Posts tagged Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Trump Makes Appeal to Unions Emboldened Under Biden Administration
July 28, 2023 // F. Vincent Vernuccio, senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Center’s director of labor policy between 2012 and 2017, said that some of the UAW jobs could be going away because of the president’s push for electric vehicles. He pointed to a recent report estimating that the new electric vehicle targets could eliminate 117,000 manufacturing jobs. “You’re seeing it reflected in jobs moving down south to right-to-work states,” he said, referring to states that make forced unionization illegal. Employees who want to cross the picket line and work when unions have issued a strike have to do it legally, else face fines or other disciplinary action from the unions. He said that large, industrialized unions tend to have one-size-fits-all contracts that benefit some but not all workers, making the administration’s push for unionization where there was none before a net negative. He advocates instead for term flexibility for workers, unionized or not.
CELEBRATING THE HISTORIC JANUS DECISION FIVE YEARS LATER
June 27, 2023 //
5 years after Janus ruling, 22% of government employees opt out of unions
June 20, 2023 // “We estimate that union revenue is down $733 million annually, based on the estimated 1.2 million government employees who have resigned or declined union membership,” reports Jarrett Skorup, author of the study.
New Report Shows Large Drop in Union Membership Five Years After Janus Decision
June 16, 2023 // “There is a wide range of opinions about the impact of the Janus decision, with some claiming it would lead to large losses in membership and others saying it would have minimal effect or even rejuvenate organized labor,” said Jarrett Skorup, vice president for marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center and the author of the report. “This research aims to inform this debate. It presents more accurate and comprehensive data than anything out there currently being used to assess Janus’ impact.”
Taxpayer-funded union dues: California’s toxic idea is spreading
May 30, 2023 // The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the share of wage and salary workers who belong to unions was 10.1% in 2022, down from 10.3% in 2021. In fact, the 2022 membership rate was the lowest on record; in 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, it was 20.1%. Former union members are voting with their feet to leave, forcing union leaders to scramble to entice workers to stay — on the taxpayer’s dime. SEE ALSO Union bosses are still making boatloads of money, even if their ranks are dwindling. Union bosses rake it in, even as their ranks shrink It’s much easier to lure someone into your club when innocent bystanders are footing the bill.
Florida House Passes Historic Union Transparency Bill Backed by Workers for Opportunity
April 26, 2023 // The Florida House of Representatives voted today to pass SB 256, which increases union transparency and changes how union dues are collected for public employees. Workers for Opportunity has spearheaded this collaborative effort with teachers, policymakers, the administration and in-state allies since 2019. The legislation drew from Workers for Opportunity's proposed reforms giving employees more control over their paychecks and union representation. "This bill gives Florida teachers a voice and a choice,” said Senior Labor Policy Advisor Vincent Vernuccio. “Teachers and other public workers will know their rights. They’ll know exactly how much union membership costs them each year. And they’ll know that, if their union isn’t serving them, they can do something about it." The bill allows public employees to opt out of union membership at any time. It also increases the threshold for triggering a union recertification from 50% to 60%,
Know your Janus rights: Government employees still can’t be forced to pay unions in Michigan
March 31, 2023 // “Passing bills that are currently unconstitutional can mislead employees into believing that the law has changed and that they must now pay a union,” said Steve Delie, director of labor policy at Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “Public sector employees across the country have a First Amendment right to not pay a union thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision. Repealing right-to-work does nothing for public sector employees except cause confusion.”
Whitmer would violate her own directive by signing right-to-work repeal
March 23, 2023 // An appropriation attached to the bill gives it immunity to a voter referendum, something Whitmer once opposed Whitmer publicly opposes the practice of referendum-proofing legislation in this way, and she issued an executive directive prohibiting the practice in 2019. “I intend to veto legislation that circumvents the right to a referendum,” Whitmer wrote in Executive Directive 2019-07.
In Michigan, a Modicum of Justice for a COVID-Exploiting Teachers’ Union
March 21, 2023 // According to a January 2022 Freedom Foundation report, labor unions and related organizations procured some 223 loans totaling $36.1 million during the period between the passage of the CARES Act in March 2020, which created the PPP program, and the American Rescue Plan in March 2021, which modified it. Leading recipients included teachers’ unions, government employees’ unions, and AFL-CIO advocacy groups. As the Freedom Foundation asserted in its report: The ineligible loans diverted resources away from the purpose of the PPP, namely helping businesses keep employees on payroll. Further, given that union revenue derives primarily from dues deducted from members’ paychecks, direct support to unions was unnecessary; to the extent the PPP loans to businesses allowed union employees to keep working, it also allowed unions to continue collecting dues from their paychecks.
Institute for the American Worker Head Vinnie Vernuccio: Tennessee Is Leading the Way with Right-to-Work 2.0
March 15, 2023 // You made it a constitutional right, so it can’t be repealed like Michigan. Now you’re going even further, you’re doing right to work 2.0 by making sure employees of companies that get economic incentives, the secret ballot for them in unionization elections is protected. And your governor is also out there, Governor Lee is protecting teachers’ paychecks, not only giving them raises, but also making sure they get their full paycheck. And part of it isn’t siphoned off and given to teachers’ unions.