How blue-collar America went red.  Ever since the start of the Industrial Revolution and burgeoning technology, the blue-collar worker in America has been marginalized, forgotten, and talked down to.  Our political class hasn't been sympathetic in the least to their plight.  Remember Joe the Plumber?  Recall the coal miners who were told their jobs would vanish but were reassured that they could become coders?  And let's not forget the COVID lockdowns, during which we were lectured about the virtues of working from home.  How can a tradesman or service worker work remotely?  Perhaps most galling was the narrative that blue-collar workers needed to work harder to pay off the debts of white-collar workers under the guise of student loan relief.  Even when they went to their trade unions, they didn't get sympathy.  Worried that your manufacturing job was going to disappear due to new E.V. mandates?  Too bad — shut up and pay your dues, so we can shovel your money to politicians and causes that you don't support or that aren't in your personal interest.

Union leaders endanger the jobs of their members.  Just this year, Boeing workers went on strike.  They managed to shut down production for weeks as they held out for a long-term contract.  It may not even matter.  Boeing is bleeding out, having lost $6 billion in the last three months.  Bankruptcy is "a higher possibility today than it was six months ago or a year ago," one analyst says.  The strike didn't help.  The company may not exist in four years to pay its workers.  So, who really benefits from labor strikes?  Union leaders.  Remember the brief strike by East Coast dockworkers?  That was a great victory for workers, right?  Even though they endangered the American economy, they got a nice raise out of the deal.  However, it is their representatives who break the bank without breaking their backs.

Labor unions are turning into roach motels for generations of workers.  [I]f you're stuck in a union, the odds are you probably didn't vote for that union to be there — someone employed by the company years ago voted for them based on different circumstances, but you have to live with the consequences as an employee of a company with a union stuck onto them like a barnacle.  Only five percent of workers throughout the entire private sector voted for the union that supposedly represents them.  Everyone else is their hostage, paying the extorted union dues whether they like or not, as a sort of ransom, yet never, ever, getting released.

Unions Are Not the Way to Help Workers.  Broadly speaking, one can put government interventions to address poverty or inequality into two categories.  First, there is direct redistribution.  Government simply takes money from one group and gives it to another.  Classic welfare programs fit into this category, as do things like unemployment benefits and the child tax credit.  Second, there are attempts to interfere directly in the market.  Instead of letting businesses and individuals do what they want and using the tax system to redistribute wealth, governments may try to not let income and wealth gaps get so large in the first place by regulating the behavior of individuals and firms.  Policies in this category include price controls and price floors, licensing requirements, limits on working hours, and, of course, mandatory bargaining with labor unions.  One can disagree on the extent to which government should try to help the poor or reduce inequality.  But no matter where you come down on this question, direct redistribution is preferable to interfering with the market.

Union Leaders Back Away from Joe Biden as Donald Trump Courts Union Workers.  Leaders of labor unions are reportedly backing away from President Joe Biden, suggesting they want another Democrat candidate in his place.  Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), are actively courting support from union workers who are increasingly out of line with the Democrat Party's upper-middle-class leftism.  On Friday, leaders with Local 3000 of the United Food and Commercial Workers of Washington publicly demanded Biden quit his reelection bid.

To understand the craziest Democrat policies, always follow the money.  Why do scientists just repeat that the science is "settled" on climate change?  Follow the money.  Scientists get their funds cut off if they tell the truth that the climate has changed cyclically and naturally.  Why did the media and other Democrats shut people up on COVID and do what teachers unions want?  Again, follow the money.  The got federal funds for endorsing their positions, despite the harm their positions were doing to the economy and to schoolchildren.  They sure didn't care about science or the kids.  Why don't Democrats and the media care that Biden dictatorially and unconstitutionally pays off student loans that go to rewarding universities that push leftist policies?  [Advertisement]  Follow the money again.  Why don't Democrats get rid of racist prevailing wage laws that have oppressed taxpayers and minorities for almost 100 years?  [Advertisement]  Follow the money.  The money flows to unions and the union money flows back to Democrats.

Trump's Powerful Pitch to Teamster Leaders:  Listen to Your Members, Ditch the Democrats.  President Joe Biden has spent most of the past few months acting as if the biggest re-election priority was shoring up support from the intersectional Left-wing base of the Democratic Party.  But this week, he's taking a break from efforts to try to appease Hamas sympathizers who have been bashing him for giving too much support to Israel since the Oct. 7 massacres and focusing on a far more important problem: the working-class voters who are abandoning the Democrats for former President Donald Trump.  But while he's likely to get a warm reception when he meets with the leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the man who likes to tout himself as "the most pro-labor president in U.S. history" knows that there is one reason the powerful union may hesitate to endorse him:  the opinions of their members.

Michigan Takes a U-Turn Back to the Rust Belt.  No state in modern times has transitioned from a worker freedom state to one that forces workers to join a union and pay dues to labor bosses.  All the momentum across the country in the last two decades has been in the opposite direction:  allowing workers the right to choose a union — or not.  That's why what happened last week in Lansing, Michigan, is such a tragic setback for workers' rights and for the economic competitiveness of the state where Henry Ford rolled off the assembly lines the iconic Model T some 100 years ago.  Thanks to a corrupt deal between the labor bosses, the Democratic state legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan will no longer be a right-to-work state.  Is Whitmer intentionally TRYING to lose jobs in Michigan?  Amazing how short the memories are in Lansing.  Starting in the 1970s, Motown, which for decades had been the very symbol of America's industrial might, collapsed into the symbol of the American "Rust Belt."  Closed-down factories turned Flint and Dearborn into virtual ghost towns.  From the 1970s to the early 2000s, Detroit crumbled into poverty.  Whole neighborhoods were bulldozed, drug dealers were seemingly at every street corner, and homes were selling for less than $10,000 as the jobs disappeared and so did the families.

Unions have outlived their purpose.  Union greed and power has replaced rational demands and an unhealthy manufacturing environment has supplanted common sense[.]  These various conditions have ballooned as doors fly off planes, auto quality has allowed foreign manufacturers to replace significant domestic sales and America's reliance upon our adversaries has reached serious national security levels[.]  Add to this, Joe Biden's crippling, insane and arrogant border policies and America's continued decline is a foregone conclusion.

Teacher's Assistant Sues Union, School District for Illegally Withholding Dues From Her Paycheck.  An Ohio teacher's assistant who helps special needs students is suing her school district and former union because the district withheld union dues from her paycheck even after she left the union and formally asked it to cease taking her money.  "Using the coercion of government to take money from a government employee and give it to a union without the employee's consent is not only egregious, but the Supreme Court has held that it's unconstitutional," Jeffrey Schwab, a senior counsel at Liberty Justice Center who represents the Ohio teacher's assistant, told The Daily Signal in a written statement Monday.  Denise Cogar, an educational associate at Perry High School in Perry Village (35 miles northeast of Cleveland), had been a member of the union, Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 367, since 2001.  Cogar sent a formal notice rescinding her union membership on Nov. 18, 2022.

Reaching out to union members.  There are few if any grievance groups more wedded to the Democrat Party than unions.  The Democrats may have once been the "party of the working man," but today unions are a destructive force for workers and America.  Union "management" are just leftist apparatchiks serving Democrat Party interests, as such they will never be convinced that serving the party is not in their self-interest, because it is.  Union "members" on the other hand, who have long been directed to vote according to their union's recommendations need to understand that their continued support of Democrat politicians and initiatives works against their long-term self-interest.  While they may derive near-term benefits (increased pay and/or benefits), the long-term survival of their industries is in peril. [...] Unions, by their support of predominantly left-wing causes, are as destructive a force as any within our body politic.  Management benefits from this association.  Stop voting for your own demise.

Biden's labor board wants to trap workers in unions they oppose.  Big Labor bosses have a problem:  Despite their vitriolic rhetoric and a small number of loud online activists, most workers want nothing to do with unions.  A Gallup poll released last Labor Day spotlighted the issue:  A strong majority of nonunion workers in the U.S. (58 percent) say they are "not interested at all" in joining a union, whereas just 11 percent say they are "extremely interested."  Since it takes a majority of workers in a given workplace to support a union before monopoly union representation can be imposed, union organizers face a basic math problem — one that explains why only 6 percent of private-sector workers are unionized today.  Yet rather than consider ways of making unionization more attractive to rank-and-file workers, politically-connected union bosses have a different plan:  Rig the rules to force more workers into their ranks, willing or not.

White House Hits Panic Button on Big Labor.  There was a time when labor unions played a useful role in America.  Unions did good things by arguing for improved workplace safety, reasonable working hours and better wages during the formative years of the Industrial Revolution.  But 19th century steel mill furnace operators and exploited children in garment factories had slightly different concerns than web developers, engineers and people in other occupations today.  It seems the necessity of unions is disintegrating. [...] Given the communist underpinnings of the 20th century American labor movement, this sort of coercion and violence isn't terribly shocking.  That, combined with the continually evolving nature of industry and the workplace, likely accounts for the fact that union membership in the United States has been cut in half since 1983.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 10.1% of working Americans now belong to a union.

Communism and the Labor Movement.  Communist activists took a strong interest in American trade unions from the 1920s through the 1950s and played an important role in shaping the nature of the American union movement.  Initial communist trade union activism drew upon radical labor traditions that preceded the formation of the American Communist Party (CPUSA).  Early communist trade unionists experimented with different types of structures to organize unorganized workers.  They also struggled with international communist factionalism.  Communist trade unionists were most effective during the Great Depression and World War II.  In those years, communist activists helped build the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and bring industrial unionism to previously unorganized workers.  Throughout the history of communist involvement in the US labor movement, international communist policy guided general organizing strategies.

SCOTUS to unions, 8-1: You break it, you bought it.  Alternate headline:  Pottery Barn rules apply to walkouts.  In an 8-1 decision in which only Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson fully dissented, the Supreme Court ruled today that unions have to reimburse employers for damages caused by striking workers.  The National Labor Relations Act does not confer immunity to unions or workers — the latest ruling from a court that has stiffened the boundaries for labor activities in the last few years:  ["]The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that federal labor law did not protect a union from potential liability for damage that arose during a strike, and that a state court should resolve questions of liability.  The majority found that if accusations by an employer are true, actions during a strike by a local Teamsters union were not even arguably protected by federal law because the union took 'affirmative steps to endanger' the employer's property 'rather than reasonable precautions to mitigate that risk.'["]

Have unions finally figured out that the Green movement is a jobs killer?  Could it be that union bosses are finally waking up to the cold reality that the greatest threat to steel workers, the United Auto Workers, miners, machinists and the Teamsters is the radical climate change agenda of the environmentalists?  The green movement has taken the Democratic Party hostage — and President Joe Biden's all-in embrace of far-left green policies is wreaking havoc on rank-and-file union jobs.  The United Auto Workers recently announced it would withhold its endorsement of Biden as he runs for a second term.  "The federal government is pouring billions into the electric vehicle transition, with no strings attached and no commitment to workers," UAW President Shawn Fain recently declared.  "The EV transition is at serious risk of becoming a race to the bottom" for America's workers.  My only question:  Why did it take five years to figure this out?

Florida Bill Would Make Government Unions More Transparent [and] Accountable.  Republican lawmakers in the Florida Legislature acted quickly to leverage its supermajority in both chambers to curtail the influence of Big Labor over the state's public sector workforce and its impact on municipal, county, and state government. [...] The "Paycheck Protection Bill" includes language that would, among other things:
  •   prevent the state from deducting dues on behalf of unions from public employees' paychecks, forcing unions to do their own billing and collections;
  •   require audits of unions representing public employees;
  •   require union membership cards to include wording echoing the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 ruling in Janus v.  AFSCME, which recognized the right of public employees to decline union membership, dues, and fees with no loss of representation or benefits; and,
  •   perhaps most significantly, the bill establishes a new threshold and closes some unintended loopholes in a 2018 law that forces certification elections in situations where more than half of the bargaining unit has refused to support the union.  These elections allow all employees who are represented by the union an opportunity to vote on whether the union will be allowed to continue representing them.

Force Workers to Pay Fees to Big Labor for Making Them 'Worse Off?'.  Because the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) empowers union bosses to represent workers who don't want a union, Big Labor apologists contend, union bosses must also be legally empowered to force these captive workers to pay union dues or fees.  Otherwise, the workers who wish to remain union-free will get a so-called "free ride."  Ever since Right to Work let rank-and-file employees escape compulsory union membership and forced dues payment beginning in the 1940s, this non sequitur has been the mainstay argument of union officials and other opponents of voluntary unionism.  To justify their opposition to Right to Work laws prohibiting the termination of employees for refusal to join or pay dues to an unwanted union, union officials and their allies invoke, again and again, Section 9(a) of the NLRA and an analogous provision in the federal Railway Labor Act (RLA).

Union workers voting against their own self-interest.  Unions, as with many other disparate, "intersectional" groups, have for years been a consistent voting bloc for the Democrat Party. [...] According to polling firm Statista, exit polling of the 2020 Presidential Election showed 57% of households with a union member versus 40% of households without a union member voting for Joe Biden versus Donald Trump.  How's that workin out for ya?  Are you better off than you were two years ago?  For that matter, are you better off (as a union member) than you were 50-60 years ago?  While it is hard to imagine any segment of the population voting for Democrats given their disastrous domestic, economic and foreign policies, that union members continue to vote for Democrats is mind-boggling.  While a case could be made that union 'leaders', who like all elite segments of the populace benefit from Dem support, that blue, white, and pink collar 'workers' would still consider voting against their own self-interest doesn't make sense.  Democrats are hell-bent on destroying just about every industry in the country.

Policing in Democrat cities: Don't say we didn't warn you.  Democrats have defunded their police departments, elected or appointed weak prosecutors, abolished pre-trial confinement for violent criminals, legalized drugs, weakened sentencing laws, and released violent criminals early from prison.  Police unions have become typical left-wing unions that constantly demand more pay and benefits for police instead of advocating for better laws and policies to reduce crime and enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement while preserving constitutional rights.  Many local and national police unions actually support left-wing Democrats, who enact policies that put police officers at risk, enable criminals, and endanger public safety.  Police departments in big cities are adopting an unofficial "react after the crime" policy instead of being proactive and trying to prevent crimes from occurring.  All too frequently now, police officers in many jurisdictions hesitate to enter a situation involving a high risk of injury, death, or use of deadly force to accomplish their mission to uphold and defend the Constitution and protect citizens' lives.

Southwest flight attendant wins $5.1 million after she was fired for complaining that union supported abortion.  A former Southwest Airlines flight attendant who was fired after sparring with her union president over abortion won a $5.3 million jury verdict against the airline and the union Thursday [7/14/2022].  A jury in a Dallas federal district court handed down the verdict, ruling Charlene Carter had been fired for her religious stance on abortion, which she shared to social media, and that her termination was in violation of her right to advocate against her union.  If it stands, Carter could collect $4.15 million from Southwest and $950,000 from Local 556 of the Transport Workers Union, mostly in punitive damages.

Biden's big union bailout.  A generation ago, labor unions actually tried to represent the financial interests of workers.  For all their other faults, they at least focused on higher wages, better working conditions, and tight labor markets for their members.  That era is long gone.  Now, labor unions' top issues include "racial justice," "climate change," and "immigration reform."  This is one reason why the percentage of workers in unions has dropped from a high of 33% to a low of 10.5% today.  Unions have become just another institution captured by progressive elites who are completely out of touch with what working families actually want.

