When the Volvo strike that we’ve covered heavily over the past week came to an end Saturday, one non-striking Volvo employee reports that she received an anonymous "congratulatory" phone call late that night.

When the employee answered the phone, the caller reported the tally of the vote to end the strike and reportedly said:

"Congratulations, you f***ing scab!"

It’s because of such hostility that the National Right to Work Foundation again acted on behalf of employees in the area today, seeking information about employee reports that police refused to protect them from union vandalism and harassment.

In case you missed it yesterday, the National Right to Work Foundation is asking for an investigation into reports from employees that local police may have turned a blind eye to union harassment of non-striking workers at Volvo in Pulaski County, Virginia.

Meanwhile, employees continue to contact us with stories of what’s been going on during the strike. Some employees report that in addtion to what has already been reported, they believe that union operatives have stalked them, collected their license plate numbers, and slashed their tires.

Again, employees seeking free legal aid can contact the Foundation toll-free at (800) 336-3600.

(Photo by Larry Middleton)

More reports of alleged union inimidation of employees during a strike at Volvo near Roanoke, Virginia, are pouring out today, including a news story by WDBJ-TV. The video report also shows a makeshift coffin put up outside the union hall with an arrow pointing into it and reading "All Scabs Welcome Here."

The report also quotes several employees:

"I expected them to call me a scab. I expected that," says Volvo worker Dreama Dominguez. "What I didn’t expect was some of the men that I sorta admired, thought they were descent people, to grope themselves as I drove by."

The employees go on to detail reports we cited yesterday about a broken car window, nails in their driveways, and sugar in a gas tank.

"It scared me but the more I thought about it, it made me angry and if I had to walk over those nails to get into work I would have done it," says Dominguez.

All these brave employees did was show up to work. Sadly, while this situation has gained some attention, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research says that the vast majority of instances of union violence (including both physical and property damage) go unprosecuted.

Think that union intimidation is a thing of the past? You might think again.

WSLS-TV out of Roanoke, Virginia, shows in a video report that nonunion Volvo employees in the Roanoke, Virginia, area claim they’re being singled out for continuing to work during a United Auto Workers union-ordered strike.

Multiple reports of nails in employees’ driveways, sugar in the gas tank of a car, "scab live here" signs in their yards, and a broken window of one of a worker’s car have surfaced. One worker also reported being followed home after work.

While the local UAW union head says "I don’t know if it did happen or didn’t happen…" it’s a disgrace if employees are being singled out simply for going to work.

Any employee wanting to know their rights should immediately contact the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation toll-free at 1-800-336-3600 or email legal@nrtw.org.

Speaking of "card check," a Washington State University student is calling out the United Auto Workers union on its recent use of a deceptive "card check" drive to forcibly unionize academic student employees. The student writes:

Several students were led to believe they were signing to get
information or support exploring the efficacy of students unionizing.
With a sense of urgency and high pressure tactics, many students filled
out cards.

In addition to noting that students would be forced to pay dues if the UAW was installed, the student adds:

We find it insulting to our intelligence and levels of educational
achievement to mislead, misrepresent and misinform us to gain student
support.

As Karen Mayhew, a National Right to Work Foundation-aided employee from Portland, Oregon, told Congress last year:

…union abuses of a wide variety are the rule in ‘card check’ campaigns, not the exception.

All the more reason that employees should be aware of their rights during a "card check" drive.

A group of Dana Corporation employees from Albion, Indiana, recently fought their way free of the unwanted United Auto Workers union capitalizing on a ruling won by the National Right to Work Foundation.

Leaders of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe are up in arms because Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America union officials filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a representation election of their casino security personnel only to pull the plug at the last minute.

Meanwhile, SPFPA officials told The Morning Sun that they never had any intention of going through with the election:

"…the union simply wanted to get the list of names and addresses of
the casino security and surveillance personnel the union hopes to
organize."

Tribe representatives called the move a "manipulation" of the system, point out that two previous organizing attempts have failed, and question the NLRB’s jurisdiction over their employees in the first place.

Most likely, collecting employees’ personal information is geared at pressuring them individually to support unionization through a potential "card check" drive. Sadly, this situation shows that many times, when employees reject unionization, it’s just the beginning.

Columnist Thomas Sowell points out in an op-ed today the harmful effects of bad economic policies on job creation in "rust belt" states:

In short, the rust belts have been killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

He concludes:

Jobs are always disappearing. The big question is why they are
not being replaced by new jobs. Rust belt policies that drove out old
jobs also keep out new jobs.

Chief among these harmful policies is compulsory unionism. According to a National Institute for Labor Relations Research fact sheet, Right to Work states outperform forced unionism states, which include all of the rust belt, on a litany of economic growth indicators.

Most notably, with regard to job growth, non-farm private sector job growth in Right to Work states nearly doubled that of forced unionism states between 1996-2006. NILRR also notes that Real Personal Income growth also was nearly double in Right to Work states between 2001-2006.

Sounds like the golden goose has fled for greener pastures.

The internal drumbeat against SEIU chief Andy Stern for seeking the union’s "growth at any cost" is only growing louder, as articles in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal bear out.

The Times article in particular shows how union officials often sell out workers’ interests in exchange for a "card check" deal from an employer that will give them a toe hold in the workplace, and eventually the ability to compel dues from employees:

Michael Torres, a respiratory therapist at U.S.C. University Hospital
in Los Angeles, part of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation, said Mr.
Stern’s approach had hurt Tenet employees. He complained that union
leaders had sought to make a deal that called for not pushing for
pensions or retiree health coverage; in exchange Tenet would not fight
unionization of 23 facilities in Florida.

No wonder the dissention is reaching a fever pitch, with the group even running ads, brought to our attention by a reader, on the pro-forced unionism Daily Kos site decrying "top-down leadership."

Following up on forced dues for foster parents in Washington State, another op-ed in the Seattle P-I this week says that the California Legislature wants to "unionize Grandma." The article states:

A bill pending in the Senate would create a union to organize family
members who provide child care for their kin and are paid by the state
so that mothers can work outside the home.

Furthermore:

Child-care providers who did not want to join the union would still
have to pay fees — likely in the same amount as the union dues.

Most disturbingly, this extension of compulsory unionism is part of a broader trend:

The move in California is part of a nationwide strategy by SEIU and the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Since
2005, governors in eight states have issued executive orders or taken
other action giving family child-care providers the right to unionize
and bargain as a group.

And in all of those states without a Right to Work law, those care providers must pay union dues. What a tell tale sign that this is all about the money that union officials must stoop to compelling payment of union dues from people taking care of their own families.