28 Jun 2010

Legal Aid Foundation Submits Brief Opposing Union Boss Monopoly Bargaining Power over TSA Employees

Posted in News Releases

Washington, DC (June 28, 2010) – The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to employees across the country, has submitted an amicus curiae brief urging the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to oppose two petitions that could force Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees into union ranks. If granted, the petitions would allow monopoly bargaining privileges for union officials seeking to organize TSA employees.

In late May, a FLRA Regional Director ruled that American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and National Treasury Employees (NTE) union operatives could not organize TSA workers, but union lawyers appealed the decision to the FLRA proper. According to Foundation attorneys, the unions’ arguments would leave workers vulnerable to aggressive union organizers and possibly compromise national security.

The Foundation’s brief argues that the FLRA has no authority to dictate the TSA’s labor relations, noting that the Administrator of the TSA has jurisdiction over TSA employees and previously refused to grant union organizers monopoly bargaining privileges.

Foundation attorneys also argue that subjecting TSA workers to union monopoly bargaining could compromise national security by risking union-instigated strikes and undermining security procedures with time-consuming union work rules. The TSA’s ability to tailor its response to rapidly-emerging threats could suffer if administrative flexibility is hamstrung by bloated union bureaucracies.

Moreover, the Foundation’s brief notes that extending monopoly bargaining privileges to union organizers constitutes a serious breach of TSA employees’ rights. Under monopoly bargaining, if union organizers acquire or coerce support from a bare majority of TSA employees, they can then dictate terms and conditions of employment to all workers in a given bargaining unit, including those who oppose unionization.

“Despite obvious risks to both national security and workers’ rights, Big Labor is intent on forcibly organizing TSA employees,” said Patrick Semmens, Director of Legal Information at the National Right to Work Foundation. “We hope the FLRA will have the sense to reject this attempt to further extend Big Labor’s monopoly bargaining privileges.”

28 Jun 2010

July/August 2010 Foundation Action Now Available Online

Posted in Blog

The July/August 2010 issue of Foundation Action is now available for download as a PDF. This is the Foundation’s official bimonthly publication that provides an excellent overview of hard-hitting legal actions being taken by Foundation attorneys every day to combat forced unionism.

This issue’s top story details Delta Air Lines July/August Foundation   
Actionemployees’ legal challenge to Obama Administration appointees’ scheme to push railway and airline  workers into forced union ranks.

Also in this issue:

  • Union Bosses Illegally Threaten Workers with Termination
  • Avoid Stock Market Uncertainty with a Charitable Gift Annuity
  • Workers Take Stand Against Teamster Union Boss Intimidation
  • The Detroit News: Michigan Will Benefit with Workplace Choice

In addition to to reading Foundation Action online, you can sign up to receive a free subscription by mail here.

 

24 Jun 2010

National Review on the Police/Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill: “This bill is bad policy and bad politics”

Posted in Blog

Here’s a must-read editorial from National Review on Big Labor’s Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill:

Lacking the evolutionary finesse that keeps most parasites from killing their host organisms, the American labor movement has driven the private firms that once employed its members offshore or into bankruptcy. Consequently, the only growth market remaining for the union movement is government: More union members today are employed by government than by the private sector. The union bosses, being neither blind nor stupid, see the advantages of sitting on both sides of the negotiating table, and their influence on politics has been predictably baleful. Unfortunately for those who would curtail their influence, they enjoy a steady stream of cash, expropriated from the paychecks of their members, and a ready supply of foot soldiers available for get-out-the-vote and rent-a-mob duties.

That’s a problem for conservatives. One of the more dynamic Republican leaders in the country, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, is battening down his political hatches for the hurricane of union abuse headed his way in response to his sober efforts to get his state’s finances in order. It is going to be ugly, with the unions employing the same tactics they used to derail the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger. So why in the name of Barry Goldwater would a single Republican, much less a half-dozen senators, support extending the influence of the people who made New Jersey New Jersey? The Senate Republicans supporting the bill include not only the usual practitioners of Me-Tooism — the Maine ladies, Lisa Murkowski — but also Scott Brown of Massachusetts and New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg. (What, no Lindsey Graham?) It would be cheaper and better for the country if these Republicans would just go ahead and make a direct donation to the Democratic National Committee, an act to which supporting this bill is equivalent. If Sen. Mike Johanns really wants to turn Lincoln, Neb., into Trenton on the Prairie, let him confine his efforts to his own state and leave the other 49 to go their own way.

Click here to read the whole thing. For more editorials opposing this terrible piece of legislation, check out our earlier blog post on the groundswell of public opposition to expanding Big Labor’s control over public safety employees.

