Free Republic

Long after the pro-union monopoly National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was adopted in 1935, even strong supporters of this statute rejected the appropriateness of attempting anything analogous in federal, state, or local government. For example, in 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who just two years earlier had publicly endorsed and signed the NLRA, wrote a letter to a government union official explaining it is “impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or bind the employer” in dealings with “Government employee organizations” because “the employer is the whole people . . . .” In the late 1950s and early 1960s, politicians...

A 2013 Mackinac Center study found positive economic effects for states with right-to-work laws. RTW states enjoy increased real personal income growth, population growth and employment growth. New evidence supports this finding. The evidence comes from a Competitive Enterprise Institute study. Authors Richard Vedder (a member of the Center’s Board of Scholars) and Jonathon Robe control for a variety of factors that impact state economic growth. They then compare the performance of RTW states and non-RTW states from 1977 to 2012. A chief finding is “that the overall effect of a RTW law is to increase economic growth rates by...

Hey, do you remember when Michigan shocked the nation and became a right to work state in 2012? That was supposed to usher in the end of the world, at least in the view of union leaders and their Democrat water carriers. As Thomas Lifson reminds us at The American Thinker, the predictions were nigh on to apocalyptic. “There will be blood, there will be repercussions,” State Democratic Rep. Douglas Geiss, speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, warned ahead of the votes. And of course, there were predictions of disaster for the “little guy” as ruthless bosses would exploit...

As the current term of the United States Supreme Court nears its end, a ruling remains to be announced that could fundamentally change the way government unions are organized. Harris v. Quinn, which involves personal care providers in Illinois who contested a forced unionization they were subjected to, is largely equivalent to the home health care "dues skim" that took place in Michigan. In both unionization schemes, workers who take care of the elderly and disabled were forced into a union. In Michigan, an affiliate of the Service Employees International union took more than $34 million from the Medicaid checks...

During the battle of Michigan becoming a right-to-work state, opponents predicted doomsday scenarios about what would happen to workers and the state. But in each of the most important economic measures — job growth, income growth and population — right-to-work states are far outperforming non-right-to-work states. My colleagues and I produced a few charts showing the trends. The information is from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics and from the U.S. Census Bureau. In terms of employment growth, from January 1990 to April 2014, right-to-work states averaged growth at twice the rate of their counterparts and made up...

During the fight over Michigan becoming a right-to-work state President Obama said that the law was really "a race to the bottom" and "the right to work for less money." The President's comments joined a chorus of similar statements from labor executives and critics of right-to-work laws. But a look at income growth since 1990 shows that right-to-work states are significantly outpacing non-right-to-work states, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. From 1990-2012 (the latest year data is available), right-to-work states made up 13 of the 20 states with the fastest median household income growth. Of the 15 states...

In the first year since the Wolverine State adopted a right-to-work law in 2013, SEIU Healthcare Michigan lost a staggering 80 percent of its members. The case illustrates a dirty secret of the modern labor movement: A lot of its rank and file members don't want to be in a union in the first place and will leave if given the chance. What right to work did in Michigan, the Supreme Court might soon do nationally: In the case of Harris v. Quinn, the justices must decide if Illinois state government can force its own public sector employees to participate...

Since 1990, nearly all of the top 10 states for job growth are right-to-work states, while nearly all of the 10 states with the least amount of job growth are non-right-to-work states. More broadly, 18 out of the 25 states with the fastest employment growth are right-to-work states while 19 of the 25 states with the slowest growth are non-right-to-work states, according to data from the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the past nearly quarter of a century, right-to-work states have averaged job growth at about twice the rate of non-right-to-work states. Excluding Michigan and Indiana (which...

More than 44,000 home-based caregivers no longer are part of the SEIU Healthcare Michigan, according to federal reports filed by the union. The workers previously were forced to pay dues or fees to the SEIU after the union orchestrated a scheme that took money from the Medicaid checks of the people the workers were caring for in homes across the state. The "dues skim" ended in 2013, but not before the SEIU took more than $34 million from the elderly and disabled across the state. According to the union's LM-2 report filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, 44,347 home-based...

A trio of Michigan public school teachers is actually fighting with their union. “The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation brought a suit on behalf of Angela Steffke, Rebecca Metz and Nancy Rhatigan, who were forced to continue paying dues or fees to their union or face being fired,” Derk Wilcox reported in the March/April 2014 issue of the Mackinac Center’s report. “This status would have lasted for the next 10 years under the union’s ‘insecurity’ clause — a dubious collective bargaining agreement hastily enacted on the eve of the right-to-work law [in Michigan] taking effect.” “When the lawsuit was heard in...

