Posts tagged Workers for Opportunity
Op-ed: Tennessee: The nation’s best right-to-work state
May 13, 2025 // Community Benefits Agreements might sound benign, but in reality, they have become a tool for politically motivated groups to extract money and influence on the taxpayers’ dime. These agreements often dilute or divert economic incentives by forcing businesses to commit funds to causes, organizations or hiring mandates or quotas that go beyond their agreed-upon economic obligations. This new law will block special interests from cashing in on taxpayer-funded incentives.
Congressional Testimony Exposes Union Tactics to Undermine Elections
May 27, 2024 // One of the most popular tactics unions use to drive support is a process known as card check. Union organizers hand workers cards to sign as a way to indicate support for the union. Workers are typically asked to sign these cards in front of organizers, adding an extra layer of pressure when a vote is done publicly. Some unions have intimidated workers who may be reluctant to sign, showing up at people’s homes and threatening a worker’s family. As Delie explains in his testimony, a better way to ensure that an election is fair and workers are free from intimidation is to use secret ballots in union elections.
Workers for Opportunity Applauds Gov. Kay Ivey for Signing Landmark Worker Freedom Legislation
May 14, 2024 // SB231 protects workers’ right to a private vote in union organizing campaigns at companies that receive taxpayer incentive dollars. Alabama joins Georgia and Tennessee in asserting that workers deserve to make decisions about who represents them in private and state taxpayers should not be subsidizing coercive unionization efforts. “The Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s national Workers for Opportunity initiative applauds Gov. Kay Ivey for signing this landmark legislation,” said Tony Daunt, senior director of Workers for Opportunity.
Commentary: Chattanooga VW Workers Need to Be Wary of the UAW’s Push to Unionize Plant
April 10, 2024 // Autoworkers need to be skeptical of UAW promises and motives, knowing that the UAW is at its lowest membership level since the great recession. This deeply personal decision should only be made after knowing all the facts, not just what they hear from a union hungry for Tennessee dues. The UAW can make grand promises to employees, but once they are organized can refuse accountability on any unfulfilled promises. Remember: workers cannot remove a union just by claiming they were promised something that the union did not deliver on.
Mackinac Center Asks Supreme Court to Clarify Janus Decision
December 15, 2023 // The Supreme Court decided in Janus that public sector workers cannot be forced to support a union’s political speech as a condition of keeping their jobs. This decision protected millions of workers’ First Amendment rights. But the Mackinac Center recognized that the Janus ruling could do even more. Shortly after the court ruled, the Mackinac Center launched Workers for Opportunity, an initiative to advance the worker freedoms outlined in the case. In the years since, WFO has educated workers and lawmakers across the nation on what Janus requires. For one thing, public sector workers should only be considered to have waived their First Amendment right not to join a union if they do so with knowing, informed and regular consent.
Op-ed: In the wake of the UAW strike, automakers and workers should move to a state that values them
October 23, 2023 // The “us vs. them” mentality of the UAW has created an antagonistic relationship between workers and the automakers’ management, leading to outrageous demands that aren’t in their members’ best interests. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis will not survive if they have to pay people not to work or offer outdated retirement plans that lead to bankruptcy. Workers deserve better than this. They deserve to have a collaborative relationship with automakers — the kind that leads to both higher wages for workers and stronger competitiveness for companies. That’s why more automakers should look to expand and hire in Tennessee, where we put worker freedom first.
CELEBRATING THE HISTORIC JANUS DECISION FIVE YEARS LATER
June 27, 2023 //
In NC, no worker has to join a union. My constitutional amendment will keep it that way.
April 21, 2023 // The ability to work freely without coercion is an integral part of our workforce ethos in North Carolina. We have been a right-to-work state since 1947, and the facts show that this status has benefited our workers and helped grow our economy. Right-to-work refers to the ability of workers to choose whether or not they want to join and pay dues to a labor union. In other words, workers are not coerced into joining a union by being required to pay dues as a condition of employment. Instead, people have the ability to choose whether or not they wish to join a union when seeking a job in which the employer is affiliated with a union. In the words of national labor expert F. Vincent Vernuccio, senior policy advisor with Workers for Opportunity, “Right-to-work simply means a union cannot get a worker fired for not paying them.”
The ‘freeloader’ myth in the right-to-work debate
March 22, 2023 // House Bill 4233 would remove the prohibition against labor unions assisting in collecting dues from public school employees. House Bill 4235 would make union dues tax refundable. Michigan taxpayers would be on the hook for their neighbors’ union dues. House Bill 4240 would prohibit an employer from looking into a job applicant’s credit score. Senate Bill 5 would require an agency fee for nonunion members. Senate Bill 142 would require written job descriptions at firms with more than five employees. Why would lawmakers leave a glaring problem unaddressed?
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.