Although surprisingly NOT registered as a lobbyist, SEIU Top Boss Andy Stern is The White House’s most frequent visitor. Union bosses get top billing at high-profile administration events. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’s last job was at Big Labor-front group American Rights at Work. To commemorate the union bosses’ newfound friendliness with top White House politicos, we decided to put together a short video on the Obama Administration relationship with Big Labor:

The Right to Work Foundation continues to work tirelessly to promote greater transparency at the Department of Labor. Unfortunately, the root of the too-close-for-comfort relationship between union bosses and the White House can be traced back to Big Labor’s many government-granted powers. Until we’re able to roll back these union boss privileges, the White House will remain a favored destination for Big Labor bosses. 

At The Daily Caller, the anonymous Anchorman — "a well-known news anchor from a top-10, big-city news station" — brings up an interesting point about his colleagues’ political coverage. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) union "represents" most television network news correspondents and anchors.  That "representation" includes political advocacy, including as the anchorman points out, lobbying efforts on the health care / forced unionization legislation currently pending in Congress.

If that bothers you, you should also know that your “objective” network correspondent, roaming the halls of Congress right now trying to ferret out the “truth,” probably pays hundreds, or even thousands of dollars in union dues to AFTRA every year. He or she, in all likelihood, depends on AFTRA for one of those “Cadillac” health insurance plans that is the subject of so much debate. He or she also will receive a nice little AFTRA pension come retirement time, and perhaps most importantly, will depend on AFTRA to help defend, protect or advise them in any serious conflicts, demotions, firings, or legal issues with management at their TV station or network.

Might this conflict of interest also impact the media’s coverage of the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill?  We’d be surprised if it didn’t affect some reporters’ objectivity  In fact, here’s the kind of analysis of that bill you won’t see on the nightly news.

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.