In 22 states in the Union, workers have the freedom under “Right-to-Work” laws to decide whether or not to pay union dues, and now Indiana is poised to become the twenty-third state on that list, bringing the workers there renewed hope in an economy that has seen few glimmers of light. Last week, Indiana’s House and Senate passed a right-to-work bill after weeks of political maneuvering by pro-union politicians hoping to stop the proposal in its tracks. Today, the legislation returns to the state’s Senate for a final vote, and …
One of the officials President Obama illegally appointed to the National Labor Relations Board advanced policies in his position at a major labor union that hindered efforts to reform corrupt union locals. Incoming NLRB member Richard Griffin, formerly the general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, pushed a union rule in 2007 that barred union leadership campaign websites from being made available to the general public. We spoke with Mike Quigley, a member of IUOE Local 150, about his experience challenging a corrupt union official, and the difficulties …
News that two major labor unions will co-opt an “Occupy” protest in Washington next month solidifies two facts about the waning protest movement: it is an entirely ordinary function of left-wing activism, and it is wholly unserious about addressing special interests’ influence over the political process. The Washington Post reports that the Service Employees International Union and the Communications Workers of America will stage a protest at the Capitol next month in conjunction with occupiers. The protest’s stated goal, according to SEIU president Mary Kay Henry: to intimidate Republicans into …
President Obama promised to run the most open and transparent Administration in history. However, his Department of Labor (DOL) just announced more regulations rolling back financial transparency for labor unions. Congress passed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) in 1959 following hearings documenting links between labor unions and organized crime. The act requires unions to publicly disclose how they spend their members’ money. Congress believed that this would discourage malfeasance and enable union members to hold their leaders accountable. Until recently, however, the act did little to achieve these …
Incidents of union violence rarely reach the level they did in Seattle, WA, Thursday morning. Upset the Port of Longview had hired contractors from a different union, 500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, brandishing baseball bats and crowbars, stormed the port and held six security guards hostage. [Longview police chief Jim] Duscha said tensions between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and EGT Terminal have run hot for the past few months after contract negotiations broke down. The ILWU believes it has the right to work at …
Two unions are on strike against Verizon Communications in protest of proposed company policies that the unions themselves helped bring about. The new Obamacare law, which both unions supported, dramatically hikes the cost of Verizon’s employee health care plan. Efforts to pass some of that cost on to employees have sparked outrage. Verizon’s health care plan is what President Obama commonly referred to as a “Cadillac plan” – expensive and luxurious – during his push to get health care legislation through Congress. The new law will levy a 40 percent …
***UPDATE BELOW: Video of Verizon’s Bernadette Phillips discussing the many instances of apparent sabotage.*** Verizon has alleged more than 200 incidents of vandalism and sabotage against its equipment and facilities since 45,000 company employees went on strike on August 7. A source sent these photos, which seem to show very neatly sliced fiber-optic lines – apparent acts of sabotage, in other words, and potentially violations of federal law. Verizon says that the FBI is looking into the reports of sabotage. UPDATE (Aug. 18 – 19:00)
A business owner in Southeastern Michigan was shot last week after confronting a man carving “SCAB” into his car. John King, the shooting victim, owns King Electrical Services, the largest non-union electrical contractor in the area. Last Wednesday, King reportedly awoke at night to find someone in his driveway vandalizing his car. When King stepped outside, the man shot him in the arm and fled. King has been forced to endure other incidents of harassment by labor unions, the Daily Caller’s Matthew Boyle reports: Labor unions have attempted, unsuccessfully, to …
State governments across the nation are looking for ways to tighten their belts in the face of declining tax revenues and growing budget shortfalls. In Pennsylvania, legislators have offered a measure that would, they claim, dramatically reduce the state’s construction costs on public works projects by bringing contractors’ wages in line with the prevailing market rates. On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Assembly’s Labor and Industry Committee debated a measure offered by Rep. Ron Miller (R) that would bring the prevailing wage – or the wage contractors must pay workers when working …
Strikes continued Thursday against Verizon Communications by 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions. Tensions continue to run high, and yet more reports of potentially illegal activity have emerged – beyond the sabotage Verizon alleges it has endured. Under the National Labor Relations Act, it is illegal for a picketing union to prevent non-striking employees from entering company facilities. But in the last couple days, there have been numerous apparent instances of Verizon strikers doing just that. A judge in Allegheny County, …