Why most Americans no longer honor unions on Labor Day.  [Scroll down]  Today, Labor Day is largely an occasion for sales, end-of-summer cookouts and back-to-school preparations.  Why?  Because the movement has become as irrelevant to most Americans as the medieval guilds that preceded it — and all too often a protector of privileges rather than a force for the oppressed.  In 1954, more than one in three American workers was a union member.  Today, it's barely over 6 percent of private-sector workers — but, in a huge shift, more than a third of public-sector workers (nearly 35 percent).  Indeed, more than half of all union members today work for government: 7.2 million, vs. 7.1 million in the private sector, a figure that includes a lot of "quasi-public" jobs in sectors like health care.  Yet even as pro-union a president as Franklin Delano Roosevelt — who did more than any other chief executive to extend organized labor's reach — was sure that unions had no place in government service.

Workers deserve a national 'right-to-work' law.  The "right to work" principle is simple:  No worker should be forced to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job.  Twenty-seven states have right-to-work laws, five of which were passed in the last nine years.  In 2018, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark Janus decision, which declared it unconstitutional to force government workers to pay union dues or fees, giving right-to-work protections to every public-sector worker.  Unfortunately, that still leaves millions of private-sector workers trapped under forced unionism in the 23 states that haven't passed right-to-work laws.

How Unions Could Save America.  More than a century ago, the need for unions was more obvious.  The industrial revolution had spawned a manufacturing economy where there were no protections for workers.  Adults and children worked long hours in appalling conditions.  The emergence of unions in those years was a necessary reaction.  Unions played a vital role in securing the rights that workers today take for granted.  While it's much easier today to adhere to pure free-market orthodoxy, the reality is that America is a mixed economy.  The debate over how much government and how many regulations are appropriate is better served by recognizing that neither extreme — pure libertarian capitalism or pure state communism — is a desirable outcome.  Unions in America today come in many varieties.  Public-sector unions, which elect the politicians who supposedly manage them, and live on the taxes we pay, may be more problematic than private-sector unions.  But in either case, it would be a mistake for right-of-center political movements to not consider many of their members as potential allies.

Biden Wants More Unionization, but Do American Workers?  As part of his "Build Back Better" agenda, President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week intended to boost auto manufacturing in the U.S.  The order plans to inject $3 billion into the U.S. auto industry to ensure that one-in-two new cars sold in 2030 are zero-emission vehicles, and to "grow good-paying, union jobs at home."  In reality, this order is a gift to union leaders at a time when more and more workers are turning away from union representation.  Executives from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis N.V., as well as the president of United Auto Workers, Ray Curry, were invited to the White House as Biden announced the new executive order.  Ironically, Tesla — whose Model 3 is the top selling electric vehicle in the world — was not invited to the event.  Tesla has production facilities in California, Nevada, New York, and Texas, and seems like the perfect company to attend.  Coincidentally, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis N.V. have unionized workers, while Tesla does not.

Richard Trumka, Dead.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka rose to power in combination with President Obama.  Trumka became president of the AFL-CIO at the same time President Obama took office in January 2009.  The Chicago machine organized a pact between the revolutionary communists (RevCom) and labor unions in 2007; specifically to assist the installation of Obama in the 2008 presidential election.  The AFL-CIO (Nicholas), SEIU (Andy Stern), UFCW, UAW and AFSCME labor unions all agreed to assemble their foot-soldiers in common cause.  That union army defeated Hillary Clinton in a brutal 2008 presidential primary.  The communists won.  The rest is history.

It Cannot Be That Liberals Are Wrong About Everything.  The only thing that matters in America right now is that liberals got everything wrong.  And they can't believe it.  They won't believe it.  They dare not believe it.  When was the last time a New York Times writer said that the trouble with the labor and pro-union legislation of the 1930s is that it led directly to the overpriced manufacturing union labor of the 1970s?  In the long run, it Made Things Worse for the white working-class that, experts agree, is now "dying of despair."

Are We Seeing a Cultural Realignment?  Republicans are now unquestionably the party of the working man.  Labor unions continue to back the Democrats, but their members are definitely switching sides — and the election results prove it.  After decades of losing jobs to bad trade deals negotiated by their so-called advocates, they're realizing that they were played for patsies.  Trump gave them a glimpse of what was possible with an "America First" ideology — and they like it.

Supreme Court rules against labor in private property case, barring access for organizing.  In a blow to organized labor, a divided Supreme Court ruled in favor of two California fruit farmers on Wednesday who said union organizing on their orchards represented an unconstitutional taking of private property.  At issue in the case was a 1975 California law that permits union organizers to access farms 120 days a year during non-work hours to meet with employees.  The farmers said the intrusion represented a taking that violated the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on the government seizing private property "without just compensation."  Six conservative justices agreed with that reasoning while the court's three liberal justices dissented.

'Stop Paying Your Union Dues': Trump Questions Why Union Behind Keystone Pipeline Backed Biden.  Former President Donald Trump said the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters (UA) are jobless due to President Joe Biden ending the Keystone XL Pipeline construction.  The former president issued a statement Friday [6/11/2021] that the UA should vote Biden out of office and stop paying their union dues, despite endorsing his presidential run in 2020.  Keystone would have built roughly two thousand miles of pipeline and carry 8,000 barrels of oil from Canada to Texas.  Biden issued an executive order in January to revoke a permit for the Keystone Pipeline's construction.  Following this, the Canadian company TC Energy announced that they are terminating the project Wednesday, CNN reported.  "The union representing the great workers building the Keystone XL Pipeline endorsed Biden.  Now, their [the UA's] workers have no jobs and the pipeline, which was well under construction (like the Southern Border Wall), has been shut down, with thousands of jobs lost and the company announcing yesterday that they are 'permanently pulling out,'" Trump said.

[The] Steelworker Union That Endorsed Biden [is] Now Begging Him Not To End Trump's Tariff On Foreign Steel.  Donald Trump was one of the best American presidents in years for workers and labor.  Protecting the interests of American workers and bringing jobs back to America was at the very center of his campaign and presidency.  In spire [sic] of this, the nation's largest steelworker union decided to endorse Biden in 2020 for some reason.  Now the very same union is begging Biden to keep Trump's tariff on foreign steel in place.

Labor Union's Endorsement for Biden Comes Back to Bite Them.  I have no sympathy.  You voted for this, guys.  This is the country you wanted.  You wanted Joe Biden to overhaul the economic agenda.  No more mean tweets, but now there's rising inflation, anemic jobs growth, a border crisis, and a war brewing in the Middle East.  Russia has become aggressive again, and China is getting more handsy with Taiwan.  But there are no more mean tweets.  For those in the steel industry, they're pleading with Biden to keep the tariffs established under Donald Trump intact.

COVID-19 tests unions' ability to deliver votes, manpower, money to Democrats.  As president of Unite Here International, Donald "D." Taylor watched helplessly as the coronavirus outbreak put 98 percent of his union out of work.  Before the pandemic, Unite Here was growing by leaps and bounds, and its political clout with it.  The union's Nevada chapter parlayed its 60,000 casino workers into a hot streak of Democratic electoral wins in recent years, taking control of the governor's mansion and the state Legislature, plus a pair of U.S. senators.  But with 80 percent of his 307,000 members in the hard-hit hospitality and entertainment sectors still out of work and not paying dues, Taylor had to lay off organizers and force early retirements — cuts that local chapters have emulated.

'Sleepy Joe' Appears to Use Teleprompter to Answer Scripted Questions During AFL-CIO Zoom Event.  During a virtual event with AFL-CIO members Monday night [9/7/2020], a seemingly exhausted and befuddled Joe Biden appeared to ask his staff to "move up" a teleprompter before he could answer a question.  The request came right after a barista named Rebecca Vedrine asked the Democrat presidential nominee what his administration planned to do to help 60 million non-union workers vote for union jobs.  "What would you do to help give them that chance?" Vedrine asked.  "Move it up here," the sleepy-looking Biden ordered his staff.  After a long pause, he began a long and highly detailed answer:

Has COVID-19 taken public-employee unions out of the 2020 election?  No dues, no Democrats?  By this time in a presidential election cycle, public-employee unions would deploy cash and personnel in force to organize for the Democratic ticket.  Groups like AFSCME and SEIU would blanket airwaves, and their members would march and door-knock constantly to turn out the vote — especially in urban cores where their strength is greatest.  This year, however, PEUs have much fewer resources in both cash and manpower, Roll Call reports.  And that might have a big impact on elections all the way down the ballot.

Dem unions planning strikes over social justice, just in time for the election.  [Scroll down]  So which unions are speaking up in favor of a shutdown of business and more workers being out on the streets?  The gang's all here, with the usual suspects who always show up when the Democrats need cash or a larger megaphone.  The list includes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and affiliates of the National Education Association (the teachers' unions).  These are the fattest cash cows funding the Democratic Party, but it looks like now they're willing to do more than simply pour money into the DNC's coffers.

Long Island taxpayers face $2.1B in costs for severance benefits going to public employees.  Long Island taxpayers will bear the burden of paying about $2.1 billion in severance benefits to police officers, teachers, and public employees who have high salaries, according to a recent analysis.  Long Island's two counties, Nassau and Suffolk, have long struggled with paying these severance benefits, even before the pandemic plunged multiple sources of revenue.  A Newsday report tabulated that each county currently owes half a billion dollars in severance obligations.  From 2008 to 2018, the two counties' total employee benefit and police salary costs increased by about $670 million.

West Virginia Supreme Court Decision Could Lead to National Right to Work.  Unions may have gotten a lot more than they bargained for when the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled against them in April.  This spring, the West Virginia high court upheld the state's right-to-work law.  That part of the ruling was no surprise, as courts for over 70 years have said right-to-work laws are constitutional.  Perhaps the more significant part of the ruling, which garnered less attention, is that the court essentially said the entire country should be right-to-work.

If Only 1199 SEIU Union Members Really Knew.  George Gresham, president of the New York-based 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a position he has held since 2007, recently penned a piece titled "Donald Trump is Destroying Our Planet." [...] Thus, some background on Gresham may be useful.  Gresham's position "as 1199 SEIU president has made him a prominent figure in New York politics.  Gresham led 1199 SEIU into being a major player in New York's left-wing politics.  In 2011, Gresham joined various left-wing activists and union officials at a march led by Al Sharpton and his National Action Network in Washington D.C."  Moreover, "[i]n 2013, Gresham and his union endorsed left-wing Public Advocate Bill de Blasio (D) for mayor of New York City.  De Blasio was elected mayor, and he selected Gresham to be a part of his transition team." [...] In reality, SEIU's positions on political issues are rigid leftist thought, i.e., supporting citizenship for illegal aliens, and destroying capitalism via climate control programs.

After Supreme Court Bans Mandatory Union Fees, Workers Ask for Refunds.  In 2018, Mark Janus convinced the Supreme Court that mandatory government union dues violate the First Amendment.  Now he wants his money back.  After his triumph at the High Court, Janus asked a federal trial judge to require the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) pay out about $3,000 in agency fees the union collected from his paycheck between 2013 and 2018.  The judge declined and Janus lost on appeal, prompting a new petition to the Supreme Court.  So-called right-to-work cause lawyers including the Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Foundation are litigating some 30 cases that collectively seek $120 million in garnished wages for public sector workers.  Public sector unions proved surprisingly resilient after the Janus decision, seeing modest increases in membership and limited losses of revenue.  Judgments ordering restitution to aggrieved workers, however, could vindicate doomsayers who predicted the end of agency fees would devastate organized labor.  Approximately 5.9 million public employees paid mandatory fees prior to Janus, a massive pool of prospective plaintiffs.

'Medicare for All' is driving a wedge through labor movement.  Democratic presidential candidates' plans to provide "Medicare for All" are driving a wedge through the labor movement, pitting union against union and fracturing a powerful constituency as the primary barrels toward heavily organized states.  Big labor largely supports a push for universal health coverage, but some unions — particularly those who have spent years bargaining for strong health benefits — tend to back an incremental approach over a dramatic switch to government-run health insurance that would abolish their union plans.

Labor union membership is highest in these states.  Americans' approval of labor unions reached its highest point in 15 years, a 2019 Gallup poll found.  But that approval came as actual union membership dipped, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released in January.  The membership rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 10.3 percent in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Membership in unions has declined across both the public and private sectors.  Here are the states with the highest and lowest union membership rates: [...]

'Nonpartisan' GAO's Union Overwhelmingly Supports Dems.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Jan. 16 that President Donald Trump broke the law when he withheld aid from Ukraine.  The union for that "independent, nonpartisan" agency naturally supports Democrats.  Just don't expect the media to tell you about it. [...] The GAO Employees Organization and its bureaucrats are currently represented by the International Federation of Professionals and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), AFL-CIO & CLC, a labor union that represents workers in both the U.S. and Canada.  Here's the problem:  IFPTE's political action committee gave 100 percent of its political contributions ($36,250) to Democratic candidates in 2016, 89 percent of its political contributions ($61,950) to Democratic candidates in 2018, and currently 75 percent of its political contributions ($26,900) to Democratic candidates for the 2020 electoral cycle.

We Three Kings of America Are:  Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg.  The biggest lie in American politics today is that Republicans are the party of the wealthy elite, and the Democrats are fighting for the little guy.  While corporate political spending is split roughly down the middle between Democrats and Republicans, in all other categories the Democrats are way in front.  Labor unions, which collect and spend at least $14 billion per year in the United States, are almost exclusively committed to Democratic candidates.  And while Republicans still have some mega-donor individuals, most of them only contribute to candidates who espouse the same agenda as the Democrats — open borders, "free" trade, and endless wars.

Teachers Ask SCOTUS to Review Law Allowing Union to Condition Say in Workplace Rights on Membership.  The National Right to Work (NRTW) Legal Defense Foundation has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of four Massachusetts teachers who are asking the high Court to review a state law that allows a union to block non-members from having a voice in workplace conditions.

Citing religious beliefs, electrician sues SEIU, Boston College over mandatory union dues.  A religious discrimination lawsuit filed last month in federal court against a local union and Boston College is being hailed by anti-union groups for upholding individual workers' rights — and railed against by union advocates who say it's an attempt to weaken organized labor.

Narrative Fail — Striking Michigan UAW Workers Support Trump and See Through Democrat Impeachment Scheme.  Everything about this short news segment has to be devastating to democrat candidates, party leadership, DC politicians and the DNC as a whole.  CNN went to Michigan to interview striking United Auto Workers (GM) about the current state of politics and impeachment of President Trump.  Man-o-man, do the results cut the legs out from the professional political apparatus.  First, in a seismic overall political shift the striking UAW workers support President Trump, not democrats.  Why?  Because President Trump has been calling out GM CEO Mary Barra for not negotiating a win/win.  There is no economic reason for a strike.  Second, the striking workers can see through the insufferable political agenda of the Democrats.  This outcome is devastating to the democrats overall.

