Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason sits down with Reality Check Radio to discuss the history of the Right to Work movement, Card Check, and the Police and Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:

At the annual Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism (CEAFU) conference in Washington, D.C., Right to Work Legislative Director Greg Mourad discussed the state of the card check debate in Congress. Here’s the video:

In the latest of a litany of Big Labor political paybacks, President Barack Obama nominated union lawyer George H. Cohen to Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). 

According to the Peggy Browning Fund’s biography of Cohen, "he joined the National Labor Relations Board in 1960 as an Attorney Advisor for Board Member [Gerald] Brown where he helped shape the progressive, union [boss]… friendly agenda of the ‘Kennedy Board’…  In 1966, George left the Board to begin his 40 year stint as a union-side labor lawyer."

Cohen’s past efforts on behalf of union chiefs clearly indicates that he brings years of forced unionism bias to what is a very coveted position for Big Labor.

Under the mandatory binding arbitration provision in the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill, the FMCS bureaucrats would take over employer/union boss contract negotiations 90 days after a card check forced organizing campaign.  The forced arbitration provision that is triggered at 120 days not only snatches the power of contract negotiations away from the people it actually affects; but it also, as the Wall Street Journal notes, emboldens union bosses "to run out the 120-day clock and let an arbitrator impose a contract that is bound to include much of what unions demand."  The federally-imposed contract would be binding for two years.

If Big Labor’s Card Check Forced Unionism Bill passes, the Cohen-led FMCS would become a defacto rubber stamp for union boss coercion, doing Big Labor’s dirty work during negotiations and empowering them to browbeat employers into forcing more workers into forced-dues-paying union membership.

Obama’s nomination of yet another union hired gun, this time for the vital post of FMCS Director, is just another example in a long list of union stooges who clearly do not have the best interests of independent-minded workers at heart.

As the current economic downturn continues, many states across the nation are starting to find it increasingly difficult to stay afloat after having capitulated to the union bosses’ extortionate demands.  Last week, the Wall Street Journal cited the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) — an anti-compulsory unionism think tank that exposes the harm forced unionism inflicts on workers — when discussing Big Labor’s contribution toward the severe financial difficulties California, New York, and New Jersey are experiencing and the migration of workers leaving these forced-unionism states:

Powerful unions. Mr. Obama believes union power is a ticket to the middle class. The middle class is getting creamed in all three of these "progressive" states, where organized labor is king. The unionized share of the workforce is 20% in California, 19% in New Jersey and 27% in New York compared to 13% across the country. All three are non-right-to-work states, have super-minimum wage requirements and provide among the nation’s most generous public-employee pensions.

Workers in these paradises are indeed uniting — by leaving. New York ranks first, California second and New Jersey third in moving vans leaving the state. A study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research found that over the past decade these and other high-union states (mostly in the Northeast) had one-third the job growth of states with low union penetration.

NILRR recently found an especially strong correlation between a state’s Right to Work status and its job growth, while employees in Right to Work states are benefiting from faster job growth and higher real purchasing power than their compulsory unionism counterparts.

Perhaps it’s also worth revisiting a Wall Street Journal article penned late last year by National Right to Work President Mark Mix, reminding us that a massive expansion in forced unionism power played a key role in making the Great Depression longer and deeper.

Some actions defy explanation (emphasis mine):

Several parents and members of the Leominster School Committee said Monday they are upset that the teachers’ union voted recently to reject a large grant that seeks to increase the number of students in Advanced Placement courses.

"I think it’s a vote against children," School Committee vice chairwoman Donna DiNinno said. "This would have been such a boost for students in our AP and honors program. I am very disappointed."

School Committee member Christopher Orareo said he does not understand how the union could turn down a grant that would have provided the district with $856,000 during a five-year period, when the community is fighting for every penny it can get into the classrooms.

"I’m just astounded this vote has taken place," Orareo said. "Students are the biggest losers in this whole thing. I think it was a selfish vote on the part of the union."

Why were local union bosses so eager to axe a generous grant program that promised more teacher training, more advanced placement courses, and merit pay for high-performing educators?

This latest instance of teacher union obstructionism illustrates one of the many problems with monopoly bargaining. No organization should be able to veto a school’s attempt to secure additional funding, just as no organization should be in a position to prevent talented teachers from aspiring to better pay and more challenging coursework. Why should the union activists dictate public schools’ educational policies and give short shrift to individual teachers who deserve to be rewarded for their merit? 

Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember the plight of Mandy Diasselliss, a Santa Monica-based studio tutor whose career helping child actors stay on top of their studies is threatened by compulsory unionism. The case underscores the reality of the union boss stranglehold in Hollywood.

Union operatives from the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 884 had Diasselliss fired for not joining the union despite the fact she actually tried to become a member (joining is just what you DO in Hollywood), her excellent workplace track record, and the fact that her temporary employment status meant she could not be compelled to join IATSE Local 884 in the first place.

The Foundation’s original unfair labor practice charges challenged this illegality, seeking her immediate reinstatement as well as any back pay owed since her illegal termination.

