Posts tagged Constitution
Opinion: Collective Manipulation; Whether in courts or in legislatures, public employee unions need to be reined in.
February 22, 2023 // The book contains countless examples of collective bargaining agreements effectively allowing employees to get away with gross misconduct and preventing managers from sanctioning them for lackluster work. An EPA employee was caught surfing porn in his cubicle at work and was paid for nearly two years before agreeing to retire. An IRS agent systematically denied benefits to African immigrants, repeatedly made discriminatory remarks in the office, and tried to run another employee off the road. His union lawyers got him a deal that left him with a clean personnel record when he left the agency, allowing him to get a job with the Forestry Service. “As a practical matter,” Howard writes, “almost no public employee can be dismissed without a massive managerial commitment,” and even that commitment does not guarantee success. California has 300,000 teachers and only about two or three a year lose their jobs because of poor performance. At the federal level, more employees die at work than face termination for poor performance. Public sector unions provide more than direct financial contributions to political campaigns. Howard recounts how they recruit and train candidates, manage phone banks, lead door-to-door canvassing drives, staff campaigns, and run ads. Such union political activity makes them larger and more influential than other political interest groups. The protracted legal battles former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker faced after he proposed reining in public-union power supports Howard’s thesis that union power is formidable. Walker beat a union-led recall effort against him, but union opposition to modest changes led to electoral annihilation in New Jersey in the 1990s.
Michigan Right-to-Work Repeal Bills Are Unconstitutional
January 19, 2023 // “A state legislature cannot overturn a U.S. Supreme Court interpretation of First Amendment rights,” said Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “These bills show a grave lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the rights of public employees. This attempt to put forth blatantly unconstitutional legislation is concerning.” The Mackinac Center is also opposed to House Bill 4005, which would repeal right-to-work for private sector employees. Senate Bill 5 and House Bill 4004
The Supreme Court hears a case this week that endangers workers’ ability to strike
January 10, 2023 // Glacier Northwest v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters should be a straightforward case. But nothing is ever straightforward in this Supreme Court.
Two states, two visions for the future of labor “Right-to-work” is on the ballot.
October 3, 2022 // Two economic papers published in the last year also reached different conclusions about the consequences of right-to-work laws. The first found right-to-work laws associated with increased manufacturing employment, increased employment, and greater upward mobility. The second found that right-to-work laws lower wages and unionization rates.
UAW leaders’ salaries going up, but percentage increase isn’t as high as in 2018
August 12, 2022 // Rather than listing the actual salaries as was the case previously, the 2018 document provided a formula, or multiplier, used to calculate the individual salaries for top leaders. The result, according to union activist Scott Houldieson, was that delegates at that year's convention were left to figure out that the salaries were being boosted by about 31%. UAW Local 551, Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, 3% raise, Frank Stuglin is secretary-treasurer, and Cindy Estrada, Terry Dittes and Chuck Browning are the vice presidents, although Estrada and Dittes are retiring,
PUBLIC-EMPLOYEE UNIONS USE RED TAPE TO OBSCURE THEIR DECEIT
March 29, 2022 // Read the fine print in your union membership agreement and you’ll find it’s filled with exceptions and loopholes intended to undermine the clear intent of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, which identified forced union membership or dues as a violation of the worker’s First Amendment rights.
High profile TN Republicans back ‘Right to Work’ constitutional amendment which already is state law
March 14, 2022 // “We think ‘Right to Work’ is one of the reasons our economy has been strong, as a state, up there with lacking a state income tax, it’s one of the biggest things that employers look at when relocating, when investing and expanding,” said Justin Owens, executive committee member for ‘TN Right 2 Work’.
Pro-Worker, Pro-Growth Making Right-to-Work Permanent in North Carolina
March 9, 2022 // It is simply unfair for unions to demand payment for workers as a condition of employment. A right-to-work law protects workers against such compulsion. The time is now for North Carolina to solidify its right-to-work law in the state constitution. Otherwise, we may be just one election away from it being overturned.
Union Forgeries Reveal Systemic Corruption Requiring Court Review
February 17, 2022 // Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in three cases dealing with public employee labor unions accused of forging employee signatures on dues-authorization cards so they can take their money without permission and spend it on politics.
About the waterfront: Gov. Hochul must fight New Jersey’s attempt to dismantle a corruption-fighting agency
February 14, 2022 // Gov. Hochul showed necessary mettle in saying no to New Jersey’s illegal and unconstitutional attempt to quit the bistate Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which battles mobsters and the mob-influenced International Longshoremen’s Association for control of the docks on both sides of the Hudson. She must now stay firm as Jersey tries to press ahead with its dirty work.