This Labor Day, Unions Are Gunning for Workers' Free Speech Rights.  Today, Americans enjoy a day off of work to celebrate Labor Day, a holiday commemorating the organized labor movement.  Unions did indeed secure important rights for American workers, including the idea of a weekend including Saturday and Sunday.  Yet organized labor is horrifically corrupt today.  Workers who refuse to join a union because they disagree with the union's political stance were forced to pay fees to the union, anyway — until the Supreme Court defended workers' free speech last year.  Now, unions and their political allies are fighting to prevent workers from leaving the unions and from opting out of paying fees.  A new report from the Commonwealth Foundation revealed that government unions and their political allies are pushing legislation across the country that cements unions' power to compel workers to support their political agendas.  Many workers have resorted to filing lawsuits in order to escape the unions' grasp.

Union Bosses Fear Workers Will Stick with Trump: 'It's a Serious Problem'.  Union bosses, closely tied to the Democrat Party, say American union workers sticking with President Trump in 2020 and his economic nationalist agenda is "a serious problem" for them.

No one should be forced to join a union.  Right to work is a very simple concept.  It simply means that no worker should be compelled to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job.  Twenty-seven states have now enacted and implemented right-to-work laws, with five joining in the last eight years.  And on June 27 of last year, the U.S Supreme Court handed down one of the most significant employee rights legal victories in the history of the right-to-work movement with the Janus decision, which ended the forced payment of union dues or fees for millions of government workers nationwide.  Unfortunately, there are more private sector American workers in the 23 non-right-to-work states and others in the railway and airline industries who still work under compulsory unionism.

California's Progressive Betrayal.  The recent California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco exposed the divide between the state's progressive and working-class voters.  Progressives, in their militant certitude, support left-wing policies that often don't affect them; it's the working class that suffers the consequences of these proposals.  But the Green New Deal, widely embraced by party leaders, pushed too far, triggering a backlash at the convention.  The state's private-sector labor unions, notably the building trades, organized a "Blue Collar Revolution" protest against the Democrats' climate legislation.  The Democrats are calling for the elimination of fossil fuels by 2030, which would result in California's immiseration, especially for workers in the state's energy-production sector, the nation's fourth-largest.  In 2012, the oil and gas industry employed over 400,000 Californians, but these workers — unionized and well-paid — can expect pink slips with the green package.

They deserve each other.
Manchester union local to represent Elizabeth Warren campaign workers.  More than 200 workers on Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign, including 36 in New Hampshire, have agreed to unionize and designate a Manchester union local to represent them.  The 206 workers chose the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2320, according to its business manager, Steve Soule.

The Editor says...
In this case, the unionized workers won't object when their union dues go straight to the Democratic Party.

The Calming Feeling as Jew-Hate Now Takes Deeper Root in the Democrat Party.  It now is commonplace to recognize that Democrats — including Obama, Biden, Schumer, Clinton, and all the rest of them — all strongly supported building a border wall and keeping out Illegals.  Biden even complained openly about "corrupt Mexico."  It was a key part of the Democrat program, dating back to the days of California's Hispanic union leader Cesar Chavez, that the Illegals must be kept out because they take jobs from the economic underclass and bring down their wages by eagerly working for crumbs.  Democrat Orthodoxy taught that the party had to protect African Americans and union workers from the influx of uncontrolled cheap labor.  And then the Democrats did some vote counting.  They realized that they have the African-American voting population in their pockets anyway.  They assumed that the White union workers never would leave either, since union bosses are well provided for by the Democrats.  At the same time, the Democrats came to realize that an influx of Illegals rapidly would change the American electorate.  They were right.  They have changed the electorate in the California that once elected Nixon and Reagan.  They have changed Colorado and New Mexico.  They are changing Nevada and Arizona.  They even are aiming at Texas.  So they sold out African Americans — as they always do — and White union workers for a greater payoff at the voting booths.

Our Communist Labor Unions.  The American labor movement was known, historically, for both political moderation and political effectiveness.  But private sector unions are in a state of apparently terminal decline, as currently only 6.4% of private sector workers are union members.  Perhaps shrinking membership and political clout explains why unions have become shriller and more radical.  The AFL-CIO is a case in point.  Yesterday [5/14/2019], the AFL-CIO posted this bizarre tweet, which consists of a video starring someone named Dan Whelan, who is identified as "marxist, roofer."  [Video clip]

AFL-CIO becomes a warrior for communism.  The private sector unions are in a state of decline.  Only 6.4% of private sector workers are union members.  The reason for that could be what they've become.  There was a time when they were very effective, but they've turned into another communist vehicle for change.  One example of that is their fight for illegal alien workers, discarding the American worker.  They join with Communists on May Day for the marches and support all of their causes.

Admin Halts Disability Dues Scheme.  Labor organizations will no longer be allowed to skim dues money from the checks of Medicaid patients under new rules adopted by the Trump administration.  The Department of Health and Human Services's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services adopted a new regulation that will prohibit states from siphoning money from caregiver reimbursements to third parties.  The rule takes direct aim at state policies enacted to enrich union coffers.

Big Labor Dropped $2 Billion on Midterms.  Big Labor ramped up its political spending during the 2018 election season, dwarfing the amount it spent during the 2016 presidential campaign.  An analysis of union financial disclosures and reports found that labor organizations spent more than $2 billion on political activities in the run-up to the midterm elections that saw Democrats take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years.  That spending was an 18 percent increase from 2016, despite the fact that non-presidential elections tend to attract less attention from voters and lower spending by advocacy and campaign groups.  Nearly 70 percent of political expenditures, which include lobbying, came directly from worker dues, according to the analysis conducted by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR).  "Union officials spent $1.37 billion directly from union treasuries (filled with forced dues and fees) on politics, dwarfing the reported combined political spending of George Soros, the Koch Brothers, and Hollywood during the same period," the report says.

Finally, some transparency on public sector unions'political spending.  In a new analysis (available at PublicUnionFacts.com), my organization estimates public unions have spent over $1.5 billion on political causes over the last two decades.  That's $75 million per year or more than $6 million a month that's been spent by these unions on political advocacy.  Of the amount that went directly to Republicans or Democrats, 90 percent (over $600 million) went to Democrats.  In fact, unions gave more money to Democrats in just five states (California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Oregon) than they spent on Republicans nationwide.  That the California Teachers Association has given $15 million to the California Democratic Party and $10 million to political candidates, 90 percent of whom were Democrats, shouldn't come as a shock.  Nor should the fact that New York State United Teachers has spent over $15 million to further its own political agenda, 70 percent of which went to Democrats.

New Site Tracks $1.5 Billion in Public Union Political Spending Over Two Decades.  The Center for Union Facts has launched a new website, www.PublicUnionFacts.com, to track more than $1.5 billion in public sector union political spending over the past two decades.  It found that these unions give 90 percent of political funding to Democrats.  Democrats in California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Oregon alone received more money from public unions than Republicans did nationwide.  "There's a growing disconnect between how public unions are spending money and what workers actually want," Charlyce Bozzello, the center's communications director, said.  "The breakdown of union members who support Democrats versus Republicans is likely not 90 to 10, as years of union spending would have us believe.  With access to more facts, employees can hold their representatives accountable."

Ohio Union Faces Class Action Suit.  An Ohio woman is suing one of the state's most powerful unions for its continued collection of dues payments over her objections.  Connie Pennington has been forced to pay dues to the Communication Workers of America Local 4502 as part of her job with the city of Columbus, but attempted to sever ties after the Supreme Court declared mandatory dues payments unconstitutional in the 2018 Janus v.  American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees ruling.  The union has maintained that workers should not be allowed to leave the union until its contract with the city expires in 2020.  The lawsuit filed by Pennington seeks to overturn that policy and allow the union's 1,400 government workers to exercise their rights immediately, rather than waiting for the 30-day withdrawal window specified in the city's union contract.

Top Ten Union Corruption Stories of the Year.  [#1] U.S. Supreme Court overturns public employee union monopoly in its Janus ruling.  By a 5-4 margin, the Court concluded in Janus v.  AFSCME Council 31 that public-sector unions do not have the authority to deduct partial dues ("agency fees") from the paychecks of reluctant nonmember workers.  The decision, which overturned more than 40 years of union dues coercion, requires that public employee unions must secure affirmative consent from dissenters before deducting agency fees.  At stake for the unions are billions of dollars in revenues over the long run and accompanying political clout.  The decision already has triggered lawsuits that have gone one step further by challenging organized labor's exclusive representation authority in the teaching profession.  As union contracts are jeopardizing state and local government fiscal solvency, Janus should be seen as a necessary restraint.

Democrats Rig Rules to Boost Unions Against Janus Decision.  When asked about his ultimate goal, a union president reportedly offered a simple answer:  "More."  Public-sector unions always are pushing for higher pay and benefits and more protections for members.  Getting more is a journey.  There is no end game.  Therefore, it has been enlightening seeing how these unions react when faced with the prospect of having "less."  Not surprisingly, they, and their allies, are accepting the new reality with the same graciousness that a pit bull shows when you try to yank a steak bone out of its mouth.  The possibility of "less" comes from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last June in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.  The high court ruled that forcing public employees to pay mandatory dues to a union is a violation of the First Amendment, thus overturning a state of affairs that has existed since the court decided the Abood case in 1977.  Since then, public employees could opt out of paying for a union's direct political activities but still were required to pay an "agency fee" to cover collective-bargaining activities.

Even after Janus, unions are still wrongly forcing speech on public employees.  Despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that forcing public workers to pay union fees as a condition of employment goes against First Amendment free speech rights, public employees are still forced to associate with a union and let the union speak for them, no matter how strongly an employee disagrees with that speech.  Dues or no dues, the vast majority of state laws still deem government unions as "exclusive representatives" that speak on behalf of all employees at a workplace, including nonmembers who have refused to join the union.

A Union Allegedly 'Forced' An IT Worker To Pay Nonmember Dues.  He Is Fighting Back In Court.  A New Mexico state employee filed a class action lawsuit against a branch of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) over "forced" nonmember union dues, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW).  IT technician David McCutcheon filed a lawsuit against CWA Local 7076 on Dec. 20.  McCutcheon and the NRTW, which is representing McCutcheon, allege that the union violated federal law by restricting non-union members' chance to opt out of paying "agency fees," dues paid by non-members, according to NRTW.

Teamsters Union Takes All But $15 Of UPS Workers' Pay.  While many workers around the country are fighting to get their dues money back from unions in the wake of Janus v AFSCME, some seasonal UPS workers in Boston are dealing with a very different problem this Christmas season.  It seems that some employees who were hired to help with the holiday surge of shipping were informed that they would need to join the Teamsters to take part in these temporary jobs.  Imagine their surprise when they finished putting in a lot of overtime during their first week on the job and opened up their paychecks, only to find that the union had taken all of their pay except for an amount that would barely buy two people dinner at McDonald's.

California union local has a unique way around Janus — just ignore and disobey the decision.  In Janus vs.  American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the Supreme Court overturned the precedent allowing unions to force "fare-share" fees on nonunion government workers.  The court's reasoning was that collective bargaining with government is an inherently political activity, and to force someone to pay for it is to coerce speech, violating the First Amendment.  The ruling has sent unions and locals around the country scrambling to make up for all the lost revenue.  But it seems that California's AFSCME Local 3299 has created its own little loophole:  Just rename fare-share fees "voluntary service fees," and voila, problem solved!

Firefighter Union President: Unions Need To Stop Pushing A Social Agenda.  The Democratic Party's pro-union policies have become more about politics than helping everyday Americans, making it an issue that could resonate with Republicans, according to a firefighter union president.  The Daily Caller News Foundation sat down with New Haven, Connecticut's Battalion Chief Frank Ricci for an exclusive interview to discuss how unions can be about the people again.

States are resisting the Janus decision — Will union workers ever get a break?  The much-discussed Supreme Court decision in the case of Janus v.  AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) is now just over a month old, but already we see states reacting to its important central holding.  At its core, the high court ruling simply held that no money can be taken from a state or local government employee's paycheck and transferred to a union unless that employee first affirmatively consents.  Many refer to this new requirement as "opt-in."  The reasoning behind the employee's decision is as basic as the Supreme Court's holding:  The First Amendment does not allow any governmental entity to force an individual to fund speech unless he or she first agrees to that funding.

How liberals turned against free speech.  Why is it considered "liberal" to compel others to say or fund things they don't believe? [...] [The Supreme Court, in the case of] Janus v.  AFSCME, reversed a 41-year-old precedent and ruled that public employees don't have to pay unions fees that cover the cost of collective bargaining.  Echoing a position taken by President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s, the court reasoned that collective bargaining with a public employer is inevitably a political matter, and that forcing employees to finance it is compelling them to subsidize political speech with which they disagree.

AFL-CIO issues 50-point anti-Trump manifesto, but doesn't rule out 2020 endorsement.  The president of the nation's biggest union Wednesday issued an unusual 50-point anti-Trump worksheet he called "formidable," but then flatly stated that the AFL-CIO hasn't ruled out endorsing President Trump in 2020.  "Every candidate will be looked at," said Richard L. Trumka just minutes after he issued his list to reporters and said that when it came to Trump's 2016 campaign offers to workers, "nearly all of those promises are broken or unfulfilled."  Trumka's appearance at a media breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor put on full display the unusual relationship between the traditionally Democratic organization and Trump.

The Top 50 Liberal Media Bias Examples.  [#50] Unions:  Unions have always been given a pass by the media.  Take AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, for instance.  Trumka has a long history of inciting violence as well as partaking in such.  In the 90s Trumka was even involved in a murder.  Yet the media ignores all this when reporting on his actions.  Unions commit violence all the time yet the media rarely bothers reporting it.  Now imagine if a right-wing group had such a history of violence?  Do you think we'd ever hear the end of it?

Janus Is Only the Beginning.  The majority has struck down the requirement that government employees pay dues to unions, even for collective-bargaining purposes.  Since 1977, those employees could withhold dues from direct political purposes but still had to subsidize contract-related activities.  But why should an employee be forced to subsidize, say, the California Teachers' Association's or SEIU's collective-bargaining efforts if that employee believes that those negotiations will undermine the quality of public services and unfairly strain public budgets?  It is indeed a form of compelled speech to require any dues, as the court explained, and we should be thrilled at the new legal reality, especially from a freedom-of-conscience perspective.

Outrage Overload:  This Is How Liberals Went Berserk Over Trump's SCOTUS Nominee.  Last night [7/9/2018], President Donald J. Trump selected Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to be our next associate justice for the Supreme Court.  He'll be filling the vacancy left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. [...] Yet, even before the announcement was made, the Left was going berserk.  They had a full-blown meltdown when Kennedy announced his retirement shortly after the official end of the 2017 term.  The news broke a little after Janus v. AFSCME was decided, dealing a blow to public sector unions squeezing non-union members for dues.  It's now an unconstitutional practice to force non-members to pony up money for activities they don't support — and labor unions do a lot of that.  The chances of an aftershock post-SCOTUS announcement were high, and it's still not over.