Foundation attorneys have subsequently amended the unfair labor practice charges, alleging that IATSE operatives also limited access to a union hiring hall to protect existing union members and exclude newer employees (like Diasselliss) from obtaining employment opportunities, even though they would be working under the same union contract. Union members received preferential access to the hiring hall to find work, whereas nonunion employees were denied access to similar opportunities, effectively freezing them out of the local job market.

Unfortunately, this latest development isn’t particularly surprising. As Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason noted in the original press release, “Union bosses in the entertainment industry have routinely ignored federal labor laws in an effort to maintain monopoly control of who is hired and who is fired."Freedom@Work will continue to post updates on the Foundation’s ongoing efforts to challenge this coercive union scheme. 

Be among the first to read the July/August edition of the National Right to Work Foundation’s bimonthly newsletter.

In the latest issue of Foundation Action, you can read about some of the Foundation’s most recent cases defending the victims of compulsory unionism abuses – including our cover story about a Connecticut woman targeted by union militants with a harassment campaign that included the planting of cocaine in her office to get her fired.

She’s not alone in facing union intimidation.  Workers in Phoenix are witnessing first-hand Big Labor’s war on the secret ballot, Teamster union officials tried to fine several Chicago truck drivers more than $200,000 when they refused to abandon their jobs during a so-called "sympathy strike," and a Hollywood studio teacher was illegally fired for not joining a union — even though she actually tried to join and was refused membership.

Click here (PDF) to read their full stories and more about what the National Right to Work Foundation is doing to fight back against forced unionism. You may also subscribe to the newsletter free of charge.

In a troubling, but not unprecedented example of the abuses that come with radical teacher unions, the Associated Press reports that 700 public school teachers in New York City are enjoying full salaries of $70,000 to not teach:

Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that’s what they want to do.

Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.

The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.

With the economy continuing to struggle and local and state governments facing budget shortfalls, the "rubber room" program’s hefty $65 million per year bill to the taxpayers raises serious questions —  even putting aside the institutional problems of a compulsory unionism system that prevents individual teachers from discussing terms of employment with principals and school boards.

Let me see if I understand teacher union bosses’ priorities correctly.  Teachers exercising their right to refrain from union membership?  A fireable offense.  Sexual misconduct?  $70,000 a year and a free place to hang out and play board games. Shameless.

A California union boss is under investigation for soliciting bribes from financial firms who wanted to invest in Big Labor’s pet political projects. 

Sean Harrigan, a former top official with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFWC) union, was also a board member of California’s massive public pension fund (CalPERS). Instead of working to safeguard workers’ pension plans, however, Harrigan used his position to steer lucrative state investments toward financial firms who agreed to contribute to the UFCW’s political programs:

Financial firms showered nearly $1 million in political cash on the United Food and Commercial Workers union in California while a top union leader sat on the boards of big public pension funds in the state, an analysis of campaign finance records shows.

Sean Harrigan [2], the union’s former executive director, is now under scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has charged several firms and individuals with making improper payments to win investments from pension funds in New York and New Mexico.

Harrigan, 62, stepped down from the board of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension [3] system last month in response to the SEC inquiry into his dealings while at the fund. He was appointed to the LA fund in 2005 after serving as a trustee and board president at CalPERS from 1999 through late 2004.

Whoops. Apparently, appointing corrupt union bosses to oversee millions of public dollars is a bad idea. The Sacramento Bee has a helpful list of Harrigan’s greatest hits:

An examination of campaign contribution records, disclosures CalPERS board members file when they have contacts with money managers and documents outlining approved deals show the UFCW campaign fund received contributions from money managers as their deals were being considered by the CalPERS board. 

Among the examples:

• In July 2001, CalPERS closed a $125 million deal with urban developer CIM Group after board members – including Harrigan – initially rejected it.

On March 18, 2003, the board approved up to $280 million with the CIM California Real Estate Fund, supplementing the initial $125 million. Seventeen days later, CIM donated $12,000 to the UFCW union fund, records show.

Harrigan, meanwhile, bought a penthouse apartment at Sky Lofts, one of the CIM projects that CalPERS backed in downtown Los Angeles for $887,500 in 2006, according to property records.

In other words, firms’ investment proposals magically sailed through as long as UFCW bosses got their cut. Adding insult to injury, Harrigan allegedly received a favorable real estate deal from the same firm whose investment fund he’d just approved.

Keep in mind that these are the same union bosses who routinely disburse millions of dollars in compulsory union dues from employees across the country. Harrigan himself was the former Executive Director of the UCFW – do you think he was any more trustworthy with workers’ dues than he was with California’s pension fund? 

The answer, of course, is no. Corruption is endemic to Big Labor’s massive political fundraising apparatus, and this sordid incident of corruption is just one more example why union bosses should not be given the power to force workers to pay dues or be fired.

With all the controversy surrounding card check legislation, it’s worth talking to workers who’ve actually experienced the procedure first-hand. With that in mind, the National Right to Work Foundation interviewed several employees who endured intimidation, harassment and coercion at the hands of union organizers during an actual card check drive. After UAW organizers forced their way into the workplace through the coercive card check scheme, the workers forced a secret ballot decertification vote (using a precedent won by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys) and tossed out the unwanted union.

Here’s the video: