Posts tagged personal information
Citing Federal Student Privacy Law, Vanderbilt Graduate Students Move to Block UAW Union Organizers from Obtaining Their Personal Info
October 27, 2024 // VGWU union bosses are seeking the students’ personal information as part of the union campaign to place Vanderbilt graduate students under UAW union monopoly bargaining control. NLRB Region 10 in Atlanta has issued a subpoena at the union’s behest seeking to force Vanderbilt University to hand over this information to union officials. However, the graduate students argue that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) forbids the Vanderbilt administration from disclosing this information to any third parties without their permission, including the UAW.
The Union Members Who Never Voted for Their Union
September 10, 2024 // Reform federal labor law to require a secret-ballot election for unionization, as the Employee Rights Act would do. A 2022 survey showed that 70 percent of Americans — and 76 percent of union households — support this concept. At present, unions can succeed without support from a majority of its workforce when only a tiny portion of eligible employees vote in the election. For example, the NLRB is considering certifying an election in California in which just three employees out of 24 voted to unionize. A fourth voted against the union, and the rest did not vote. Federal labor law should require a quorum — such as two-thirds of all eligible voters — in order for an election result to be upheld. Such a requirement is popular: Eighty-four percent of Americans support this idea.
Government Unions are Down — But Not Out
September 10, 2024 // For nearly a decade, the Commonwealth Foundation has tracked state-by-state changes in labor laws. Every two years, the Commonwealth Foundation releases its research on the ever-changing legal landscape for public sector unions, assessing each state’s efforts to promote public employees’ rights or cave to unions’ entrenched influence. This fourth edition examines government unions’ attempts, following Janus, to hold onto and expand special legal privileges under state laws. The research also highlights the states reining in government unions’ power and influence by empowering workers.
Builders and Contractors of Alabama president Jay Reed: New union secret ballot incentives law ‘critical to free enterprise’
August 23, 2024 // “This law does not prevent workers from joining unions. It gives employees the right to vote privately and be free from pressure campaigns from labor unions or anyone else. Secret ballots are a foundational principle in our nation, and workers deserve the right to make their own decisions freely,” Stadthagen said.
Op-Ed: Rep. Tim Walberg and Vinnie Vernuccio: Republicans must give workers a voice
August 2, 2024 // Union organizers can easily abuse this system, focusing on a small number of workers who can ensure a union victory. Trader Joe’s employee Michael Alcorn testified before Congress in May that “after an organizer realized I wasn’t on board, they told me that they couldn’t answer any more questions and were going to devote their attention to those who would help them ‘win.’” Alcorn also said an NLRB agent told him that “it makes sense that the organizers would only talk to people who already support the union.” Under current law, that smaller number of workers can ensure a union victory if they’re the only ones who vote.
Podcast: Rich Lowry with guest Vinnie Vernuccio; How Unions Are Failing American Workers
July 31, 2024 // National Review's Rich Lowry is joined by Vinnie Vernuccio, President of the Institute for the American Worker, to discuss how unions have reduced worker freedom, the underhanded tactics unions use to gain power and stifle dissenting voices, how the government enables unions, and how Americans can use free market principles to restore workers' rights and bring about positive labor reform.
COMMENTARY: Kamala’s “PRO Act” Would Ban Right-to-Work and Destroy Independent Contractors Nationwide
July 29, 2024 // The PRO Act is a return on the investment of the hundreds of millions of dollars that Big Labor poured into the Democratic Party’s campaigns to capture the House, Senate, and White House. Employers will be able to force workers into unions as a condition of employment, and union bosses will have access to personal information to bully workers into compliance. Tens of millions of independent contractors would face losing their jobs.
OPINION: Republicans Don’t Need to Embrace Union Leaders to Win Union Workers
July 1, 2024 // Republicans should appeal directly to union members with commonsense policies. Working-class Americans are among the hardest hit by Bidenomics and its painful inflation. Republicans should reach them with policies that will reduce the cost of living and increase job opportunities. The GOP should simultaneously and forcefully oppose the union-backed demands with a message of spending restraint. Additionally, the GOP should extend the 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2025 — spurring a new era of job creation and wage growth.
Opinion: Demand more from CT public sector union officials
April 15, 2024 // As soon as you’re hired, the state sends your contact information, including your home address, to a union you’ve never joined and to union officials you’ve never met. The union also has the right to meet with you for at least 30 minutes, even one-on-one, to ensure you join and start paying dues. After that, every three months, union officials can get your updated personal phone numbers and email address from the state agency where you work, regardless of whether you become a union member. If you can withstand union officials’ high-pressure marketing pitch, you may face coercion once on the job.
Alabama bill cutting economic incentives to keep unions from ‘strong arming employees’ advances
April 5, 2024 // An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that would withhold economic incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize unions or do not hold secret ballots in union elections. . SB231, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, passed the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee on an 11-3 vote, down party lines.