Origins of the Welfare State in America.  [Scroll down]  [H]istorians, almost uniformly starry-eyed supporters of labor unions, have wildly exaggerated the importance of unions in American history.  When we get past romantic stories of strikes and industrial conflicts (in which the union role is inevitably whitewashed if not glorified), even the best economic historians don't bother informing the reader of the meager quantitative role or importance of unions in the American economy.  Indeed, until the New Deal, and with the exception of brief periods when unionization was coercively imposed by the federal government (during World War I, and in the railroads during the 1920s), the percentage of union members in the labor force typically ranged from a minuscule 1 to 2 percent during recessions, up to 5 or 6 percent during inflationary booms, and then down to the negligible figure in the next recession.  Furthermore, in boom or bust, labor unions, in the free-market environment, were only able to take hold in specific occupations and areas of the economy.

Supreme Court's Janus ruling will end cash cow for liberal activists: experts.  The battle over unions collecting money from non-members moved from the Supreme Court to the court of public employees' opinion.  On the same day the court announced its ruling in the Janus case barring public-sector unions from automatically collecting fees from government workers who choose not to join the union, libertarian groups were outside government buildings passing out literature.  "We're planning an all-of-the-above comprehensive educational campaign to reach those public employees and let them know about their constitutional rights," said Maxford Nelsen from the Freedom Foundation, a libertarian think tank based in Washington State.

The Left Is Slipping into Terminal Irrelevance.  I think it is a good thing that so-called "public-sector unions" can no longer force non-union workers to pay dues.  Indeed, like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I think public-sector unions are an abomination that have no place in a free republic.  They all-but-guarantee systematic corruption.  As Daniel DiSalvo notes in Government Unions and the Bankrupting of America, such unions "extract dues from their members and funnel them into politicians' campaign war chests, then those same politicians agree to generous contracts for public workers — which in turn leads to more union dues, more campaign spending, and so on.  It is a cycle that has dominated the politics of some of America's states with dire consequences."  Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court took an important step in breaking that vicious cycle.

Labor Giants Could Lose 400K Contributers.  The largest public-sector unions in the country may lose up to 400,000 fee payers after the Supreme Court declared mandatory payments unconstitutional.  The decision could cut into the coffers of the Democratic Party.  On Wednesday [6/25/2018] the Supreme Court ruled that government agencies could no longer require workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.  The 5-4 ruling, which overturned the 1977 Abood precedent allowing unions to charge "fair share fees" to all workers, including nonmembers, could deal a devastating blow to the coffers of unions.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Forced Public-Sector Union Fees.  In a decision that holds massive up-front ramifications for Democrats, the Supreme Court ruled today [6/27/2018] that non-union members cannot be forced to pay for union representation.  This is a devastating blow to the Big Club political caucus.  The justices said in a 5-4 opinion that state government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be compelled to pay a share of union dues for covering the cost of negotiating contracts.  This allows state union workers to withdraw funding for the political aspirations and objectives of union leadership who work against their interests.

Government Workers 'Free at Last'.  Rank and file government workers won big over union bosses Wednesday [6/27/2018] when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Mark Janus, an Illinois state worker who refused to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.  The court struck down an Illinois law that allowed the union to deduct fees from Janus's paycheck despite his refusal to join.  The Janus ruling smashes laws in 22 states — including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and California — that compel nonmembers to support unions.  Until now, if you wanted a government job in these states, you had to pay up.  But now firefighters, teachers and other public employees won't have to fork over a penny to a union if they choose not to join.  For the average worker who opts out, it will mean hundreds of dollars more in take-home pay a year.

An Epic Decision.  Yesterday [5/21/2018], a divided Supreme Court announced its decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, affirming the principle of private contract over the interests of the class-action legal industry.  The ruling implicates not only trial lawyers but also the other great Democratic Party patron, organized labor.  Thus, the wailing, tearing out of hair, and rending of garments in the halls of the plaintiffs' bar and other progressive political havens.  Epic Systems involves three consolidated cases.  (The other two are National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA and Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris.)  The cases concern the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which requires courts to enforce arbitration clauses as written in contracts.  Arbitration is a form of "alternative dispute resolution" — essentially, an agreement to resolve differences by going to a private arbiter rather than to a civil court, though courts can and do review arbitration clauses for fairness.

Supreme Court in Epic Systems case:  Employers can enforce arbitration agreements with workers.  In a case involving Verona health software giant Epic Systems, a divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that businesses can prohibit their workers from banding together in disputes over pay and conditions in the workplace.  The decision has ramifications far beyond Epic, affecting an estimated 25 million non-unionized employees.  With the court's five conservative members in the majority, the justices held that individual employees can be forced to use arbitration, not the courts, to air complaints about wages and overtime.  Four dissenting liberal justices said the decision will hit low-wage, vulnerable workers especially hard.

Socialists Running As Democrats In Primary This Tuesday.  Richard Becker, candidate for State Representative in Kentucky's 35th District, is a member of the radical Marxist organization:  "Democratic Socialists of America" (DSA) and a "union organizer."  The other DSA member is Ryan Fenwick, who is running for mayor of Louisville, Kentucky.  The Louisville DSA is putting all of their weight behind their candidates, encouraging fellow comrades to "put socialists in power" in order to "defeat capitalism."

Supreme Court case could give public employees more freedom.  The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees lost more than 14,000 members in 2017 — a year after it spent nearly $19 million more on politics than on organizing and advocating on behalf of its members, according to a recent Bloomberg analysis.  Coincidence?  AFSCME is one of the largest contributors to political causes and candidates in the country, but maybe not for long.  The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a potentially landmark First Amendment case brought by Mark Janus, a public employee in Illinois who argues that his rights are violated by an Illinois law that forces him to pay for AFSCME's collective bargaining.

Strange Solidarity.  One of the highly watched cases of the Supreme Court's current session, Janus v.  American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, has sparked such passion that some 73 interested parties have filed amicus briefs in the matter. [...] A social worker, Janus has sued to overturn a state law requiring him to pay AFSCME a fee to represent him, even though he had declined to join the union.  He has asked the court to reverse a 1977 decision, Abood v.  Detroit Federation of Teachers, which upheld state laws that give government unions the right to collect fees from nonmembers in a workplace where collective bargaining is in place.  Janus contends that the activities of a government union, including collective bargaining, are political by their very nature, and that the union fee compels him to finance ideas with which he disagrees.

Democrats mobilize to offset Supreme Court's expected ruling against unions.  Union-friendly lawmakers in several states have been working to make it harder for public-sector employees to opt out of paying union dues, even if the Supreme Court allows them to.  Washington state adopted such a law last month, and similar efforts are under way in New York and New Jersey.  In all three cases, the laws appear designed to undermine any additional rights workers could receive as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in a case called Janus v.  American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The court's ruling is expected in June.

Unions think you should be forced to pay for their 'benefits' — will Supreme Court agree?  If your workplace is a union shop, are you forced to pay union dues?  Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about that.  When I worked at CBS and ABC, I was ordered to join the American Federation of Radio and TV Artists.  That union had won a vote that gave them the right to speak for all reporters.  I said, "I'm no 'artist.'  I'm a reporter!  I won't join!" But my bosses said they couldn't pay me unless I did.  In right-to-work states, unions can't force people to join.  But only 28 states are right to work.  Aging socialist bureaucracies like New York state are not among them.  But now the Supreme Court may say that no government worker, in any state, can be forced to pay a union.

Public-Sector Unions Deserve To Be Destroyed.  How does a public-sector union work?  Easy.  First the state creates a monopoly.  Workers in that monopoly create a union.  The monopoly forces taxpayers to fund those workers, whether they do a good job or not.  The union then coerces workers to pay dues whether they want to or not.  The union uses those dues to help fund political advocacy that perpetuates their monopoly and the union's influence.  So, in other words, racketeering.

Supreme Court case threatens Democratic bosses' use of union muscle.  Can you be forced to give up money to someone else, who'll then use your cash to push a political agenda with which you disagree?  It is technically a First Amendment issue in the case of Janus v.  American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees that is being decided by the Supreme Court.  And it may just be the most important political story in America, about Democratic Party bosses in blue states who for decades have used public employee unions to maintain their power.  Politics is all about who gets what, when and how much.  But it's also about who pays for the generous public pension and health care plans for public workers in the 22 electoral vote-rich blue states, like Illinois and New Jersey.

Infrastructure Will Grow Faster Without Project Labor Agreements.  Today [2/12/2018] President Trump released his plan to stimulate $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending to improve the country's out-of-date structures.  Unfortunately, his new plan misses an opportunity to reduce the cost of infrastructure by removing President Obama's executive order that requires the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for federal construction projects.  Since PLAs discriminate against non-union labor, they can be expensive, anti-competitive, and inefficient, and should not be mandated.

Democrats Paid a Huge Price for Letting Unions Die.  With its financial contributions and grassroots organizing, the labor movement helped give Democrats full control of the federal government three times in the last four decades.  And all three of those times — under Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — Democrats failed to pass labor law reforms that would to bolster the union cause.  In hindsight, it's clear that the Democratic Party didn't merely betray organized labor with these failures, but also, itself.  Between 1978 and 2017, the union membership rate in the United States fell by more than half — from 26 to 10.7 percent.  Some of this decline probably couldn't have been averted — or, at least, not by changes in labor law alone.  The combination of resurgent economies in Europe and Japan, the United States' decidedly non-protectionist trade policies, and technological advances in shipping was bound to do a number on American unions.

Unions Give More Than $1.1 Billion to Democrats, Liberal Groups.  From 2010 to 2016 alone, labor unions sent more than $1.1 billion in member dues to anti-Republican advocacy groups, a nonprofit union transparency organization says.  "For decades, union officials have betrayed working Americans by spending their dues dollars to advance a left-wing political agenda — without prior approval," Luka Ladan, communications director for the Center for Union Facts, said in a statement.  "Big Labor is now the ATM of the Democratic Party, whether employees agree or not.  The Employee Rights Act would hold union officials accountable to their members, not Democratic elites."

Medicaid Dollars Should Go to Those Who Need Them, Not Big Labor.  The program is meant to help cover Americans' health-care costs, but has been hijacked by giant, predatory unions and their Democratic allies.

More Perfect Unions.  [T]he plunge in private-sector union membership from 36 percent in 1953 to less than 7 percent in 2015 has exposed unions' minimal value to workers.  The total employee share of national income — 66.1 percent at the start of 2016 — is actually higher today, with a much smaller union presence, than it was during the unions' 1950s zenith (64.5 percent).  As its economic relevance has waned, Big Labor has mutated into a predominantly political force.  Of $2.1 billion spent by the 30 largest federal-election donors since 1990, public- and private-sector unions accounted for more than $1 billion — and directed 97 percent of that largess to Democrats.  Such one-way spending is at odds with union-member ideology, which aligns 26 percent "liberal," 44 percent "moderate," and 30 percent "conservative" — only slightly left of the general population.

Another Reason for Investors to Fear Unions.  When it comes to jobs growth, legal protections for organized labor may be something of a curse particularly when there is a union election.  That's bad news for any company with a union that also wants an influx of cash to help grow.  Here's how it plays out.  "We find that union election victories are associated with increased bankruptcy costs, which lead to declines in bond values," according to a research report published earlier this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research.  "Unions further depress bondholders' recovery values as they are assigned seats on unsecured creditors' committees," the paper continues.

Here's a Look at the Staggering Amount of Money Unions Give to the Left.  Unions across the country donated $765 million dollars to various organizations over the last four years, and 99 percent of that cash went to liberal-leaning causes.  Labor unions gave $764,952,394 to left-wing special interests between 2012 and 2016 according to the Center for Union Facts.  Of the nearly $765 million, 99 percent of union political contributions went to left-wing causes.  The Center for Union Facts compiled a comprehensive database of information about labor unions in the United States:  outlining union spending, salary information, dues revenue data, and more using data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

Sun-Times sold to unions, wealthy investors.  The money-losing operations of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Reader have been sold for a $1 to a group that includes wealthy Chicagoans and unions.  People on both sides of the transaction confirmed that the transaction is closing today.  The purchasers' group is led by former Chicago alderman Edwin Eisendrath, and it includes the Chicago Federation of Labor.

How Democrats Hoodwink Blacks.  Labor unions have always been allied with the Democratic Party and have a history of racism.  Most of today's black leaders give unquestioned support to labor unions and their policies that harm black workers, but yesteryear's black leaders saw things differently.  Frederick Douglass, in his 1874 essay "The Folly, Tyranny, and Wickedness of Labor Unions," argued that unions were not friends of blacks.  W.E.B. Du Bois called unions "the greatest enemy of the black working man."  Booker T. Washington also opposed unions because of their adverse impact on blacks.

Illegal Alien Day:  The Left used May Day to push its open-borders agenda this year.  In America, May Day is typically a violent observance.  Its purpose is to serve as a rallying point for communists and socialists.  Despite that, it hasn't been that difficult to take the focus off the plight of American workers on May 1 over the years.  Perhaps this is because America has never been a left-of-center country perpetually boiling over with class resentment.  Americans don't care much about labor issues or the labor movement because it hasn't done anything for them.

At Least 20% of SEIU's Budget Went to Politics.  Labor giant Service Employees International Union spent $60 million on politics and lobbying as well as $19 million on the Fight for 15 movement in 2016, and now finds itself laying off headquarters staff.  The union's federal filing to the Department of Labor reveal that it experienced marginal growth in 2016, adding about 15,000 members from 2015.  However, that increase did not correlate with financial growth as revenue fell by $17 million, fueling a $10 million budget deficit.  The union, which represents healthcare and public sector workers, spent $61.6 million on political activities and lobbying in 2016, roughly 20 percent of its $314.6 million budget, according to the filing.

In The Age Of Trump, Unions Urged To Use Underground Organizers.  With union membership in the United States at an all-time low — even after eight years of having a pro-union president in the White House, more than 93% of the private sector workforce is union free — unions now face very uncertain future under a Trump presidency.  With the majority of states now considered "Right-to-Work" state — which give unionized workers the choice to pay union fees or not without fearing the loss of their jobs — and a National Right-To-Work Act introduced in Congress earlier this month, both public and private-sector unions are facing existential threats on a multitude of fronts that seemed unlikely just a few months ago when the election of Hillary Clinton was considered a certainty.  To make matters worse for unions, in 2016, 43% of union households voted for Donald Trump, while labor leaders funneled tens of millions of their dues dollars to groups supporting Hillary Clinton.

Kentucky could be a right-to-work state by next week.  Yesterday evening [1/5/2017], Kentucky's newly Republican-led state House passed a right-to-work law, which would prevent the compulsory collection of union dues from unwilling employees as a condition of keeping their jobs.  The bill, sought after by business groups in the state for decades, had been long resisted by Democrats.  Now, it could pass the state Senate as soon as tomorrow, and if it did it could become law before President Obama even leaves office.

Democrats Make Millions More Off Federal Unions, Bureaucrats Than Republicans.  Federal civil servants and government employee unions donated far more money to Democrats seeking public office than Republicans in 2016, campaign contribution records show.  More than 82 percent of $4.3 million in donations from nine major federal unions went to Democrats, Center for Responsive Politics data shows, FedSmith.com reported Wednesday [12/21/2016].  Likewise, Democrats raked in 82 percent of $6.6 million in donations from employees of 11 federal agencies and Senate and House of Representatives staff.