24 Jun 2010

NEWS RELEASE: Legal Aid Foundation Files Comments Opposing NLRB “Electronic Voting” Scheme for Union Organizing Drives

Posted in News Releases

‘Card Check-lite’ proposal would undermine the integrity of workplace elections and push more employees into Big Labor’s forced dues-paying ranks

Washington, DC (June 23, 2010) – The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to employees across the country, has submitted comments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing any attempt to implement “electronic voting” in union organizing drives. The Foundation’s comments detail how electronic voting poses major risks to the integrity of unionization elections and threatens to reproduce the problems of coercive “card check” organizing drives.

In early June, the National Labor Relations Board requested information on the feasibility of electronic voting during unionization drives. Drawing on National Right to Work attorneys’ experience representing thousands of employees, Foundation Legal Director Ray LaJeunesse, Jr., responded by citing numerous concerns about the reliability of electronic ballots and the potential for intimidation or harassment of employees who submit ballots remotely . . .

Click here to read more

23 Jun 2010

Legal Aid Foundation Files Comments Opposing NLRB “Electronic Voting” Scheme for Union Organizing Drives

Posted in News Releases

Washington, DC (June 23, 2010) – The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to employees across the country, has submitted comments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing any attempt to implement “electronic voting” in union organizing drives. The Foundation’s comments detail how electronic voting poses major risks to the integrity of unionization elections and threatens to reproduce the problems of coercive “card check” organizing drives.

In early June, the National Labor Relations Board requested information on the feasibility of electronic voting during unionization drives. Drawing on National Right to Work attorneys’ experience representing thousands of employees, Foundation Legal Director Ray LaJeunesse, Jr., responded by citing numerous concerns about the reliability of electronic ballots and the potential for intimidation or harassment of employees who submit ballots remotely.

The Foundation’s comments note that under an electronic voting scheme, it would be even easier for workers to be threatened, coerced or bribed by aggressive union organizers with access to portable electronic devices like laptops or cell phones. Compared to an NLRB-supervised unionization election, the potential for abuse during a union organizing drive conducted via electronic voting is clearly higher.

The Foundation’s comments also note that remote voting would make it difficult to verify the identity of workers submitting electronic ballots, opening the door to voter fraud and abuse. Moreover, electronically-submitted votes could be monitored or altered by hackers or system administrators, leaving workers vulnerable to retaliation and vote-stealing after they’ve submitted their ballots.

“Although their efforts to bypass the secret ballot through coercive card check legislation have stalled, Big Labor could be handed another tool to undermine workplace elections if the NLRB moves to adopt electronic voting,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Much like card check organizing, electronic voting leaves the door open to coercion and identity theft, and will be used by aggressive union organizers to impose forced unionism on more workers.”

22 Jun 2010

Right to Work Podcast: National Right to Work President Warns of Impending Public Safety Union Boss Power Grab

Posted in Blog

National Right to Work President Mark Mix discusses the consequences of the Police/Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill on Richmond, Virginia’s Jimmy Barrett Show. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:

As always, you can also listen to the Foundation’s podcast via iTunes or manually subscribe to the feed.  

21 Jun 2010

Newspapers Across the Country Weigh in Against a Federal Police & Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Mandate

Posted in Blog

From the Washington Post on down, magazines and newspapers across the country are editorializing against the Police and Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill, a Big Labor power grab that would shove thousands of public safety employees into union collectives and usurp state and local laws across the country.

Here’s Right to Work President Mark Mix in the Richmond Times Dispatch:

With Reid and his Big Labor allies in Congress in full payback mode, Sen. Jim Webb’s and Sen. Mark Warner’s votes could easily determine the fate of Virginia’s public safety workers.

If passed, the Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill could turn over police and firefighters of local governments to union-boss control by federal mandate. It overrides the laws of at least 25 states, including states like Virginia that have a complete ban on granting union officials bargaining privileges for public-sector employees.


The Virginian-Pilot also editorialized against the bill:

After retreating from one misguided intrusion into labor law, congressional Democrats are mustering another clumsy campaign to appease their union donors.

Much like the failed card-check legislation, the latest initiative is an unnecessary federal interference with employment matters. If adopted, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act would require state and local governments to engage in collective bargaining with police officers, deputies, firefighters and emergency medical workers over wages and work conditions.

As did the Charleston Daily Mail:

Really, members of Congress are shameless sometimes. Unions are huge contributors to Democratic campaign coffers, and they expect favors in return.

This is one that members of Congress should not grant. There is absolutely no justification for the federal government overcalling state-developed law on collective bargaining.

The Denver Post:

Reid’s measure would require that public safety workers be given collective bargaining rights without voter approval. The Colorado Municipal League, which opposes the measure, points out that the federal mandate would instantly affect thousands of employees and Colorado taxpayers at every level.

We agree. Brushing away the current structure not only tramples on local control, it could result in higher budgets at a time tax revenue is down and local governments are struggling.

