HILLSDALE, Mich. -- "Without the disproportionate political muscle of union officials, gained through government-granted coercive power, all our battles against the flood-tide of tax-and-spend, Big Government schemes could be won hands down," declared Reed Larson, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, during a speech at prestigious Hillsdale College.

Larson explained to the students and faculty of Hillsdale -- the only institution of higher learning in the nation funded entirely through private means -- how compulsory unionism provides union bosses with millions of dollars, seized unconstitutionally from workers. This cash is used to advance a Big Government political agenda, which itself results in yet more forced dues for the union kingpins.

"For the union boss, bigger government not only resonates with his own political instincts, but means more actual money in his coffers. So bigger government is what we are getting," Larson said.

Larson devoted part of his speech to a review of the Foundation’s accomplishments in thwarting Big Labor’s anti-freedom agenda. "Although the nation’s labor law remains heavily stacked in favor of the union organizer and against employees, the Foundation is making steady progress in the courts, restoring a measure of balance," Larson said. He cited such landmark Foundation victories as Communications Workers v. Beck, Air Line Pilots Association v. Miller, and International Association of Machinists v. Shea as examples of the difference the Foundation is making.

The Foundation’s president acknowledged that there is still a tough road ahead in the battle against compulsory unionism abuses, as "organized labor’s high command uses its political power to evade and defy these rulings to the fullest extent it can." In fact, union lawyers have used astonishing amounts of employees’ money to fight the Foundation’s cases all the way to the Supreme Court time after time.

In conclusion, Larson warned, "unless we deal with this fundamental injustice, all the valiant efforts to prevent our country from being engulfed in a flood-tide of leftist social engineering are destined to failure."

The full text of Reed Larson’s speech is available on the Foundation’s website at www.ntrw.org or by calling the Foundation toll-free at 1-800-336-3600.