AFL-CIO Endorses Keith Ellison For DNC Chair.  The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) endorsed U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison for Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Thursday.  "Representative Ellison meets the high standard working people expect from leaders of our political parties," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement.  "He is a proven leader who will focus on year-round grassroots organizing to deliver for working families across America," he continued.  The AFL-CIO's executive council voted overwhelmingly to endorse Ellison to lead the DNC, according to a statement from the Federation.  Several candidates for the post have sought out the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers and is the nation's largest union.

How Union Bosses Sold Out Their Workers.  The 2016 election exposed deep divisions in America, but none deeper than that between the leadership of organized labor and its membership.  Union bosses spent some $100 million in member dues to try and elect Hillary Clinton and other Democrats across the country.  It wasn't money well-spent.  This disconnect between Democratic elites, their union boss pals and rank-and-file union members has been a long time coming.  Decades ago, organized labor made a pact with the Democratic Party.  Democrats would support legislation approved by the union leadership and in return labor leaders would support Democratic politicians and liberal causes, even when those candidates and causes were objectionable to most of their members.

SEIU Texas Declares Bankruptcy After Losing Millions to Company.  The Texas chapter of one of the nation's most powerful unions filed for bankruptcy after losing a multi-million dollar lawsuit for its smear campaign against a Houston janitorial company.  A jury ordered Service Employees International Union Texas, also known as SEIU District Five, to pay Professional Janitorial Service of Houston $7.8 million in September for making false claims about the company during a campaign to rally support from workers and local activists.  A Texas judge rejected the union's request for a mistrial on November 15 and ordered it to hand over files associated with the case to the company for discovery.  The union said that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection reflects the best interests of its members given the costly judgement.

Big Labor threw tons of cash at Democrats, but workers voted red: report.  Big Labor pumped $530 million of workers' dues into mostly Democratic Party groups and liberal causes over a four-year period — with dismal results, according to a new analysis.  Despite the unions' massive cash infusion into Democratic causes, GOPer Donald Trump still won the union-heavy Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio in his presidential bid against Dem candidate Hillary Clinton.  A Republican-led Congress, expected to be hostile to union causes, also was voted into office.  "Labor unions have become the ATM of the Democratic Party — despite the known fact that 40 percent of union households vote for Republican candidates," said Richard Berman, director of the Center for Union Facts, a group typically critical of unions which conducted the study.

Veritas Video Shows Dem Strategist Telling Communications Workers of America To Lie To Members.  In the latest Project Veritas video, pollster Celinda Lake presented the results of her polling to the Communications Workers of America (CMA). She first explained that explaining that the Democrats were seven points behind the GOP in jobs and the Dems have never won an election when they've been that far behind in Jobs.  Lake said that the Democrats where having a hard time holding stopping independent women from going into the "undecided" category and independent men going to a third party candidate this election[.]  Lake continued by telling the Union Members to lie to their rank and file, not about pensions because they couldn't get away with that, but she suggests they lie about Democratic stance on things like guns.  Isn't it wonderful the way unions work.  They take the money of the rank and file, support the politicians that protect union management without getting permission from their members and then lie to the people who are paying dues.

One fifth of Clinton's haul has come from just 100 people or unions.  Five mega-donors and their wives are responsible for one in every $17 dollars [sic] that have been spent on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.  The Clinton campaign proper and SuperPAC Priorities USA had raised a combined $1.14 billion by the end of September, filling their coffers to the brim with the help of the Democratic candidate's wealthy friends and national labor unions.

Here's where your union dues go:
Ad buy of $510,000 targets young Hispanics, African-American, Haitian-American voters in Florida.  The Service Employees International Union Florida and an array of community groups announced Tuesday they plan to spend more than $500,000 and radio and online ads targeting Latino millennials, African-American and Haitian-American voters in Florida.  The ads are designed to encourage these groups — some 4 million people — to get out and vote in the nation's biggest battleground state.  SEIU Florida and the other groups have spent months going door-to-door contacting minority voters all over the state.

Union leaders struggle to turn members against Trump.  Every four years, the AFL-CIO labor federation engages in a quixotic mission: to attempt to dissuade many of its own members from voting for their first choice for president, the Republican candidate.  Between one-quarter and one-third pull the lever for the GOP, anyway.  The labor leaders' efforts have taken an added urgency this year because the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, may have the strongest appeal in decades of any GOP candidate to the union rank-and-file.  The AFL-CIO has conceded as much.  An internal poll it did in June found that 41 percent of its members in five key battleground states — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada and Wisconsin — favored Trump.

No, Unions Don't Increase Everyone's Wages.  2016's edition of Labor Day followed a well-established tradition — unions claiming credit for every worker gain.  Among their most common assertions, often incorporated in attributing negative wage trends to eroding union power, was that unions raise all workers' wages.  Unfortunately, unions retard rather than raise others' real earning power.  Unions leverage special government-granted powers (e.g., unique exemptions from antitrust laws) allowing current employees to prevent competition from others willing to do the same work for less.  This is a form of collusion that, done by any business, would be legally prosecuted.  The higher union wages that result are then credited for raising all workers' wages because they supposedly force up other employers' wages to keep their workers from leaving for those better-paying alternatives.  However, their claim cannot be true without violating the law of demand.

Why you should celebrate workers — not unions.  In July, West Virginia became America's 26th right-to-work state, meaning tens of thousands of Mountain State workers will be free from Big Labor's stranglehold.  You see, in the 24 states without right-to-work laws, union officials can order workers fired simply for refusing to pay union dues or fees.  What's more, millions more nonmember workers nationwide have no choice but to accept unions' bargaining power over their wages and working conditions, even if they want nothing to do with the union and could get a better deal on their own.  This despite the fact that poll after poll shows the American people overwhelmingly oppose forced union dues and affiliation, a view shared by rank-and-file union members.  In a nationwide scientific poll of 760 union members commissioned by the National Right to Work Foundation, 80 percent supported the principle that union membership and dues payment should not be required as a condition of employment.

Has Clinton Written Off Working-Class White Men?  The Democratic convention in Philadelphia this week was a shrewdly planned, well-choreographed, star-studded celebration of diversity, inclusion and social justice.  A party now dominated by progressives also tried reaching out to moderate or defecting Republicans with decorated veterans, some tough talk on national security and passionate displays of patriotism.  But for the white working-class men drawn to Donald Trump — the very voters who were for decades the foundation of the Democratic Party — the message was clear:  We've pretty much given up on you.  The convention, which started on a divisive and dramatic note with leaked emails showing the Democratic National Committee had favored the candidacy of Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders all along, ended up, by most accounts, a great success.  Yet it also illustrated what polling shows — that the ascendant coalition in the Democratic Party of women, young voters and non-whites may no longer find common cause with blue-collar white men.

Democrats Abandon Workers to Trump.  [Scroll down]  Smart liberal journalists smell the coffee.  "Donald Trump's Working-Class Appeal Is Starting To Freak Out Labor Unions" was the headline over an article in The Huffington Post.  But because the unions are endorsing Mrs. Clinton, the Trump candidacy has the potential to drive a huge wedge between the well-paid union leaders and the workers they claim to represent.  "Hillary Clinton has supported virtually every trade agreement that has cost this country millions of jobs and is on the exact opposite side from rank-and-file union workers whose jobs she has destroyed," Trump says.  "Clinton has helped negotiate the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] and is its biggest booster — there is no doubt she would enact it if given the chance — yet more betrayal of union voters whose jobs would vanish as a result of this deal."

The Future of Mandatory Union Dues.  Friedrichs v.  California Teachers Association was anticipated to be one of the most significant cases of the Supreme Court's term.  In Friedrichs, the Court was considering whether to overrule its prior decision in Abood v.  Detroit Board of Education (1977), which held that public employees can be required to financially support union collective-bargaining with government, but not union political activities.  In 2014, the Court sharply criticized Abood's rationales in Harris v.  Quinn, but stopped short of overruling it. Friedrichs was primed to be the final word on Abood's continuing validity.  However, with Justice Scalia's passing in February, the Court deadlocked 4-4 in Friedrichs, and Abood remains the law of land.

Behind the Don't Shoot Coalition in Ferguson.  A core of community organizers is behind the 45 organizations placing demands on the policing agencies in St.  Louis County.  As the Grand Jury's decision concerning Officer Darren Wilson is awaited, Don't Shoot Coalition (DSC) is preparing its role in street demonstrations likely to come in the wake of an anticipated No True Bill. [...] Who is on the DSC membership list?  The publicized list of the 45 DSC group names breaks down into these categorizes:  (1) Labor Unions; (2) African-American Organizations; (3) Other Ethnic Groups; (4) Faith-based Organizations; (5) Anti-War Activists; [...] [Category #1] Labor Unions:  American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3354; International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW Local 1345); Service Employees International Union Healthcare Missouri (SEIUMO); Communication Workers of America, Local 6355.

Will A Robot Take Your Job?  "If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?" is the alarming question asked by Rice University professor Moshe Vardi, who is the source of the new estimate.  It's a legitimate question.  And Vardi answers it, claiming that the advent of robots will lead to the destruction of middle-class jobs, "exacerbating inequality."  Vardi's right about one thing:  The robot age is upon us.  From 2004 to 2014, annual sales of industrial robots surged 136% to 229,000.  Today, there are more than 1.6 million robots on factory floors around the world.  If anything, Vardi's estimate about robots might be too pessimistic.  Other estimates say that as much as half of all human work could be done by robots within a decade.  So:  Is this it for human labor?

Latino Activists Reject Union's Support For Hillary, Rally For Bernie Sanders.  Bakersfield, California — More than one hundred Latino activists, organizers, and farm workers offered their support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during a back-and-forth discussion in the Harvest Hall at the Bakersfield Fairgrounds.  The open discussion drew a sharp contrast with the heavily staged and managed public events put on by Bernie's primary competitor, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Unions demand AFL-CIO cut ties with environmental activist billionaire.  Seven unions have demanded that the AFL-CIO cut ties with Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund manager and environmental activist, over his opposition to the Keystone Pipeline and other oil and gas projects.  In a letter sent to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Monday, union officials accused the labor confederation of becoming "infiltrated by financial and political interests that work in direct conflict to many of our members' — and yes, AFL-CIO dues paying members' lives."

The Green War Against the Working Class.  There was a time in America — and it wasn't even so long ago — that liberals actually cared about working class people.  They may have been misguided in many of their policy solutions (i.e., raising the minimum wage) but at least their heart was in the right place.  Then a strange thing happened about a decade ago.  The radical leftwing environmentalists took control.  These are people who care more about the supposed rise of the oceans than the financial survival of the middle class.  The industrial unions made a catastrophic decision to get in bed with these radicals and now they — and all of us — are paying a heavy price.

Why Minimum Wage Is Bad For Workers, Great For Unions.  The Los Angeles Times recently described how Bill Martinez, a 53-year-old bellhop at the Sheraton Universal in Studio City, was thrilled when he heard the city council voted to raise the minimum wage at big hotels like the one he worked at.  That would have boosted his hourly pay 71%.  Oops.  The law in fact lets unionized hotels avoid the minimum.  So even though Martinez pays $56.50 a month in dues to the union, he won't get the raise.  "That's what really makes me mad," he said.  But non-unionized hotels will have to pay the higher wage.  So unionized hotels will now have a cost advantage.  In short, the unions used minimum wage workers to generate more business for themselves.  Please remember that the next time you hear some union spokesperson blabbing about "the working man."

Some L.A. Unionized Hotel Workers Realize They've Been Screwed Over.  California's upcoming, poorly thought out (beyond the political gains) massive minimum wage boost to $15 per hour does not grant unions an exemption.  They will not be permitted to "collectively bargain" away the price floor in exchange for other benefits, just like businesses who are not unionized.  While most folks may assume that this has always been the case, in reality, cities and municipalities that have set their own minimum wages and other employment mandates have included exemptions for unions.  Many people aren't aware of it, and it may seem odd on the surface, given that the unions themselves are pushing for the increases.

SEIU reportedly spent millions on minimum wage initiative as enrollment drops.  The Service Employees International Union is believed to have spent $20 million on its campaign to have the minimum wage raised to $15 last year, according to a new report.  The report by the Center for Union Facts, a watchdog group, says that the new figure is in addition to the $50 million already spent since 2012.  The numbers come from the 2015 financial disclosures released by the SEIU that were was analyzed by the CUF.  What the CUF discovered was that a majority of the $20 million spent for the "Fight for 15" campaign last year went to various organizing committees and that the powerhouse union was likely spending even more, due to staff salaries, legal services and money paid to minimum wage advocacy groups such as the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the Economic Policy Institute (EcPI).

Court strikes down Wisconsin right-to-work law.  Wisconsin's right-to-work law, championed by Republican Gov.  Scott Walker as he was mounting his run for president, was struck down Friday [4/8/2016] as violating the state constitution.

Judge strikes down Wisconsin right-to-work law.  A Dane County judge sided with unions and struck down Wisconsin's right-to-work law.  The unions, including the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers and International Association of Machinists, argued the law amounts to an unconstitutional seizure of their property because it allows workers who don't pay union dues to still receive union benefits.  State attorneys argued the law is constitutional since it technically doesn't take any money out of union coffers.  Judge William Foust agreed the law amounts to taking the unions' property without just compensation, and that it violates the state constitution.  Laws require that unions provide collective bargaining for the employees, but the state law let employees choose whether they wanted to pay union dues.

Yet Another Wisconsin Judge Tries to End Right-to-Work Laws.  He, Too, Will Fail.  In 2011, Dane County circuit judge Maryann Sumi held that Act 10, Wisconsin's historic reform of public-sector collective bargaining, had been enacted in violation of the state's open-meetings law, and she ordered that it not go into effect.  For a variety of reasons, it was clear from the get-go that this decision would not survive appeal.  It did not.  The Wisconsin supreme court reversed Judge Sumi by a vote of 4 to 0, with three justices wishing to defer a decision on procedural grounds.  In 2012, Dane County circuit judge Juan Colas held that Act 10, now in effect, was unconstitutional.  Again, it was obvious from the start that this decision was fatally flawed and would not survive appeal.  It didn't.  The Supreme Court reversed Judge Colas by a vote of 5 to 2.  On Friday [4/8/2016], Dane County judge William Foust held that Wisconsin's right-to-work law was unconstitutional.  Once again, this ruling has little chance to survive on appeal.

Do Reporters Know They're Giving Money to Sanders and Clinton?  The donations occur through the 700,000-member Communications Workers of America — the umbrella union for guild journalists at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other papers, as well as for many TV and communications workers.  The CWA has been one of Bernie Sanders' biggest contributors throughout his Washington career, records show.

Tied 4-4 after Scalia's death, high court gives unions a win.  In the clearest sign yet of the impact of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, U.S. labor unions scored a major victory Tuesday [3/29/2016] with a tie vote in a high-profile Supreme Court case they had once seemed all but certain to lose.

The Eight-Justice Supreme Court Strikes Again.  In its latest deadlock of the post-Scalia era, the Supreme Court split 4-4 on an issue of vital importance to public-employee unions and their foes.  In its inaction, the high court left in place one of its own key pro-union precedents and, more broadly, highlighted the stakes surrounding President Obama's pending nomination to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.  Some Supreme Court observers were disappointed by today's irresolution.  "The most important labor union controversy to reach the Supreme Court in years sputtered to an end on Tuesday [3/29/2016], with a 4-4 split, no explanation, and nothing settled definitely," veteran court analyst Lyle Denniston wrote on Scotusblog.

