Last week, AFL-CIO union czar Richard Trumka (download the Foundation’s Fact Sheet on his history of condoning union violence and corruption) made headlines by predicting that the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill will pass in early 2010.  The heated debate over the health care overhaul legislation has kept the public eye off this other union boss power grab for a few months, but Trumka’s prediction makes it clear Big Labor’s high command haven’t forgotten about their highest priority.

The Card Check Forced Unionism Bill would effectively eliminate workers’ right to a secret ballot in workplace unionization drives and replace it with overt union intimidation:

Under the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill, the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that refer to the secret ballot election would be rendered a dead letter, even though they are not technically stricken from federal law.

Big Labor spin artists can claim all they want that the workers can still “choose” to have a secret ballot election, but there simply is no way by which workers can force union bosses to file for a secret ballot election — and it is union bosses, not workers, who are in possession of the cards.  Reporters who repeat this union boss talking point owe their readers a correction.

Read the full analysis here.  Union bosses prefer card check instant organizing because it puts all of the power in their hands — free from the meddling interference of government election supervisors and the workers themselves.

Fortunately, we already know what card check campaigns look like.  Unfortunately, we only know this because hardworking Americans have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, and coercion by union bosses to get them to sign cards.  In the video below, Dana Corporation employees in Albion, Indiana, shared their stories with the National Right to Work Committee.

The National Right to Work Committee warns to beware of any bogus compromises under the guise of protecting the secret ballot.  One of the most dangerous aspect of the “compromise” talks is the lack of focus on the other toxic provision of the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill: mandatory binding arbitration.

Under the bill, workers won’t just lose the right to a secret ballot when deciding whether or not to form a union.  Even those who choose to join a union’s ranks may see their voting rights severely limited, as mandatory binding arbitration would allow government bureaucrats to impose contracts on workers.  That means union members may not even be able to vote to ratify their contracts: Whatever the government says… goes.

Even Far Left icon George McGovern knows this is a terrible idea.   And as Reason Foundation analyst Shikha Dalmia detailed in the Wall Street Journal, states’ experiments with mandatory binding arbitration and public sector unions have led to atrocious results — including out of control budgets and fiscal mismanagement.

Recently, Right to Work Vice President Stefan Gleason appeared on the Frank Beckmann Show to discuss the Foundation’s efforts to fight union discrimination against religious employees. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:

You can also listen to the Foundation’s podcast via iTunes or manually subscribe to the feed.

Right to Work President Mark Mix explains how forced unionism at the Transportation Security Administration threatens to undermine national security:

Pro-Right to Work Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has a post up on RedState explaining how monopoly bargaining for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees could interfere with the agency’s ability to effectively respond to threats.

DeMint points out that union monopoly control of border patrol agents, and the wasteful and inefficient rules preferred by the union bosses, has made it difficult for the government to discipline, reassign, or terminate employees.

To best protect our national security, the government must have the resources to remove egregious offenders from the positions and allocate resources as efficiently as possible.  DeMint outlines how monopoly bargaining for TSA agents could weaken our national security:

• Requiring TSA to get union bosses’ permission before implementing security and workforce changes. If the unions decided the changes were too burdensome on their employees, weeks or months of negotiations could ensue, causing unacceptable delays in implementing new safety protocols.
• Requiring TSA managers to promote based on seniority, not merit, and making it more difficult to discipline failing employees.
• Requiring TSA to share sensitive intelligence information to third parties during negotiations with union bosses, making future leaks of classified material more likely.

“Lets keep our focus at TSA on security, not politics,” DeMint concludes.

Read the full post here. And don’t forget, along with the important policy concerns raised by the Senator, union monopoly bargaining powers represent a fundamental violation of the rights (pdf) of all individual employees, TSA agent, or anyone else.

FEC Fails to Investigate Teachers’ Complaint of NEA Union Money Laundering Scheme

Employee rights advocate weighs federal lawsuit

Washington, DC (January 5, 2010) – Apparently without conducting a field investigation, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed a complaint against one of the most politically active unions in America after evidence surfaced that union officials deposited illegally laundered dues money into its political action committee (PAC).

Citing in part lack of sufficient funding to enforce the law, the FEC junked a complaint filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and two Alabama teachers who discovered a union scheme to divert convention reimbursements into the National Education Association (NEA) union’s PAC.

When attending the NEA’s 2004 national convention, Daphne Middle School science department chair Claire Waites was deceived into supporting the NEA’s PAC and was determined that it would not happen again. However, Waites and Assistant Principal Dr. Jeanne Fox, both members of the Baldwin County Education Association (BCEA), Alabama Education Association (AEA), and NEA unions, discovered the practice continues.

Click here to read the full release.

One of the earliest supporters of the Right to Work cause was Hollywood producer Cecil B. DeMille. Over 60 years ago, Cecil B. DeMille took a courageous stand (pdf, page 4) against the forced dues demands of American Federation of Radio Artists union officials, resulting in his being fired from his $100,000 per year job and banned for life from working in radio and television.

For the rest of his illustrious life, DeMille fought tirelessly for the Right to Work principle and against the brute forces of union boss tyranny.  DeMille used his talents to film public appeals on behalf of the Right to Work.  In 1948, DeMille even spoke before Congress in favor of Right to Work legislation (as this recent article from Mises.org reminds us):

The Declaration of Independence specified “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as inalienable rights. The Constitution goes further. The Bill of Rights mentions freedom of speech, press, assembly, worship, and other rights which the state may not invade.

But neither the Declaration nor the Constitution pretends to exhaust the list of man’s God-given and inalienable rights.

One of the most fundamental of those rights is the right to work. I submit that the time has come for Congress to declare it to be the public policy of the United States that every individual should have the right to work, when he pleases, where he pleases, for himself or for whoever wants to hire him — and that the full protection of the government should be put behind this right to work.

Need I point out how basic the right to work is? It is the same as the right to life, for it is by work that men live. Deny the right to work, and you have cut off the right to life.

…

What privilege — I would prefer to say what right — could be more essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness than the right of a man to earn bread for himself and his family — the right to work?

Yet in practice, as this committee knows, the right to work has been violated in a multitude of instances, of which my own case — denial of the right to work because I refused to pay a political assessment to a union — is only one.

What is the reason for this strange inconsistency — for the fact that a clearly established constitutional right has been and can be challenged with impunity?

One reason may be that the courts have never been given a clear mandate by federal law to protect the right to work absolutely and at all events. In fact, nowhere in federal statute law is the positive right to work stated in unqualified terms.

…

[Romanian communist and foreign minister] Ana Pauker will not allow my pictures to be seen on the screens of Rumania because I disagree with her politically.

The American Federation of Radio Artists will not allow my voice to be heard over the microphones of America because I would not pay a political assessment.

I see a pattern there — a pattern that can mean slavery for free men everywhere if it is not broken.

Other Hollywood notables who have given public endorsements of the Right to Work principle include singer Pat Boone and the late Charlton Heston, who served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild union from 1965 to 1971.

And despite Hollywood’s forced union advocates’ continuing support for union boss coercion and intimidation, courageous Hollywood entertainers, crew members, and other entertainment industry professionals continue the principled fight of DeMille, Boone, and Heston to this day.