to remind us what Labor Day is really about — the individual worker.
Mark Mix, president of National Right to Work, reminded Americans that "It's 'Labor' Day, Not 'Union' Day" in his nationally published op-ed which appeared in over 20 newspapers across the country. In his article, Mix offers a stouthearted rebuke to the usual union boss propaganda which has become commonplace on Labor Day:
This Labor Day, big labor bosses will dish out their usual Labor Day propaganda about how awful our lives would supposedly be without them. The reality is that millions of workers and indeed our economy are continuing to suffer greatly under the scourge of compulsory unionism.
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Labor Day should be about honoring the hardworking Americans who make our country’s economy prosper — not union bosses who rely on forced unionism privileges for personal and political gain.
Mark Mix also took to the airwaves, appearing on The Dom Giordano Show, The Martha Zoller Show, and the national CBS radio network. He also appeared on WFTL Morning News the morning after Labor Day. Meanwhile, Mix's Labor Day statement was aired on at least 10 radio stations in Right-to-Work states and forced-unionism states alike.
Mix was also published in the Detroit Newsdiscussing how union boss monopoly bargaining is bankrupting Detroit’s public schools -- pointing out the reality that "[t]he Detroit school district would be much better off if state legislators and [Michigan] Gov. Jennifer Granholm repealed or dramatically rolled back state policies promoting union monopoly bargaining in public schools."
Mix also was published on National Review Onlineexposing the stunning resemblance forced unionism has to the launching of President Barack Obama's political career:
Why is Obama so comfortable with this coercive approach to workplace organizing? Perhaps because his political career was launched under similar circumstances. Few remember it now, but Obama’s electoral debut came in 1996, when he won a seat in the Illinois state legislature. “Won” is a bit of a misnomer, however, as candidate Obama ruthlessly eliminated his opponents by disqualifying signatures collected for ballot eligibility.
As former National Review political reporter David Freddoso detailed in his 2008 book on Obama, voters’ signatures were thrown out for a variety of spurious reasons, including one woman’s failure to list her married name instead of her maiden name. Other voters were struck from the lists for printing instead of signing their names on the eligibility petitions. Obama not only had his main opponent disqualified, he also succeeded in forcing a protest candidate off the ballot. Obama has personally admitted he felt “uncomfortable” with this hardball political tactic, but success has evidently allayed any guilt. After his opponents were disqualified, Obama won a seat in the state legislature by default.
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In 1996, Obama’s team of political operatives succeeded in bypassing an entire election. President Obama now seeks to end elections in every workplace in the country. He has already issued a series of executive orders designed to pressure government contractors to submit to compulsory unionism. Next up on the administration’s checklist: rolling back basic union financial-disclosure guidelines. Forced unionism via card check may not be far behind.
Under card check, employees would have only one choice: submit to unionization and forced union dues. As some Chicago voters discovered in 1996, having only one choice is not a real choice at all.
The National Right to Work Committee also capitalized on the Labor Day holiday to spread the message of individual liberty. Committee Vice President Doug Stafford appeared on the Lars Larson Show on the lead up to Labor Day. Stafford also sat down with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to talk of the dangers of card check forced unionism and Big Labor's political muscle.
The effort for workplace freedom continues. National Right to Work will continue to expose the evils of compulsory unionism as we work toward a day in which no American if forced to be a member of, or pay tribute to, an unwanted union.
National Right to Work President Mark Mix has a column appearing in newspapers across the country in which he explains that this Labor Day, as union bosses attempt to amass more and more power over American workers, it's important to remember what the holiday is really about.
Labor Day is a celebration of the efforts of America’s workers. However, the celebration is hollow for millions of American workers because of compulsory unionism.
Throughout the United States, over 12 million workers labor under contracts that require them to be a member of, or financially support, a union as a condition of employment.
Additionally, millions of more workers are required by law to accept union bosses’ so-called “representation,” thereby losing the right to negotiate their own employment terms.
Big Labor thrives on this system of government-granted special privileges based on coercion. Compulsory unionism makes union bosses more unaccountable to rank-and-file workers, as their financial support is absolutely mandatory.
This arrangement breeds union boss corruption, extravagance, and abuse.
Despite the “feel-good” rhetoric about standing up for workers’ rights, union bosses commonly target independent-minded workers who stand up to them and exercise their individual rights. Such retaliation often takes the form of harassment, firings, and even violence.
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This Labor Day, big labor bosses will dish out their usual Labor Day propaganda about how awful our lives would supposedly be without them. The reality is that millions of workers and indeed our economy are continuing to suffer greatly under the scourge of compulsory unionism.
Yet, there are signs that folks are realizing the truth: cooperation is a healthy alternative to compulsion and is the best way to enhance individual liberty while achieving economic progress and raising workers’ living standards.
Labor Day should be about honoring the hardworking Americans who make our country’s economy prosper — not union bosses who rely on forced unionism privileges for personal and political gain.
On behalf of the Foundation, I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. While I hope everyone enjoys their day off, now seems like an appropriate time to flag Foundation President Mark Mix's statement commemorating the occasion. Here's an excerpt:
“Meanwhile, many workers feel they have little choice but to pay for organized labor’s billion-dollar 2008 election campaign, and many workers are unaware of their right to object. That’s why the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is providing free legal aid to thousands of employees nationwide seeking to get their money back. In fact, in October Foundation attorneys will argue their fourteenth case accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court – a case which defends the right of workers to refuse to pay for union activism using their mandatory union dues.
“This Labor Day, we commend those courageous American workers who are standing up to union intimidation, harassment, and even violence as they defend their cherished freedoms of conscience, speech, and association. And we work toward the day when no American is forced to pay tribute to an unwanted union.”
Read the rest of the statement (and download it as an Mp3) here or simply play the YouTube below from the Foundation's YouTube channel:
Right to Work President Mark Mix is scheduled to make a national TV appearance on "Your World W/Neil Cavuto" on the Fox News Channel shortly after 4:00 Eastern today. He will be discussing union political involvement and the abuses many workers aided by National Right to Work face at the hands of union officials. UPDATE: Watch Mark's appearance below, note that no union official came forward to defend denying America's workers a true choice.
Here are just some of the op-eds from National Right to Work out there today on Labor Day 2007.
Mark Mix has a piece in the Washington Times about the Police and Fire Fighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill. Mark also writes today in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram about the Foundation's latest efforts to protect workers from compulsory unionism in the Lone Star State. He also has pieces in the Great Falls Tribune about a Montana Right to Work law, in the Detroit Free Press about a Michigan Right to Work law (scroll down), and the Rochester Post Bulletin on the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill.
Meanwhile, Stefan Gleason writes on National Review Online about the National Labor Relations Board failing America's workers.