The Crisis of the Blue Model.  The Supreme Court deadlock giving public unions officials "the ability ... to collect fees from workers who chose not to join and did not want to pay for the unions' collective bargaining activities" was touted by the New York Times as a "victory for unions". [...] But in the larger context the public unions greatest enemy isn't the ghost of Antonin Scalia but the onslaught of technology.  Recently, the mighty International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) was forced to let giant robots handle cargo in the port of Los Angeles.

Deadlocked Supreme Court Gives Win to Labor Unions.  Public sector unions got a win Tuesday at the Supreme Court in a major labor case, allowing them to continue to collect fees from nonmembers and, ultimately, have more money for campaign donations.  The shorthanded Supreme Court tied 4-4, a result that affirms a lower court ruling that continued to allow unions to require dues from workers they must represent but who aren't members.  The court issued a one-line order without elaboration that won't settle the issue nationwide and doesn't foreclose a challenge on the same issue in the future.

Public unions prevail as split Supreme Court sinks Friedrichs suit.  A landmark California case against state teachers unions' mandatory dues collection fell victim to the late Justice Antonin Scalia's absence from the Supreme Court — salvaging "a long-standing rule that requires about half of the nation's teachers, transit workers and other public employees to pay a 'fair share fee' to support their union," as the Los Angeles Times reported.  "Sidestepping a potentially radical change for public employee unions, a deadlocked U.S.  Supreme Court on Tuesday [3/29/2016] declined to topple the ability of organized labor to continue to collect dues from government workers who oppose being forced to pay fees to cover collective bargaining costs," the San Jose Mercury News noted.

Labor Union Leadership "Freaking Out" as Membership Supports Donald Trump.  It is always a good day for the vulgarian rebel alliance when Terry O'Sullivan, Andy Stern and Richard Trumka begin having 'splodey heads because the republican candidate has more appeal than the Democrat they are organizationally funding.

Teachers' Unions vs. Better Schools.  Since 1990, the two largest teachers' unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, have spent a combined $114 million on campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  Teachers' unions spent over $30 million in contributions in the 2014 election cycle alone, and [Bernie] Sanders has received the second highest total of any federal political from teachers' unions in the 2016 election cycle.  "By any reasonable accounting, the nation's two teachers' unions, the NEA and the AFT, are by far the most powerful groups in the American politics of education," argues Terry Moe, author of Special Interests: Teachers Unions and America's Public Schools.  "No other groups are even in the same ballpark."  Moe is not exaggerating.  AFT and NEA also spent over $60 million on lobbying from 1998 to 2015.  The NEA is the fourth-largest single donor in American politics since 1989.  Many of these funds go towards securing favorable collectively-bargained agreements.

Union Dues Blues.  At a time of growing employee discontent with labor leaders, the Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in a case that could undermine the ability of government unions to collect fees from workers.  The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, was brought by ten Golden State teachers who object to a law requiring them to pay fees to a union, even though they have declined to join it.  The plaintiffs argue that such payments from nonmembers, known as agency fees, are unconstitutional, because the union uses them to underwrite political causes that the teachers don't support.  In recent years, the Court has signaled growing impatience with the way government unions spend monies collected from workers; on Monday, the justices' questions suggested that a majority may be ready to declare agency fees unconstitutional.

Admission By California's State Attorney May Blow Union's Case.  During this week's much-anticipated oral arguments in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association U.S. Supreme Court case, which challenges mandatory teacher-union fees, a critical exchange took place between Justice Antonin Scalia, who is viewed as the swing vote in the case, and the attorney representing the State of California.  The result of that exchange could end up freeing teachers from paying for collective-bargaining contracts that hurt them and students.

This might be the end of organized labor.  The U.S. Supreme Court may deliver a big blow to organized labor in America.  On Monday [1/11/2016], the court heard oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case whose importance to public sector unions can hardly be overstated.  If the oral argument was any indication, public sector unions are out of luck.  Friedrichs concerns the constitutionality of "agency shops" for workers providing government services.  In an agency shop, people working under a collective bargaining agreement negotiated by a union are free not to join the union, but are required to pay the equivalent of the union dues.  That's because without the rules of an agency shop, workers could get the benefits and protections of union membership without bearing any of the costs.

Looming setback for public unions would be a political earthquake.  With Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court took on the outcome of one election.  But the case heard by the Supreme Court on Monday [1/11/2016] could affect elections for many years.  The justices' remarks during arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association point to a major setback looming for public unions.  The court will likely rule teachers and other unionized public workers don't have to pay their unions for representation unless they want to.  That means unions will have much less money to spend tilting elections for Democrats.  Not only in California, but also in 22 other states where public workers are forced to support the union whether they want to or not.  It's a political earthquake for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — where unions dominate public employment and politics.

Political Earthquake Ahead.  Bush V. Gore decided a single election.  But the case heard by the Supreme Court on Monday [1/11/2016] could impact elections for many years.  The Justices' remarks during arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association point to a major setback looming for public unions.  The Court will likely rule that teachers and other unionized public workers don't have to pay their unions for representation unless they want to.

Supreme Court majority is critical of compelled public employee union fees.  A majority of the Supreme Court on Monday [1/11/2016] seemed prepared to hand a significant defeat to organized labor and side with a group of California teachers who claim their free speech rights are violated when they are forced to pay dues to the state's teachers union.  By their questioning at oral argument, the court's conservatives appeared ready to junk a decades-old precedent that allows unions to collect an "agency fee" from nonmembers to support collective-bargaining activities for members and nonmembers alike.

Unions at risk? Supreme Court justices voice skepticism toward forced dues.  Supreme Court justices signaled Monday [1/11/2016] that they could deal a major blow to public-sector unions, in a case challenging the controversial dues that organized labor forces workers to pay.  The court's conservative justices, and a key swing justice, made skeptical comments about the legality of the payments during 80 minutes of oral argument in Washington.  At issue is a four-decade-old precedent that allows public unions to collect "fair share" fees from non-members to help cover the costs of collective bargaining.

Union dues violate my speech rights: The lead plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case explains why she fights.  When you're an elementary school teacher like me, you happily tackle a number of unpleasant job requirements:  cleaning up from finger-painting, wiping runny noses and removing the occasional piece of gum from a student's hair.  But there's one requirement I'm not happy about:  paying dues — about $1,000 a year for full-time teachers — to a union I don't support.  I'm not alone.  In 23 states all public employees are required by state law to fund the issue agenda of their unions through their mandatory dues payments even if they aren't union members.  That's why nine California teachers and I are suing to end compulsory union dues in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court on Monday [1/11/2016].

Obama's Tragic Legacy for Black Americans.  At the urging of labor unions, President Obama has pushed for higher minimum wages that price a disproportionate percentage of blacks out of the labor force.  At the urging of teachers unions, he has fought voucher programs that give ghetto children access to better schools.  Both policies have a lengthy track record of keeping millions of blacks ill-educated and unemployed.

Dems Panicking Over High Court Union Dues Case.  Soon these unions could have a lot less money to tilt elections for Democrats.  The United States Supreme Court, which opened its term Monday [10/5/2015], is poised to rule whether public workers have to pay unions for collective bargaining even if they don't join.  A decision against unions would have its biggest impact on New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California and Illinois.  Union coffers in these states could be drained, and labor activists are petrified.

Unions And Dems Alike Face Big Blow From Walker's Labor Plan.  Unions wield considerable political influence and are one of the primary financial contributors to support Democrats.  Their wealth comes from a combination of both forced and voluntary union dues.  If Walker becomes president and implements his plan, the bottom lines of unions and Democrats alike could be impacted significantly, as detailed in a report from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).  "Nearly all of labor's 2012 donations to candidates and parties — 90 percent — went to Democrats," the report from CRP concluded.  "Public sector unions, which include employees at all levels of government, donated $14.7 million to Democrats in 2014."

The Union Bosses' Political Machine is Even Bigger Than They Admit.  Well-heeled corporate lobbyists.  Powerful business interests.  Eccentric billionaires with shadowy ideological agendas. When it comes to political spending, these figures dominate the popular imagination.  Meanwhile, another player has largely managed to avoid public scrutiny while quietly assembling one of the most powerful political spending machines in the country.  Big Labor's reach has expanded dramatically, and unlike every other interest group, union bosses' ambitious political agenda is bankrolled by employees who have no choice but to contribute.  Union politicos mask this influence by adroitly funneling their forced-dues dollars to a variety of political organizations that, at first blush, have nothing to do with organized labor.

Biden Gets The Commie Vote.  I come from a family of Christians who are loyal union members.  My father belonged to the Millwright/Carpenter Union his whole life.  My cousin and uncle were both Ironworkers.  The sad part is, big parts of my family voted for Barack Obama... not once, but twice.  Even sadder is that if Joe Biden runs, they'll vote for him as well.  Why?  Because he's pro-labor and that's all they can see.  It doesn't matter if pro-labor means pro-worker or not.  They have one issue and have blinders on.  It has now caused an insurmountable schism in my family which saddens me greatly.  If my father were still alive, as pro-union as he was until the last decade or so of his life, there's no way he would have ever supported these craven Marxists.

What Makes American Workers Great: It isn't thieving union bosses.  When it comes to fortifying sanctimony with criminality, it is hard to beat the American labor movement, which we hear a great deal from on Labor Day weekend.  The education monopolists may dabble in criminality, as with those teachers and administrators in Atlanta who soon will be reporting to prison, but they're mostly sanctimony most of the time, and of course the union bosses have a hand in that, too, teachers' unions being what they are.  But for a really elegant balance of sanctimony and criminality, you want one of those Philadelphia union goons who talk about solidarity with working people while committing arson and vandalizing churches in the service of their own narrow economic interests.  The good news is that in the real economy, the American labor movement is dead as fried chicken.  It's just waiting to keel over.

Which Side Are They On?  According to the Center for Responsive Politics, labor accounted for six of the top ten political contributors in America from 1989 to 2009, half of them in the public sector and all channeling funds to the Democrats.  Over 20 years, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees has donated $42 million, 98 percent to Democrats; the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, $31.5 million, 97 percent to Democrats; the National Education Association, $30 million, 92 percent to Democrats; the Laborers Union, $29 million, 92 percent; and the Teamsters, $28 million, 92 percent.  Most important, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), considered the main Obamaite union, has disbursed $28 million to politicians, with 95 percent to Democrats.

Minimum Wage for Thee, But Not for Me.  The AFL-CIO, official labor union of the Democrat Party, wants a higher minimum wage to provide "protection for the country's lowest-paid workers."  The SEIU, another large labor union, wants a bump in the minimum wage to create jobs and generate economic activity. [...] Let's follow the money.  A company can unionize and instead of paying $15 per hour, pay only $8 an hour, saving a bunch of money.  A win for the company.  Workers in the newly unionized company are now paying union dues.  A win for the union.  Finally, over 90 percent of union political donations, made up largely of dues, go to Democrats.  A win for the Democrats, the party that would grant the minimum wage exemptions by virtue of their control of the executive branch of government.

The SEIU has blown "$80 million in members' dues money attacking the McDonald's brand and its franchisees".  Last year, according to reports on file with the U.S. Department of Labor, the Service Employees Internationals Union paid Scott Courtney $232,060 in total compensation.  However, that is a mere pittance to the estimated nearly $80 million that the SEIU has shelled out in its nearly three-year battle to unionize the nation's fast-food workers.  Though his official SEIU title is "Deputy Chief of Staff," according to a post in the Guardian, Courtney is the chief strategist of the SEIU's Fight for $15 campaign — the campaign concocted by the SEIU in late 2009 as a means of unionizing low-wage fast-food workers.

Bernie Sanders scores nurses union endorsement.  National Nurses United — a 185,000-person union and the largest group of nurses in the country — endorsed Bernie Sanders at their national conference Monday [8/10/2015].  The endorsement is significant because it is Sanders' first sizable union endorsement in his quest for the Democratic nomination and comes after Sanders and other Democratic candidates pitched themselves to the AFL-CIO, a group that includes the nurses union, last month.

Unions: This time, we'll defeat Walker.  Labor groups are gearing up for another fight with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) now that he has entered the presidential race.  After a failed recall bid in Wisconsin, unions are determined to make sure Walker never sets foot in the Oval Office.  But organized labor's opposition could play well for Walker in the GOP primary because it appeals to his conservative base.

Yet Again, the Left is Caught Fraudulently Faking Support for its Ridiculous Policies.  [Scroll down]  The phone companies want to transition from 1930s circuit-switched wireline networks to state-of-the-art IP phone service. In part because... duh. In part because these old lines are WAY more expensive to maintain. Money dumped backwards down these imploding ratholes could be MUCH better spent advancing the tech ball — making things MUCH better and faster going forward. [...] Because most of the antiquated phone lines are unionized — and most of the modern lines are not.  As we move away from the ancient technology — we move away from the CWA's gravy gigs.

Union Boss Blasts Walker in Very Short Statement.  Make no doubt about it, AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumpka doesn't like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and doesn't think much of his run for President.  As Walker formally announced his candidacy on Monday, Trumpka was short and to the point.  A statement released by the union lobby group used just six words to respond to Walker's announcement.  "Scott Walker is a national disgrace," read the entirety of the statement from Trumpka.  In fact the headline of the statement used 22 words, almost four times as many just to announce that Trumpka had something to say.

Public Pensions Prove Zero Sum Economics.  Since Democrats use the rhetoric of income redistribution to get elected, it would be interesting to see how each household is burdened by the money taken from their pockets by public sector unions in Illinois, unions who give all of their campaign money to Democratic candidates in state elections.  Of course, Illinois is not the only state dominated by high Democrat taxes and public sector spending but it serves as a good case study of what Democrats do when they have total control of budgets for decades.  And it must be kept in mind that public sector unions give 99% of the national campaign donations to Democrats so the impact is national.

$15 Minimum Wage: Women, Blacks Hurt Most.  Union leaders, who successfully lobbied for LA's $15-an-hour minimum wage, then asked for an exemption for any firms using union labor!  Repeat, the very same union leaders who successfully lobbied for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, then wanted an exemption for businesses that employ union labor and negotiate their wages under collective bargaining.  Union bosses want the fear of a $15 minimum wage hike to push companies into unionizing their labor forces.

Unions Pour Millions Into Clinton Foundation.  The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), a union watchdog group, traced at least $2 million in donations from multiple union organizations and affiliates.  "U.S. Department of Labor's union financial disclosure reports reveal that Big Labor gave at least $2,034,500 in union general treasury funds to Clinton Foundations.  Union treasuries are funded mostly by compulsory union dues or fees collected from workers who would be fired for refusing to pay," the NILRR report says.  "As Mrs. Clinton became closer to her current run for president, donations amounts appear to have increased."

Unions fight to preserve Obama's immigration actions, their members.  Two of the country's most powerful and politically influential labor unions are backing President Obama in the recent court challenge to his 2014 executive action on illegal immigration, saying they support the president's effort because "undocumented workers" need more workplace protection and their participation helps the U.S. economy.  The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association on Monday each filed so-called amicus briefs in a federal appeals court case in which Texas and 26 other states are challenges the president's 2014 memorandum on illegal immigration.

