NRTW Podcast, Episode 3 – What’s This Whole “Card Check” Thing REALLY About?

Vice President Stefan Gleason sits down with Foundation Staff Attorney Glenn Taubman to discuss the ugly realities of coercive card-check organizing drives and Big Labor's efforts to make this process for unionization mandatory; Listen here:

Teacher Union Bosses Turn America’s Public Schools into Campaign Zones

Big Labor's big money boys are pulling out all the stops to get the presidential candidate of their choice elected. Across the country, teacher union bosses have been pushing their preferred political causes and candidates and the result is the disturbing politicization of the classroom. Today, the Washington Times reported that union brass of the Virginia Education Association Union (VEA), an affiliate of the National Education Association Union (NEA), sent an e-mail to Virginia teachers which:

After Carrying Union Lawyers’ Water, Bush’s Solicitor General is Humiliated by a Rare Supreme Court Rebuff

In an extremely rare move, the United States Supreme Court today has smacked down (.pdf) the U.S. Solicitor General after he tried to force his way into the October 6 oral arguments in the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation's upcoming Locke v. Karass case involving forced union dues.

NEA Bigwig Owes Teachers an Apology

Considering the record electioneering by Big Labor in 2008, it should be no surprise that union bosses were well-represented at this week's convention. NEA President Reg Weaver was one of the many union officials awarded for his union's political expenditures with a prime speaking slot. Larry Sand, a teacher for 27 years and former NEA member, sent Weaver an e-mail after listening to a gross misrepresentation of reality in Weaver's DNC speech:

National Right to Work at the US Supreme Court: Locke v. Karass

On February 19, 2008 the United States Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys for a group of twenty Maine state employees objecting to the misuse of their compulsory union dues. The case, Daniel Locke et al. v. Edward Karass et al., will directly address whether non-union employees can be forced to pay for litigation activities far removed from their workplaces. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling may provide much-needed clarity to the criteria it had previously established that determine what union activities employees can be lawfully forced to fund. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation news releases about Locke:

Employee Rights Group Seeks Federal Criminal Investigation into SEIU Union’s Political Fundraising

Washington, DC (July 17, 2008) – The National Right to Work Foundation has formally requested that the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Justice open investigations into a campaign fundraising scheme adopted by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at its recent convention. After reviewing a new amendment to the SEIU constitution, Foundation staff attorneys have concluded that the union and its officers may be violating federal labor law and the Federal Election Campaign Act by imposing financial penalties on local affiliates who fail to meet Political Action Committee (PAC) fundraising targets.

Pension Fund Mismanagement Highlights SEIU Corruption

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal had a great editorial up on the hypocrisy of SEIU leadership. Andy Stern and his cronies are more intent than ever on blackmailing unwilling companies into forcing SEIU "representation" on their employees through a series of vicious corporate campaigns:

Quick Hits — June 10, 2008

A few Right to Work-related updates from around the Internet: 1.) Over at "The Next Right," blogger Soren Dayton has an interesting post up about the implications for Right to Work if a union stooge wins the White House. Money quote: This vision is about coercively moving more and more Americans into political organizations which use their precious financial resources in a way that they neither control nor even understand. The entry also offers a compelling indictment of the SEIU's reliance on "card check" organizing drives. Check out the rest of the post here.

Gary Davenport – Fighting for Freedom of Speech at the U.S. Supreme Court

Juan Vielma – “I work to get paid; I don’t pay to work.”