Posts tagged Worker freedom
Over 30 Leading Policy Groups Send Coalition Letter to Congress Raising Concerns with Department of Labor’s Independent Contractor Rule and Its Crushing Impact on Independent Workers
March 11, 2024 // Vincent Vernuccio, president of Institute for the American Worker, said, “Instead of empowering workers to make their own decisions to earn a living in the best way to support their families, many policymakers in Congress and the White House want to stifle worker freedom and flexibility. The vague and authoritarian DOL rule will hold back growth, destroy jobs, and harm the very workers it purports to help.”
Michigan’s Economic Outlook Hit by Right-to-Work Repeal
February 13, 2024 // This repeal makes Michigan the first state in 58 years to legislatively rescind these worker protections. Michigan Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt summarized today’s change: Over 150,000 individuals in Michigan made the free choice to leave their union since 2013. Having the government force those same workers back into the unions they freely decided to leave is the antithesis of freedom. It’s un-American. It should be noted that 71% of Michigan voters from union households oppose the repeal. Michigan House Minority Leader Matt Hall spoke with ALEC about the expansion of economic opportunity in Michigan after passage of Right-to-Work:
U.S. House Holds Hearing Today on Landmark Worker Freedom Bill
December 1, 2023 // The one-page bill, which is currently cosponsored by 117 members of the House of Representatives, would end Big Labor’s federally authorized power to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Poll after poll demonstrates that 70% to 80% of Americans (or higher) consistently express support for the Right to Work principle that union membership and financial support should be the choice of every individual employee. Testifying before the Subcommittee alongside National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix were two employees who have successfully challenged illegal union boss practices with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Biden’s labor proxy war against DeSantis
November 22, 2023 // Su is abusing her discretionary power under the Federal Transit Act. Yet if her actions are allowed to stand, labor unions may come to regret it. Future administrations may interpret the “fair and equitable” provision to require that states enact policies like Florida’s. States such as California, New York, and Illinois may suddenly find themselves out billions of dollars unless they stop giving unions unfair advantages and start protecting public-sector workers’ rights. Those states would surely argue that the Federal Transit Act doesn’t grant the secretary of labor such sweeping authority, but if that’s true, then the Biden administration’s assault on Florida is equally wrong.
Op-ed: With fewer workers choosing unions, administration turns to taxpayer dollars to boost union ranks
September 19, 2023 // First, some solicitations for grants, such as under the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Clean School Bus” program, ask whether applicants will recognize card check certifications. Card check is a process where workers are denied the chance to vote for or against a union by private ballot. Instead, union organizers are allowed to repeatedly pressure them to sign cards, in public. Both the text of the National Labor Relations Act and numerous court rulings (including by the Supreme Court) have recognized that private ballots are far superior to signature cards in determining workers’ true feelings about unionizing. Apparently, the administration thinks “free and fair” means a free and fair chance for organizers to pressure workers into saying “yes.” Second, many grant solicitations, such as those under the Department of Energy’s “Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training,” “encourage” applicants to remain neutral in organizing campaigns. What this means is that employers are being asked to waive their statutory right to discuss the potential negatives of unionizing with workers. Instead, workers will get just one side of the story — that of the union. With no other source of information, workers might just decide to say yes, especially when being pressured to sign a card. Third, some applications, such as those published by the National Telecommunications and Information Agency to build broadband, ask applicants to sign labor peace agreements. Labor peace certainly sounds desirable, but here’s what it means in practice. Let’s say a union decides it wants to represent the workers of a particular grantee. Upon notice of that intent, the grantee would have to get the union to sign a labor peace agreement, which typically includes a “no-strike” pledge among other provisions. The catch is that if the union doesn’t sign, you don’t get your grant. This gives the union tremendous leverage to demand organizing concessions, most notably things like card check and neutrality.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TWISTS THE NLRA TO ACCOMMODATE PRO-UNION BIAS
August 15, 2023 // Similar to the claim that Biden is the “most pro-union president” ever, utilizing the NLRA to justify measures that mitigate worker choice betrays either a fundamental misunderstanding or complete disregard for American history. Ultimately, claims that the NLRA mandates governmental support of collective bargaining are an attempt to short-circuit debate over radical labor legislation disguised as inconsequential “cosmetic updates” to the NLRA. While the Biden administration continues to tout its pro-union bias, public- and private-sector workers alike deserve a pro-worker administration in the White House.
What is the Employee Rights Act, and how would it advance worker freedom?
April 21, 2023 // Unlike the PRO Act – which, imbued with a dated and rigid workplace vision that is increasingly displacing American workers – the ERA would empower workers to seize more opportunity and take greater control of their futures.
Michigan: Listen to union members: Protect right-to-work
March 16, 2023 // Two separate Mackinac Center polls found that voters want to keep right-to-work by a two-to-one margin. Tellingly, that includes 55% of Michigan union members – spot on with the results of the union-backed poll in Tennessee. In other words, the very people unions say they’re fighting for want the unions to stop fighting altogether. It should come as no surprise that union members support this common-sense policy. They understand that right-to-work protects their right to join a union just as much as it does their decision not to do so. They also understand that if the union is not looking out for their best interests, they should never be forced to continue giving it their hard-earned money. And that’s why unions are fighting against their own members’ wishes. They want to keep workers’ money, which they can spend to elect governors and legislators who will protect them – a never-ending cycle where unions and union-backed politicians win. That inevitably means workers lose because no one is actually speaking for them.
Video: ALEC’s Labor of Love: A History of Championing Worker Freedom
March 10, 2023 // Today, ALEC debuts its first episode, “Worker Freedom,” in our 50th anniversary video series. The episode features ALEC champions Scott Walker (45th Governor of Wisconsin), Matt Hall (Michigan House Minority Leader and ALEC Board of Directors Member), and Vinnie Vernuccio (Senior Fellow, Mackinac Center), discussing ALEC’s pivotal role in securing Worker Freedom policy wins across the states. In some states, private sector workers can be forced to join, leave, or pay fees to a union as job requirement. The Right-to-Work Act, which ALEC task forces approved as a model policy, provides a solution to this issue. It prevents private employers from requiring or banning union membership (or fees) as conditions for employment, giving workers in Right-to-Work states a guaranteed right to support a union or not to support a union without this choice affecting their hiring or job security.
Virginia Drops from A+ to C in Worker Freedom — Largest Decrease in the Country
October 31, 2022 // Virginia plunged from an “A+” ranking in 2019 to a dismal “C” this year. This was due to what the report called “[t]he most dramatic government union victory of the post-Janus legal frontier” – Janus being the 2018 Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME declaring everything government unions do is political, and public employees have a First Amendment right not to subsidize this political activity. It essentially brought right-to-work provisions to public employees across the country. The Battle for Worker Freedom in the States: Grading State Labor Laws