Top US public employee union AFSCME gave $65M in 2014, mostly to Democrats, progressive groups.  AFSCME is funded by roughly 1.4 million members and mandatory fees taken from 125,255 nonmembers.  Critics argue AFSCME gets its revenue from taxpayers so its donations are essentially indirect support for Democratic politicians, political activist groups and bigger government.  AFSCME's 2014 report to the Labor Department showed $64,585,115 in Political Activities and Lobbying spending.  The union also reported more than $1 million in donations to political nonprofits as Contributions, Gifts and Grants, with $126,500 going to MSNBC host Al Sharpton's National Action Network.

One Out of Three SEIU Dollars Goes to Overhead, Politics.  Labor giant SEIU spent more than $100 million on union overhead and political activities in 2014, according to federal labor filings released Tuesday evening [3/31/2015].  The union collected about $320 million from its 1.8 million members, who are primarily government employees and health care workers.  For every $3 that a union member contributed to its coffers, $1 went to functions outside of membership services.  The union spent about $55 million paying union administrators and covering overhead costs, including more than $276,000 to president Mary Kay Henry.

Here's why unions despise right-to-work.  Have you ever wondered why labor unions are so strongly opposed to right-to-work laws?  Watch this brief video and wonder no more.

Right to Work Creates Two Americas — One Is More Prosperous.  "Half of U.S. Now Under Right to Work" was the headline in the socialist magazine In These Times this week, after Governor Scott Walker signed legislation making Wisconsin the nation's 25th Right to Work (RTW) state, giving all employees the right to hold a job without having to join a union.  Walker's action creates a symbolic division of the country into two halves:  49 percent of the population now lives in RTW states and 51 percent do not.  The RTW states are concentrated in the South and Mountain West, but in the last three years Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin have created a solid Midwest beachhead for the movement. [...] It's clear which half of the country is prospering more.

Shame on the Chicago Tribune for printing this 'cartoon'.  The Tribune offers, the "cartoonist" is Gary Huck, the "last full time cartoonist employed by a major labor union.  He's the house jester for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, which is based in Pittsburgh."  Remarkable position.  A full time cartoonist for a union.  Keep those dues coming.

Are private unions cooling toward Democrats?  President Obama has long been a friend of organized labor, wholeheartedly supported by unions that helped boost him to victory in both his presidential campaigns.  But increasingly, there now is a divide between unions in the public and private sector when it comes to supporting him.  According to James Sherk, a labor policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation, government employee unions want "bigger and more expensive government," in contrast to private sector unions.

AFL-CIO Throws Member Union under Liberal Bus.  When unions play politics, they throw a significant chunk of their membership under the proverbial bus.  While 90 percent of union political contributions go to Democrats and an overwhelming percentage of identifiable contributions to political organizations go to liberal groups like the Center for American Progress, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and Harry Reid's Senate Majority PAC, exit polls show roughly 40 percent of union households vote Republican.

Union Member's Bill of Rights.  [Includes] Freedom of speech and assembly, including the right to:  criticize union officials; express any viewpoint at union meetings (subject to reasonable rules of conduct);  distribute literature outside the union hall or inside the hall if members cannot reasonably be reached from outside;  hold separate meetings without interference from union officials; [...]

Big Labor's Massive Political Machine.  As John Cunniff of the Associated Press reported just before Labor Day [1996], workers "in 29 states and the District of Columbia, where right-to-work laws don't exist, can be fired for refusing to pay union dues, even if those dues are used for purposes abhorrent to their religious, moral or political beliefs."  Those employees do have the right not to pay for union political activities with which they disagree, thanks to US Supreme Court decisions won by employees with the help of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.  But, Cunniff reported, "most workers are unaware of this right, and union leadership seldom informs them of it."

An Employee's Guide to Union Dues and Religious Do Nots.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 places two obligations upon employers and unions regarding employees' religious beliefs.  First, they must not discriminate against employees because of their religious beliefs.  Second, they must reasonably accommodate an employee's religious beliefs, unless the accommodation would create an undue hardship for the employer or the union.

Union Bosses Scramble to Save Democrat Agenda.  On Monday [9/1/2014], as millions of American workers gathered with family and friends to celebrate and mark the end of summer, the nation's union bosses were preparing to inject tens of millions of dollars from their members' paychecks into the midterm elections in November.  Unions have already spent $70 million to protect the Democrat majority in the Senate.  Even this amount is likely to be dwarfed by a flood of money and manpower in the final weeks of the campaign.

Big Labor: Eat only 'union-made' for Labor Day BBQ.  Labor Day is no time for a non-union barbecue, says the nation's labor movement.  To help the shoppers, Big Labor has issued a list of union-made food and drinks that should be served at the backyard feast today [9/1/2014].

The Editor says...
In other words, when you buy these products, you indirectly support the Democrats and their socialist agenda.

Labor Day Is Just A Celebration Of Government Workers.  Labor Day is the traditional last day of summer, often celebrated by final trips to the shore and followed by public pool closings and other signs that the world is battening down the hatches for colder weather.  However what most don't realize is that the day itself was originally created by organized labor to call attention to the contribution of workers.  It was a public relations stunt designed to provide labor unions a focal point in their never-ending battle with management.

AFL-CIO head: Obama must 'go bold' on immigration.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Thursday he expects President Obama will take executive action on immigration, but warned that if he doesn't "go bold," he risks alienating the Democratic base while invigorating Republicans.  Trumka also said that workers were frustrated with the president and Democrats more broadly for failing to focus on issues important to them.

Shrinking government and seeing a shrink.  The National Treasury Employees Union has a PDF document on its website which shows why any attempt to shrink the government is foredoomed.  "The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is an independent labor union representing approximately 150,000 employees of 30 agencies of the United States government.  The union specializes in representation of non-supervisory federal employees in every classification and pay level in civilian agencies."  The document urges NTEU members to oppose a list of "bad bills" now before congress.  Here is the list of "bad bills" verbatim. [...]

Automation [is] the Joker in the Deck.  The fact is that the same technology that places a diode on a circuit board or a box on a pallet could easily be made to assemble a hamburger, a sub sandwich, or a pizza in a restaurant, as is currently being done by manufacturers of prepared foods.  The stark reality is that, once labor costs reach a tipping point, automation becomes a practical, efficient, and economical alternative, especially for low-skilled jobs.  Once implemented, there is no going back, and today automation is more accessible than ever.

Big Labor hits Republicans for treating immigrant children like 'criminals'.  Four Republican lawmakers will be hit with Spanish-language ads during the Congress's August recess attacking them over their immigration stances, the Service Employees International Union said Tuesday [7/29/2014].  The targets are Reps. Cory Gardner and Mike Coffman of Colorado, David Valadao of California, and Joe Heck of Nevada.  The ads will hit them for blocking immigration reform, opposing the DREAM Act and "attack[ing] our children at the border as if they were criminals."

Unions weep: After becoming RTW state, Michigan incomes rise.  Hey, do you remember when Michigan shocked the nation and became a right to work state in 2012?  That was supposed to usher in the end of the world, at least in the view of union leaders and their Democrat water carriers. [...] Those poor, poor Michigan workers.  One can only imagine how they must be struggling two years later after the nasty, wingnut conservatives threw them to the corporate wolves.  So...  how's that working out?

Right-To-Work Study Destroys Obama's Claim That Forcing Americans To Join Unions Helps The Economy.  In December of 2012, speaking in front of a union audience, President Obama was cheered when he claimed that "right-to-work" laws — laws that allow employees to decide for themselves whether to join a union — were all about politics and had nothing to do with economics.  In other words, he was advocating for forced unionism.  Turns out he was incredibly wrong.

Industry Critics: UC Berkeley Playing Host to Union-Funded Activist Research.  A coalition of foundations and union front groups is funding an academic post at the University of California at Berkeley for a prominent labor activist, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.  Saru Jayaraman, executive director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), a worker center that aims to organize food service employees, founded Berkeley's Food Labor Research Center in 2012.  The center, which is sponsored by the university's Labor Research Center, conducts research into working conditions and public policy as it relates to the food business.  According to a proposal outlining the project, Jayaraman's vision of the center was as political as it was academic.  She hoped to use the center to produce studies that would bolster the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA), a coalition of unions and labor activists.  ROC is a member of that group.

How the Left Will Repay the Catholic Church on Immigration.  [Scroll down]  The Los Angeles Times summarized the issue succinctly enough:  "California's leading union organization, bucking organized labor's long-standing neutrality on the issue of abortion, is for the first time taking a strong stand in favor of abortion rights."  Specifically, the union asked its 2.1 million members to reject Proposition 85.  This initiative would merely have required abortionists to honor the standards of ear-piercers and aspirin dispensers and get parents' permission before going to work on their daughters.

Big Labor Gave Millions to Worker Centers in 2013.  The most famous of these groups is the Fast Food Workers Committee, which has overseen protests for pay hikes at McDonalds and other well-known chain restaurants across the country.  The Fast Food Workers Committee received more than $1.8 million from the SEIU in 2013, according to the analysis.  "This is not some organic, localized uprising of restaurant workers or some altruistic campaign for higher wages.  This is a systematic campaign to organize fast food workers," said WFI's Glenn Spencer.  "You don't invest millions every year in this type of operation without getting something in return."

If you voted for Obama, how can you now complain?
Unions Slam Obama EPA Rule.  Labor unions criticized the Environmental Protection Agency's new regulations on carbon emissions from power plants on Monday [6/2/2014], highlighting growing tensions between the environmentalist and working class arms of the Democratic Party.  Those tensions have come to the forefront as leading Democrats embrace environmentalist policies backed by billionaire political donors that are generally opposed by members of the party's rank and file base.

Worker center charade goes international.  Today, union organizers and a handful of disgruntled fast-food employees are to protest large restaurant chains in the U.S. and other countries, demanding a $15 minimum wage.  The organizers behind the demonstrations are misleadingly calling them "strikes."  In reality, they're Potemkin village protests orchestrated by national labor unions and PR flacks.

See What Happened After Obama Hiked Wages on Military Bases.  Union interests are targeting McDonald's restaurants May 15th in their campaign to raise wages to $15.  In actuality, it's just a cover to try to force the global chain to unionize workers in order to increase the unions' flagging membership, which has been decreasing for decades.  That's why they're not going to tell the workers that if they actually were successful in raising the wages, they'd most likely lose their jobs as restaurants close down or their jobs are replaced by automation.

Democrats know better than to bite the Big Labor hand that feeds them.  Big Labor has donated $934 million to candidates for political office and parties in the last decade and a half, $755 million of which went to Democrats and liberal groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  That's just the spending reported to the Federal Election Commission.  A 2012 study of Labor Department filings by the Wall Street Journal found "an additional $3.3 billion that unions spent ... on political activity," such as polling fees and get-out-the-vote expenses, which aren't required to be reported, between 2005 and 2011.  The day after the 2012 election, Big Labor boasted that it won the election for Obama by driving up Democratic turnout in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.  "You take the unions out of Democratic politics and you will see a lot less Democrats elected, because they supply the money and the manpower," said Mallory Factor, author of Shadowbosses, a study on union political spending.

When unions use non-member dues to finance political activities.  A lawsuit making its way through federal court in California highlights just how much unions use their right to collect "agency fees" from nonmembers to fund political activities.  When the Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that government employee unions could collect a fee from nonmembers to cover the cost of collective bargaining, the justices noted that such fees could not be used to cover political activities.  In that decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the court affirmed a Michigan law that required teachers who didn't want to join a union to pay a so-called "agency fee" to the Detroit Federation of Teachers for the work it did representing everyone on the job.

On Keystone Pipeline, Democratic stalwart Laborers Union finds itself outbid by one enviro-billionaire.  The Laborers International Union of North America, with about 570,000 members, wants the Obama administration to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.  The union has a lot of clout in Democratic circles; according to the Center for Responsive Politics, it has contributed $38,089,860 to political candidates since 1989, with just seven percent of it going to Republicans.  Tom Steyer, the hedge-fund billionaire, wants the Obama administration to block construction of the pipeline.  Although a relative newcomer to the political game, he has pledged to give Democrats $50 million, and raise $50 million more, to get his way.  Who has more clout on this issue, the longtime Democratic labor union that has contributed $38 million over the past quarter-century, or the guy who can come up with $100 million for this election cycle alone?  The question answers itself.

Pelosi and Schumer need to read the Constitution.  Democrats are hyperventilating over a U. S. Supreme Court ruling on April 2, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claims the ruling will turn politics into a "money war."  Sorry, that happened a long time ago.  For the past two decades, unions have poured massive amounts into super PACs and other legal vehicles for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts, which favor Democrats. [...] Since 1989, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Education Association and other unions have dominated the list of political spenders, with virtually none of them contributing to Republican candidates or committees.

Top 20 labor-backed members of the House of Representatives.  [Info-graphic]

UPS Fires 250 Union Workers for Refusing to Work.  The liberal pro-union agenda has been taking a toll on the American workforce for years.  Our society has been eaten up by the entitlement mindset, training all of us to believe that we deserve certain things from our government and from our jobs.  A prime example of this is how unionized workers have been trained to believe that if they don't get what they want, the best option is to just stop working until they get it.

Pennsylvania legislators eye ending union exception to stalker laws.  Legislation that would end an unusual loophole in Pennsylvania's anti-stalking laws that exempts union-related activity is slowing making its way through the Republican-led statehouse.  It has a good chance of getting enacted, aides say.  The Keystone State defines stalking as "following the person without proper authority, under circumstances which demonstrate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person."  Repeated, unwanted communications count as stalking, too.  But the law also states:  "This section shall not apply to conduct by a party to a labor dispute."

Unions: Keystone review 'reeks of politics'.  Union leaders joined with the nation's largest oil and gas lobby on Tuesday to demand that President Obama approve the Keystone XL pipeline.  Building trades union leaders have long backed the pipeline, arguing it would create thousands of construction jobs and boost the economy.  But many of them have been muted in their criticism of President Obama, for fear of opening a rift with the White House over the controversial project.  That seemed to change on Tuesday [3/11/2014], as the presidents of building trade unions linked the delay of Keystone to broader anger at the administration within the labor movement.

300,000-member union drops bombshell Obamacare report.  The 300,000-member union that was the first to endorse then-Senator Barack Obama has released a devastating Obamacare report that says Obama's controversial healthcare program will slash worker wages by up to $5 an hour, reduce worker hours, and exacerbate income inequality.  The report by Unite Here — a North American labor union that represents workers in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, and airport industries — is titled: "The Irony of ObamaCare: Making Inequality Worse."

AFL-CIO: Not Worth the Cost to Invest in South for 2014 Elections.  The AFL-CIO is conceding its union lacks the power in the South to influence the upcoming 2014 elections, so it is not investing heavily in three hotly contested Senate races.  The AFL-CIO looked at the number of union members in Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina and decided it just was not worth it.  AFL-CIO political director Michael Podhorzer confessed, "Those states are states where we have relatively low union density.  I think you'll see in other battleground Senate states like Michigan, Alaska, [and] Iowa a really vigorous union program."

