After only three months without the ability to automatically deduct dues from workers’ paychecks, Transit Workers Union officials are in court asking that one of their many special privileges be restored. They lost the ability to automatically deduct dues after TWU bosses illegally ordered a strike in December 2005 that crippled New York City.

According TWU’s own newsletter, without the automatic dues deduction, less than half of the over 30,000 workers have paid their dues in full, including four union officials who have been prosecuted by the TWU International, for their failure to pay up. Demonstrating that when given the choice, rank-and-file employees (and even, apparently some union bosses) don’t find the union’s “services” valuable enough to warrant their hard earned money.

Another so-called "paycheck protection" campaign finance regulation has been struck down in federal court. (A similar law has been struck down in Utah.)

As noted by former Federal Election Commission chair Brad Smith in The Washington Times in the wake of the Right to Work Foundation’s defensive victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, such regulations are both bad policy and bad politics.

The Sacramento Bee says that the 87,000 member SEIU Local 1000 behemoth faces an internal battle in one of its bargaining units over forcing employees to pay dues.

If they are successful, the "fair share" employees, who are not union members but are required to pay fees every month for representation services they receive from SEIU 1000, won’t have to pay the money anymore.

"Fair share" is a euphemism union officials use when they mean forced union dues. Not only that, but it is doubly offensive to employees since not every one of them necessarily wants to be subject to or benefits from union monopoly barganining.

With the specter of forced union dues looming over child care providers in Maryland, some providers worry it could hurt those at the very bottom.

"My understanding of the union is that they would automatically take out of our Purchase of Care vouchers as union dues," Sarecia Powers, child care provider in the Cresaptown area, said. "Having to pay what might be an astronomical amount of dues might make providers consider signing on families based upon being paid privately, where the provider gets everything they are being paid. You could have providers turning down Purchase of Care families, and they are the families that need it most. If they can’t find care, it will have a domino effect."

While Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley proclaimed Friday that "no one should be forced to join a union," his is one of 28 states without a Right to Work law where employees can be fired if they refuse to pay union dues.

Currently in Congress, Big Labor politicians are pushing a bill that would strip thousands of police, firefighters and other public-safety employees of their right to negotiate contracts with their local city and state governments for themselves. The bill would federally impose monopoly bargaining onto the state and local government employees, instead of the current system under which each city determines whether or not to impose monopoly bargaining.

But in addition to eliminating the public-safety officers’ right to negotiate for themselves, the bill also helps put these employees’ lives at greater risk, as evidenced by a recent incident in Boston where such monopoly bargaining is already law:

There are a lot of troubling questions regarding the reported autopsy results showing alcohol and cocaine in the blood of two Boston firefighters killed in August…

The results of the autopsies, which are not considered public documents, reportedly show that Cahill, a father of three, had a blood alcohol content of .27, more than three times the legal limit for driving.

Payne’s autopsy showed traces of cocaine in his blood, but it is unclear what the amounts were or how long before his death he ingested the drug.

Boston, like many other fire departments, does not have mandatory random drug testing because of collective bargaining agreements. That’s not to say that the tests would have found the men impaired, but the threat of testing would be a way to reduce the possibility.

[Emphasis added.]

Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 91 is no stranger when it comes to using threats, coercion and intimidation on the picket line.

But despite court appearances, federal investigations and even beatings throughout the 1990s, Local 91 union officials have brought out their newest scare-tactic weapon…a 10-ft inflatable rat, paid for in full with $4,000 of union dues, much of which is taken from workers as a condition of employment.

(Photo by Charles Lewis/Buffalo News)

The rat, union officials claim, is a peaceful message to workers who choose not to toe the union line.

According to The Buffalo News, most agree that the giant rat planted outside a Holiday Inn at a Niagara Falls construction site is a not-so-subtle sign of some of this LIUNA Local’s violent past. The giant rat is inflated for about four hours every morning, and during that time, Local 91 picketers intimidate truck drivers entering the site.

In fact, one Local 91 operative, Michael Godzisz, even tried to justify the intimidation:

The picketing laborers also stop construction vehicles as they enter the site but do so for only three of five minutes at a time, he said.

And the union local’s business manager supported the bullying tactic:

“We can’t hold them up, and if we keep walking they can’t run us over,” said Rob Connolly, Local 91’s business manager. “After about five minutes, we let them go out of courtesy.” [Emphasis added]

Despite LIUNA Local 91’s claim to reform and anger management control, the use of the giant rat is just another type of terror used to intimidate those employees who refuse to walk off the job. In fact, other locals have used the rat trap up and down the east coast.

But giving truckers a “courtesy” to get through the picket line leaves you questioning: what exactly happens after the five minute window is up”

And while union officials bemoan recent NLRB decisions, consider this:

According to an analysis by Jones Day attorney G. Roger King, prepared for the American Bar Association, from 1994 to 2001 the Clinton NLRB overturned 60 long-standing cases, throwing a jaw-dropping 1,181 years of combined precedent out the window.

The NLRB hasn’t even come close to this during the Bush years. And with three vacancies at the five member Board at the end of this year, the window of opportunity for the agency to make further strides for employee rights is rapidly closing.

AFL-CIO head honcho John Sweeney and SEIU chief Andy Stern both chimed in about last week’s victory on behalf of employees by Right to Work attorneys. Sweeney cites a previous NLRB decision calling coercive card check unionization drives "a favored element of national policy."

What a joke. As previously cited, the Board in this decision cited:

“Card checks are less reliable because they lack secrecy and procedural safeguards… union card-solicitation campaigns have been accompanied by misinformation… workers sometimes sign union authorization cards…to get the person off their back.”

Stern, however, gets one thing right when he says:

"The NLRB has become a caricature of itself, and as a nation, we should be embarrassed by governing bodies that fail to consider even the most basic needs and rights of workers.”

How true. The NLRB has failed America’s workers in many other Foundation cases. Here are just a few.

If you haven’t already, take a look at this site that shows a unique take on the employees that the National Right to Work Foundation helps.

This page, called “Employee Profiles” highlights just a few of the courageous employees who have stood up against compulsory unionism abuse with the Foundation’s help. The interactive site gives a brief look at their stories and experiences, along with personal quotes, pictures and news.

You may find 16-Year-Old Danielle Cookson’s story inspiring, as she stood up against union bosses who were threatening her job. Or, former history teacher Gary Davenport’s Supreme Court fight might provide some insight on your First Amendment rights and union officials using forced dues for politics.

The 10 brave individuals featured on the site, who have boldly stood up to defend their rights in the face of union coercion, have provided hope for those workers throughout the nation who believe in the principle that no American should be forced to join or pay dues to a union.

More profiles will be added to this site soon.

As is normally the case when union officials fear losing a secret ballot election, the UAW walked away from an election at Toledo Hospital.

Perhaps hospital employees have been paying attention to the uphill battle that nurses at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo have faced in ridding their workplace of the unwanted union.

In the run up to that election, in charges that were settled after Right to Work attorneys came to the nurses’ aid, the NLRB agreed to prosecute the UAW union for bullying dissenting nurses including “following, surrounding, and impeding access to employees." The complaint also cited that in one instance a union operative physically “struck a clipboard containing the petition” from one of the nurse’s hands.

Adding insult to injury, these same nurses must still pay dues to the UAW union as a condition of employment since Ohio is not a Right to Work state.