Posts tagged Democratic Party
PRO Act puts union leadership ahead of workers
March 6, 2023 // Despite its name, the PRO Act fails to “protect the right to organize” — a right that exists under current law and is respected by people on both sides of the aisle. Rather, the legislation would undo existing reforms adopted under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which helped to curb union violence, coercion, and other criminal activity that plagued labor unions at that time. Unfortunately, the PRO Act would empower union leadership to engage in the same reckless, short-sighted, and dangerous tactics that have disrupted our economy, making it more difficult and costly to invest in our workforce. Research from the American Action Forum has even found that if the PRO Act becomes law, employers could face more than $47 billion in new annual costs, further jeopardizing the economic recovery following the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our supply chain, and the PRO Act would only further weaken resiliency and could result in more shortages and bare shelves. The special interest bill would also undermine the fundamental rights of workers. Rather than empowering workers, the bill would force them into one-size-fits-all union contracts and subject both workers and job creators to union harassment, infringing on workers’ individual rights. First, the bill allows union leadership to access private information from employees without their consent, giving them free rein to contact, harass, and coerce their workers. It also limits the rights to a secret ballot — a core tenet of American democracy — which will further endanger workers who may have reservations about joining a union. Privacy, secret ballots, and flexibility should all be expected and guaranteed in the 21st-century workplace. Additionally, the bill would abolish right-to-work laws in 27 states,
Why Oregon Teachers’ Union Has Lost 20 Percent of Its Membership
December 13, 2022 // All told, the union’s active membership has dropped below 80 percent. “If OEA wants to blame someone for those defections, its leaders need only look in the mirror,” said Freedom Foundation Oregon Director Jason Dudash. “Our teacher outreach has been increasingly successful, but the arrogance of the unions themselves was a big help.” Until 2018, Oregon was one of 23 states without right-to-work protections for government workers, meaning teachers and thousands of other public employees were required to financially support union activities.
California’s Latest Gift to Big Labor
September 8, 2022 // California may have fired the first shot in an interstate political arms race. If lawmakers in blue states begin forcing taxpayers to fund national progressive political organizations, politicians in red states will inevitably feel that forcing their respective tax bases to subsidize conservative groups is necessary and justified. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how this could accelerate the nation’s descent into extreme partisanship and winner-take-all governance. Given the already precarious state of civil society, that’s the last thing the country needs.
Biden Loves Labor Unions But Blue-Collar Workers Don’t Love Him Back
September 8, 2022 // Macomb County, Michigan, is home to an old guard of auto manufacturing tradesmen and a new generation of young organizers in the service and cannabis industries. The jolt of organizing energy that Biden has failed to harness has come from baristas, warehouse workers and others in the service sector, whose low-wage jobs are replacing reliable, higher-paid ones on assembly lines in Macomb and elsewhere. Alyssa Coakley, Celine McNicholas,
Democrats’ big union bet
August 30, 2022 // The Democratic Party is about to find out whether broadly unionizing campaign workers is a smart way to draw top talent, breed happy staffs and embody the party's ideals — or a distraction that will divert donor dollars and weaken candidates and their top strategists. Driving the news: On Tuesday, months after voluntarily agreeing to recognize it, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democrats' House campaign arm, ratified the first collective bargaining agreement with its more than 250-member union.
Workers at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art plan one-day strike
August 22, 2022 // About 100 workers at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) plan to conduct a one-day strike on Friday, August 19. Nearly all workers (96 percent) supported the action in a recent vote, and they plan to picket in front of the museum during visiting hours. The workers are fighting for a living wage in one of the country’s most expensive states. Will Lehman, Kristy Edmunds, Tenneco,
Exclusive: Biden’s emergency board calls for railroad wage hikes to resolve contract talks
August 18, 2022 // U.S. President Joe Biden's emergency board tasked with helping major freight railroads and unions end a contract negotiation stalemate proposed on Tuesday annual wage increases of between 4% and 7% through 2024, according to a report seen by Reuters. The board also recommended in its 119-page report set to be made public as early as Wednesday a 3% retroactive increase for 2020 and 3.5% for 2021, when the rail workers did not have a contract, along with five $1,000 annual bonuses and an additional paid day off.
Why are staffers with the Tennessee Democratic Party unionizing?
August 15, 2022 // Jackson and her coworkers haven’t started the collective bargaining process, but she has talked to some who’ve pinpointed things they are looking for. Transparency in salary, a living wage and job security are at the top of the list. While most of their positions are permanent, she wants to make sure temporary staff is protected also. “Those workers deserve job protection just as much as anybody else,” Jackson said. “So we want to make sure that the bargaining unit that we’re trying to create covers all of those workers that qualify.”
Opinion: Newsom, Like Biden, Believes Selling out to Unions Is His Path to the Presidency
August 5, 2022 // Newsom’s resume is littered with union sellouts — which goes a long way toward explaining how he’s managed to turn the Golden State into an open cesspool — but the most recent was his approval on June 27 of a state budget that has the potential to force taxpayers to subsidize union dues while handing California’s labor unions an unprecedented handout to shore up their Janus-depleted finances. The so-called “Workers’ Fairness Tax Credit” would convert union dues from a tax deduction to a tax credit. The budget earmarks $200 million to “begin” a policy of paying union members for paying union dues John Moorlach, Jon Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association, Dan Walters, CalMatters, California Labor Federation, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, House of Representatives,
Will California Legislature allow its workers to unionize?
July 26, 2022 // Just last month, for instance, language was slipped into a very lengthy budget trailer bill declaring the state’s intention to provide union members who do not itemize their income tax deductions with a refundable tax credit offsetting their dues. In effect, under the “Workers Tax Fairness Credit,” as it’s dubbed, taxpayers would underwrite some or all of the dues members pay to their unions. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Assemblyman Mark Stone, Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee, Assembly Bill 1577, sexual harassment, HR1096, Rep. Ro Khanna,