Since 2008, Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index has used the latest economic data to determine which states are doing well and which states are struggling. The past 50 years of data point to a clear connection between pro-growth policies of lower taxes, less regulations and competitive labor policies. The states that embrace free markets and limited government fare much better than their high-tax, big government counterparts. Utah, South Dakota, Indiana, North Dakota and Idaho—this year’s top five states—showcase how good economic policy can lead to economic prosperity, while New York, Vermont, Illinois, California and Minnesota—the bottom...

Labor: Missouri's legislature votes this week on whether to become a right-to-work state. More hiring is the goal, and if any state needs a jobs pick-me-up, it's the Show Me State. Missouri lost 24,000 jobs in 2009, 2010 and 2011, even as many surrounding states gained employment. Labor bosses, of course, detest right-to-work laws and brand them as anti-union. Wrong. Right-to-work laws don't prohibit unions; they merely allow workers the choice of whether they want to join a union and pay dues. Many workers select not to join a union because they personally object to the political advocacy of the...

One could hear several varieties of apocalyptical claims while Michigan was in the process of becoming the 24th right-to-work state in the nation. Rep. Sander Levin called it "frightful ... for the people of the state of Michigan and for the middle class." The Associated Press said it was a "devastating and once-unthinkable defeat to organized labor." And one union in Michigan claimed it was "a violation of the prohibitions against involuntary servitude." In other words, a form of slavery. Now that the law is in effect, however, and one can see what right-to-work actually does in practice, these claims...

As auto manufacturing has shifted to the South, the UAW has made a push to begin unionizing workers in right-to-work states. The words and actions of union officials are interesting compared to states where workers are still forced to pay money to the union. On the website for a UAW chapter in Alabama, which is trying to organize workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant, the union writes the following in its FAQ section: Q: Do I have to join the union? A: First of all remember Alabama is a Right to Work state; therefore, it is totally voluntary whether or not...

"According to The Wichita Eagle, the United Brotherhood Of Carpenters And Joiners Of America Local 201 began a standard protest outside Subaru of Wichita last week with a "Shame on Subaru of Wichita" sign legally placed on the highway right-of-way in front of the dealership. (The union, which has not specified its exact complaint, may have been upset that the dealership's contractor hired a non-union shop for renovations.) The dealership responded instead with its own sign, turning the union's charge into one of "having unbeatable prices."

Two Michigan teachers who filed unfair labor practice complaints against the Michigan Education Association have won their freedom from the union. The MEA is no longer contesting complaints from Coopersville kindergarten teacher Miriam Chanski and hall of fame wrestling coach William "Ray" Arthur, said Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which represents the teachers. Last year, Chanski and Arthur, as well as a group of other teachers from across the state, asked the Mackinac Center to help them get out of their union. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed complaints on their behalf with the Michigan Employment...

Unions are finding sneaky ways to exact dues — but workers are fighting back. Two Michigan teachers will finally be allowed to end their union membership in the Michigan Education Association and will be refunded any dues they paid during this school year, according to a settlement agreement signed this week. William “Ray” Arthur, a teacher and wrestling coach at Petoskey Senior High School, and Miriam Chanski, a Coopersville kindergarten teacher, tried to quit the teachers’ union after Michigan adopted legislation to become the 24th right-to-work state in the U.S. Both Arthur and Chanski wrote letters informing the MEA that...

Mark down Feb. 14, 2014, as the Saint Valentine's Day union massacre. Years from now we may look back at this date as the turning point of the modern-day union dominance over manufacturing industries in America. That's the broader national significance of the 712-to-626 vote in Chattanooga, Tenn., to reject a United Auto Workers attempt to unionize a Volkswagen auto assembly plant. Despite a full-court blitz by the AFL-CIO and even the Volkswagen management to allow the union in, the workers turned thumbs-down to the power play. Why? Three weeks ago I traveled to Chattanooga on behalf of the Beacon...

Michigan state employees had ample reason to celebrate the new year — their unions can no longer get them fired for not paying dues or fees. Almost all of the collective bargaining agreements between the state and its classified employee unions expired Dec. 31, meaning that right-to-work now applies to the vast majority of the more than 35,000 unionized state employees and they can exercise their rights immediately. "Yes, state employees will have the option of opting out of the union," said Kurt Weiss, spokesman for the State Budget Office. Unlike the Michigan Education Association, which attempts to limit teachers...

Michigan Teamsters Local No. 214 filed a lawsuit alleging that the State's right-to-work law constitutes an “unconstitutional reinstitution of slavery.” “Unions are a worker's main protection against employer abuse and mistreatment,” union spokesman Peter Piddler maintained. “Abuse and mistreatment are the hallmarks of involuntary servitude. For the State to allow a person to work without becoming a member of a union opens the worker to abuse and mistreatment and is, therefore, an endorsement of slavery.” “Slaves weren't allowed to form unions,” Piddler pointed out. “That was a crucial block to their attainment of full human rights. Unions compelling every worker...