Why Unions Are Using $300 Million to Eliminate Five GOP Governors.  Union bosses are reportedly planning to spend $300 million of their members' money to eliminate five Republican governors during in the 2014 elections.  While union bosses have not released a prioritized list, if they had a list prioritizing which governors are higher in their hit list, it would probably look like this: [...]

The biggest donors in American politics.  OpenSecrets.org tallied the top donors in federal elections between 1989 and 2014.  Koch Industries — privately owned by the Evil Koch Bros — is on the list, to be sure, but doesn't appear until the 59th slot, with $18 million in donations, 90 percent of which went to Republicans.  So who occupies the 58 spots ahead of the Evil Koch Bros?  Six of the top 10 are ... wait for it ... unions.  They gave more than $278 million, with most of it going to Democrats.  These are familiar names:  AFSCME ($60.6 million), NEA ($53.5 million), IBEW ($44.4 million), UAW ($41.6 million), Carpenters & Joiners ($39.2 million) and SEIU ($38.3 million).

Unions back super-PAC supporting Republican centrists.  Labor unions are funneling cash to a super-PAC tied to a former lawmaker that is working to elect centrist Republicans to Congress.  Unions have contributed about $765,000 so far to the Defending Main Street Super-PAC, which is associated with former GOP lawmaker Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), according to Federal Election Commission records.

Lawsuit Against Mandatory Union Dues Moves Forward in California.  A federal lawsuit filed last May against the mandatory payment of union dues is moving forward in the courts, Fox News reports, and will soon be heard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The case was filed by a group of California public school teachers who say that being forced to pay union dues violates their right to free speech.  In states that do not have 'right-to-work' laws, like California, union members are forced to pay roughly $1,000 a year in dues that help finance political objectives some members may have objections to.

Labor Unions are Funding Moderates in the GOP Civil War to Help Defeat the Tea Party.  It's no secret that the GOP is divided.  While the moderates and the Tea Party battle it out in the Republican Civil War, the moderates are receiving funding from an unlikely source to help wage war against conservatives:  labor unions.  As the 2014 midterm elections approach, the greatest threat to Republican domination remains the divided nature of the GOP.

Unions sitting out ACA enrollment.  President Barack Obama's loyal allies in the labor movement aren't jumping to help the administration in the public battle over the problematic Obamacare website.  Put off by new reinsurance fees on group health care plans that affect union members, Big Labor is largely sitting out the effort to enroll people for health care coverage or make the White House's public case that the mangled rollout of HealthCare.gov doesn't mean the entire Affordable Care Act is flawed.

The ObamaCare Train Wreck: Union Edition.  One of the biggest tools in the Democrat toolbox is the use of unions to influence large swaths of voters to vote for Democrats.  The thinking — flawed thinking, in reality — goes like this:  "Unions are looking out for me, the worker.  They have my best interests at heart."  And somehow, magically, these unions consistently — almost exclusively — endorse Democrats, at least nationally.  This is weird because "workers" do better when pro-growth policies, which Democrats oppose, are in place.  It's weirder still when you consider how awful ObamaCare is for business, and by extension, the "worker."

IBEW Criticizes EPA's New Coal Emission Standards.  The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) blasted the Obama administration's new standards for coal plant emissions on Monday [9/23/2013], saying they will hamper job growth and U.S. energy independence and raise electricity prices.  The union's antipathy to the plan underscores a long-running tension between big labor and environmentalists, two key segments of the Democratic Party's political base.

The Editor states the obvious...
The unions brought all this grief upon themselves by funneling millions of dollars into the Democratic Party.

Labor, with union membership declining, will woo non-workers.  The AFL-CIO on Monday [9/9/2013] opened the door to becoming a group that is more representative of the left than of its members.  Facing what AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka called a "crisis" of membership, officials took the dramatic step at their annual convention of adopting a resolution that invites anyone in the country to join, regardless of union affiliation.  The move faced stiff resistance from union officials who fear the AFL-CIO's primary mission of representing workers will be left behind if the federation becomes a mouthpiece for liberal and progressive groups.

Boss Trumka Reaches Out.  So here is [Richard] Trumka's bright idea.  He will extend the AFL-CIO to include all members of the "progressive" movement whether they work or not, whether they are bird watchers or angry women, whatever. [...] There may be some bumps on the road ahead, for instance, when the United Mine Workers of America's 75,000 workers have to join with the Sierra Club whose 1.4 million members believe that coal power is "an outdated, backward and dirty 19th-century technology."

Labor Boss Loves Lefties.  The head of the AFL-CIO proposed the creation of formal partnerships with a variety of liberal special interest groups in the hopes that they will rally behind labor's political agenda during the group's national convention in Los Angeles on Sunday [9/8/2013].  Richard Trumka called on the union to welcome environmentalists, feminists, and other far left activists that have clashed with union interests in the past. [...] The union boss hopes that the proposal will help boost labor's political clout, which has dipped as membership roles have declined even though campaign spending on behalf of Democrats has skyrocketed.

Blue-collar laborers rebel at AFL-CIO's embrace of progressives.  The AFL-CIO needs to stick with representing workers and stop trying to take on social causes for the far left, said the union head for the International Association of Fire Fighters.  Harold Schaitberger, who presides over the IAFF, said there is "great value" in aligning with political groups — but only as a secondary mission, he told The Hill.  And the AFL-CIO's recent push to bring in environmental groups and progressive-minded organizations to the union cause is leading the IAFF to express concerns about politics becoming the priority, over the representation of members.

Why State Government Elections Matter.  The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the AFL-CIO is going to using the lion's share of its political resources in the 2014 midterm to elect Democrats at the state government level rather than in congressional elections.  Republicans, without ignoring federal elections, ought to be just as concerned about winning state government elections.

AFL-CIO Seeks Answers in Crisis.  The head of the AFL-CIO, in a far-reaching interview, said organized labor is in a crisis and that the nation's largest labor federation is adopting a new strategy to revive unions' political and social clout.  "What we've been doing sure hasn't been producing the results that we would like to see, and we have to change," said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president.

SEIU threatening San Francisco Bay Area Greenies.  Two unions, the SEIU and the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union, represent 2200 blue collar workers at the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.  Of the two, the SEIU is the more powerful, as a heavy funder and source of organizational manpower for the Democratic Party and lead dog in the unions' drive into the government sector.

You union people should have thought of this before you gave the Democrats millions of dollars!
Labor Unions: Obamacare Will 'Shatter' Our Health Benefits, Cause 'Nightmare Scenarios'.  Labor unions are among the key institutions responsible for the passage of Obamacare.  They spent tons of money electing Democrats to Congress in 2006 and 2008, and fought hard to push the health law through the legislature in 2009 and 2010.  But now, unions are waking up to the fact that Obamacare is heavily disruptive to the health benefits of their members.

Unions and the Democrats.  For generations the Democratic Party has relied upon unions and their members to dutifully pull the lever for Democratic candidates and to man their call centers and canvass neighborhoods.  And yet, an objective look at what are arguably the three biggest issues shows that Democrats are on the wrong side of these issues when compared to the desires and needs of union members.  Union members — it is time to break the allegiance with the Democratic Party.

Obama Panders To Big Labor On Workers Memorial Day.  President Obama blew another dog whistle to Big Labor this week with his proclamation of "Workers Memorial Day" [—] a renewed effort to demonize business and replace it with bigger government.  Coming just before the communist international May Day, "Workers Memorial Day" was a 1984 invention of Canada's public employee unions to promote unionization by politicizing the death of anyone killed in a workplace accident no matter what the cause, making business the bad guy.

California Non-Union Teachers Sue Unions Over Coercive Political Funding.  The Center for Individual Rights, a public interest legal group in Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit Tuesday [4/30/2013] in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles on behalf of 10 teachers from California and the Christian Educators Association.  "The union spends millions of teachers' hard-earned monies supporting causes and candidates that many of us oppose," said Rebecca Friedrichs, one of the plaintiffs, in a statement.  "The union is free to press its agenda, but individual teachers should not be forced to pay for it.  It is shocking to me and many other teachers that union officials have the power by law to spend our wages to press for causes that many of us oppose on moral, fiscal, or philosophical grounds."

Michigan Union Tell-All.  When Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state late last year, everyone knew unions would try to overturn or otherwise neuter the law.  Less expected was that they would do so at the expense of their own members.  That's the message from a December 27-28 memo to local union presidents and board members from Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook, which recommends tactics that unions can use to dilute the impact of the right-to-work law.

Unions Fight to Use Dues for Politics.  One thing heard constantly in the debate over right-to-work laws is that workers in unionized workplaces do have a choice since they can avoid paying for union political funding by exercising their "Beck Rights."  This is (kinda) true, but it should be noted that unions have always fought — and continue to fight — against this right.  Beck rights are based on a 1988 Supreme Court case that holds that employees can opt out of paying the political portion of their dues.  The case has been severely gutted over the years by judicial interpretations, but basically means that if a worker chooses, the union cannot use their agency fee money to directly fund political candidates.  But for all their talk about this option, labor unions have consistently fought to prevent it.

What Does 'Right to Work' Really Mean?  [Scroll down]  In reality, the new law [the Wagner Act] diminished fundamental private property rights for employers and their businesses and forced compulsory union membership and dues on employees.  The law was immediately controversial and unions steadily began to abuse their new powers throughout the country.  Through intimidation, overreaching demands on management, compulsory membership and dues, and dispersing money to political candidates, whether or not the actual union membership endorsed them or not, became the new normal.  By 1947, one out of every fourteen workers were on strike.

Why Urban Cities Like Detroit Must Accept Right-to-Work.  Detroit may be resurrected because the State of Michigan is on the verge of becoming the 24th state in the country to become Right-To-Work.  While unions and so-called civil rights leaders are protesting against the bill these are the same exact people who fail to realize that the time for unions are in the past.  I will give the unions credit, they helped build the "middle-class" during an industrial age of economics in the United States.  However, in the 21st century, we live in the technology age.  Unions, in my opinion, have become political thugs in terms of obstructing necessary laws and policies that will help and enhance the current trend of business today.

In North Korea, people don't get real change.  A recent analysis of data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) determined that less than 10 percent of union members actually voted to join the union that represents them.  The Employee Rights Act requires that every unionized workplace have a supervised secret ballot election every three years to determine whether employees want to continue to be represented by any incumbent union.

What the Looming Port Strike Is Really About.  It's not about jobs.  It's not about safety.  It's not about improving dockworkers' living standards.  The looming, long-planned East and Gulf Coast port strikes are about protecting Big Labor's archaic work practices and corrupt waterfront rackets.  Are you ready for a fiscal cliff?  The union bosses of an estimated 14,500 workers at 15 ports are preparing to send the economy plunging back into recession over productivity and efficiency rules changes.

Summary of Saul Alinsky's "Rules For Radicals".  Union organizers are often highly trained.  In many unions this training includes indoctrination in Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."  Saul Alinsky was a ruthless radical organizer.  He would stop at nothing to win.  Before he passed away in 1972 he published a book called "Rules for Radicals" in which he outlined his power tactics and questionable ethics.  Anyone interested in staying, or becoming, Union Free, whether in an organizing campaign or in a decertification or deauthorization election, ought to become familiar with these rules.

Unemployment rates are lower and wages are higher in right-to-work states.  The right thing for Republicans to do when they get elected is to cut off all sources of funding for the Democrat Party.  Right-to-work laws and school choice promote freedom and diminish the amount of power that left-wing, pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage labor unions can exert.  They will have less money, and with less money, they will have less influence on elections.  Let the people decide, not the powerful, corrupt labor unions.

The right states of mind.  The writing is on the wall.  Between 2000 and 2010, the population in the eight states without income taxes grew by 18 percent, while all others grew by 8 percent; the (then) 22 states with right-to-work laws grew by 15 percent; the others grew by 6 percent.

You have the right to not pay union dues.  [Scroll down]  Michigan Capitol Confidential took a look at recent federal filings by Michigan's largest union, the Michigan Education Association, and discovered that only 11 percent of dues went to "representational activities."  Over half of the dues (61 percent) went to "general overhead" and benefits for union employees rather than direct services on behalf of workers.  No dollars got spent "on behalf of individual workers," the form notes, but almost $5 million went to "political activities and lobbying," nearly a third of what was spent on "representational activities."  Perhaps workers support that distribution of their money.  If so, they still can support the union through voluntary dues payments.

Michigan Furor Previews Coming Tests of Labor Power.  Michigan is currently ground zero in the fight between labor and conservatives who believe its influence is hindering job growth.  But the Wolverine State skirmish over right-to-work legislation is just a preview for one of many hotly contested 2014 gubernatorial battles that will determine what role unions will play in the economy for future generations.

Special Alert to All Federal Security Screeners Employed by TSA.  The media is reporting that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has agreed to a contract with American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union bosses that governs some of your terms and conditions of employment with TSA.  Even though all security screeners will be covered by that contract, there is NO requirement that any security screener join the AFGE union or pay a cent of dues to that union.

Fighting for the freedom to work without coercion.  Right to Work laws protect the right of employees to choose for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union.  Longtime readers of my work know that I've been exposing the compulsory-union dues racket since my days as a columnist at the Seattle Times.

Your Right to Work Rights — In Three Minutes.  [For example,]  [#1] No employee in the United States can legally be required to be a full-dues-paying, formal union member.  But in many states, an employee can be forced to pay certain union dues or be fired from his or her job.  [#2] Union members have the right to resign from formal membership at any time.  However, dues deduction authorizations may limit when they can be revoked.  [#3] Employees covered by state Right to Work laws can not lawfully be required to pay any union fees to keep their jobs.

Debunking the Economic Case against Right to Work Laws.  As the fight over Michigan's Right to Work legislation heats up, many pro-forced unionism journalists and media outlets have suggested that a law protecting worker freedom would jeopardize the state's economic prospects.  The case for Right to Work has always rested on the importance of defending worker freedom, but Right to Work laws also have a proven track record of encouraging economic growth.

Michigan enacts right-to-work law, dealing blow to unions.  Michigan enacted far-reaching legislation Tuesday that threatens to cripple the power of organized labor in a state that was a hub of union might during the heyday of the nation's industrial dominance.

Obama's Big Michigan Right-To-Work Lie: Lower Wages.  Campaigning Monday [12/10/2012] in Michigan as it stood poised to become the nation's 24th right-to-work state, President Obama spoke the exact opposite of the truth to union workers at a Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in the birthplace of organized labor.  "What we shouldn't be doing," he told the small crowd, "is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages.  We don't want a race to the bottom.  We want a race to the top."  Yet looking at the hard numbers, becoming a right-to-work state is a direct line to the top.

What right to work would do for NY:  Union bosses are fuming at the prospect of a Michigan Right to Work law, but New Yorkers concerned about protecting employee freedom and reviving their state's flagging economy should consider Michigan's example.

TSA grabs union contract.  When Congress decided to take over airport security, it was never about safety.  That became clear on Friday [11/9/2012] when Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners formally agreed to a contract that will add 45,000 dues-paying members to the ranks of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).  This public-sector union forces members to hand over between $14 and $16 out of each paycheck, meaning the organization stands to collect as much as $16 million each year.  This money will help turn out the vote for Democratic candidates and subsidize a number of liberal causes.

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.  You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.  You cannot further the brotherhood of many by encouraging class hatred.  You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."

— Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, 1916.       

        "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

- Thomas Jefferson