The National League of Cities also opposes this legislation, as it would override the laws of 19 states other than Colorado. NLC lobbyist Neil Bomberg tells us the measure could arrive in the form of an amendment to small-business legislation or as a free-standing bill on the Senate floor next week.


And the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

EDITORIAL:
A sop to Big Labor

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to sneak through Congress the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, a deceptively named sop to Big Labor that would federalize the unionization process for local police, firefighters, corrections officers and first responders.

Finally, here’s a scathing editorial from Investors Business Daily:

While a boon to unions, this law would seriously damage our federalist system by taking away a large measure of local control over police and firefighters unions and lead to higher costs to local governments and taxpayers, costs that neither will be able to affect at the ballot box. 


And some related commentary from National Review:

Organized labor — increasingly dominated by public-sector workers — sees this as compensation for the failure of their card-check effort. The losers in this scenario will be taxpayers.

We can only hope that elected officials take note of the near-unanimous level of public opposition to this terrible idea.

UPDATE: Yet more editorials against the Police/Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill from the San Francisco Examiner, Watertown Daily Times, Charleston Post and Courier, Newport Daily Press, and the Silver City Sun-News.

21 Jun 2010

Right to Work on the Radio: Beware the Police/Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill

Posted in TV & Radio

National Right to Work Legislative Director Dmitri Kesari appeared on the Lars Larson show to discuss Big Labor’s latest effort to push the Police/Firefighters Monopoly Bargaining Bill into law. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:

As always, you can also listen to the Foundation’s podcast via iTunes or manually subscribe to the feed.   

17 Jun 2010

Even Big Labor Apologists Can’t Stomach Mandating Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining by Federal Fiat

Posted in Blog

Many Freedom@Work readers are already following the latest Big Labor offensive on Capitol Hill. Under the guise of protecting our first responders, pro-forced unionism politicians are attempting to ram home the Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill.

This legislation would force states to adopt monopoly union bargaining for all police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians. Not only would this bill push unwilling public safety employees into Big Labor’s forced dues-paying ranks, it would also usurp the right of state and local governments to determine if their employees unionize.

In fact, this power grab is so egregious that even the often pro-Big Labor Washington Post has taken notice. Here’s the Post’s blistering editorial against the bill:

What this bill would do is impose a permanent, one-size-fits-all federal solution in an area — public-sector labor relations — that has traditionally been left to the states, and where state flexibility is probably more necessary than ever. The imposition on Virginia would be dramatic, of course, but even union-friendly Maryland, which lets each county decide whether and how to bargain with its employees, might find itself in costly, time-consuming contention with the feds. Farther afield, Colorado’s "fire protection districts," special units of government dedicated to providing that service, would face costly collective bargaining even where firefighters and management are working harmoniously without it.

We share the bill sponsors’ esteem for first responders. They should be adequately, even generously, compensated. Still, many outsized pensions now threatening state and local governments were awarded by politicians to curry favor with public-safety unions. To be sure, the bill includes acompromise provision assuring states that they don’t have to bargain over pensions. But it hardly matters. The bill further empowers an already strong lobby that could use its additional clout to pressure state legislators to allow pension-bargaining anyway — or to enact such benefits by statute. This bill is a bad idea whose time, we hope, has still not come.

Read the whole thing here. And remember, if Big Labor sympathizers at the Washington Post are astounded by this unpopular bill, imagine how bad it must be for the rest of us. 

15 Jun 2010

Foundation Files Formal Comments Opposing Obama Executive Order Implementing Pro-Big Labor Double Standard

Posted in Blog

It will come as no surprise to those following the Obama Administration’s labor policy that another  executive order threatens to advance union bosses’ interests at the expense of employers and employees alike. Executive Order 13494 implements a blatant double-standard for federal contractors who are subjected to union organizing drives. The order prohibits contractors from using any federal money to inform employees about the facts of union organizing.

Although this might sound relatively unobjectionable, the new directive reveals itself as a payoff to Big Labor by allowing contractors to write off expenses related to union monopoly bargaining, including company subsidies for union shop stewards and union committees.

This order creates a huge financial incentive for contractors to roll over to coercive union organizing drives, safe in the knowledge that they’ll be able to pass on many union-related expenses to the government (we the people). Meanwhile, employer efforts to truthfully inform employees about the downsides of unionization cannot be reimbursed under this discriminatory directive. In other words, this policy effectively forces taxpayers to subsidize union activities. 

Naturally, the National Right to Work Foundation has filed formal comments with the Administration opposing this latest Big Labor-friendly directive. Unfortunately, this executive order is yet another example of the Obama White House’s fealty to Big Labor bosses, who helped ensure its loyalty by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to elect Obama in 2008.