Free Republic

The Michigan Court of Claims dismissed a lawsuit by the Michigan Education Association that claimed the State Legislature violated the Open Meetings Act when they passed the right-to-work law in 2012 while the Capitol building had been closed for a time due to protesters. Judge Deborah A. Servitto made the ruling Friday. The judge’s ruling stated: “The temporary cessation of admission to the Capitol building did not impair the rights of the public as a whole. The public and the media were present in spite of the closure and were able to observe directly and through media coverage.” The ruling...

FRANKFORT – A bill which would have made Kentucky a right-to-work state, which would essentially end closed union shops, was soundly defeated on Thursday before a packed pro-union crowd during the House Committee on Labor and Industry. Senate Bill 1 sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, would have enabled workers to choose not to join a labor union at their place of employment if they elected not to. Stivers feels that right-to-work is a “tool” that can be used for economic development. “We’ve had a pretty good year in the creation of jobs,” Stivers said. “But what I think...

Missouri took a step toward joining 24 other states with right-to-work laws when its House voted to bar the collection of fees from workers who choose not to join a union. The vote of 92 to 66 with two lawmakers voting present, marks an advance for supporters of right-to-work because a similar measure last year had failed to achieve a constitutional majority of 82 lawmakers in favor. […] The measure still faces a second House vote and would have to be approved by the Senate before going to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who opposes right-to-work. …

tates: Illinois entrepreneur turned governor Bruce Rauner ends the practice of forced union dues for government workers who don't want to join a union as he pursues right-to-work zones to promote growth. In Illinois, they're called "fair share" dues collected from workers said to benefit from the collective bargaining of the unions they're in thrall to, whether they want to join or not, moneys collected by force to pay for that representation. "Fair share" is a favorite mantra to liberals, but not to newly elected Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. He believes that there's nothing fair about extorting money from people...

Members of the National Right to Work Foundation believe two German labor groups have failed to completely disclose their full level of involvement in the United Auto Workers’ attempts to set up shop in Chattanooga. As previously reported, the UAW wants to formally establish itself at Chattanooga’s Volkswagen plant. The UAW’s attempts have so far been unsuccessful. VW workers, by a tally of 712-626, for instance, voted in February not to join the UAW. Members of the NRTW represent an unspecified number of VW workers who oppose the union. They say that VW’s Global Works Council and IG Metall, a...

Yuengling bills its Pottsville, Pennsylvania, brewery as the oldest in the nation, but its beer won’t be served at Democrat Gov.-elect Tom Wolf’s inaugural celebration. […] Yuengling’s president Richard Yuengling Jr. is a GOP activist who supports “right to work” laws barring mandatory union dues and membership. Wolf received major support from organized labor in his campaign. …

The Michigan Education Association has threatened to file an unfair labor practice complaint against the Northport Public Schools superintendent because of conversations he had with local union officials over removing illegal language discovered in the district's labor contract. The contract, signed on June 24, 2013, states: “Each bargaining unit member shall, as a condition of employment … join the Association (union) or pay a service fee to the Association.” Under the Michigan right-to-work law enacted in 2012, workers in a unionized workplace can no longer be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Union contracts...

Republican state lawmakers should listen to their governor and drop plans for “right-to-work” legislation. Don’t repeat Wisconsin’s tumultuous past. Gov. Scott Walker just urged the Legislature not to take up a bill placing restrictions on private-sector unions similar to those that Act 10 applied to public-sector unions in 2011. “The right-to-work legislation right now, as well as reopening Act 10 to make any other adjustments, would be a distraction from the work that we are trying to do,” Walker said. He’s right. Wisconsin should focus instead on improving our schools and economy, fixing a state budget deficit and building more...

Local governments in Kentucky took major steps by enacting legislation at the county and metro level which has divided state lawmakers for years. In Bowling Green Friday the Warren County Fiscal Court became the first county in the nation to enact a right to work law with a 6-1 vote, and on Thursday night Louisville Metro government became the first city in the south to increase the minimum wage. Both actions from local government officials will likely land the governments in court defending their actions, Attorney General Jack Conway The Warren County Fiscal Court took the first step towards “right...

The momentum for right-to-work measures at the local level across the country might be gaining steam: Kentucky’s Warren County — which includes Bowling Green — just passed a local right-to-work ordinance. A 5–1 bipartisan majority of the country legislature voted to make union dues voluntary for private-sector workers. The measure comes up for a second and final reading next week. If it passes, then unions will lose the ability to compel workers in Warren County (home to a sizeable GM plant) to pay union dues — at least until the inevitable court challenge. The National Labor Relations Act, which largely...

Eighteen-year-old Saira Blair recently made history as the youngest person elected to the West Virginia legislature. She may make history again as a lawmaker by securing passage of a right-to-work law. Currently, 24 states have such laws making union dues voluntary. After the conservative sweep in November, a majority of states may be poised to put them on the books—and local governments in the remaining states could follow suit. In West Virginia, Republicans took control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in more than 80 years. They have long made right-to-work a priority, and they now...

Is Wisconsin better off with weaker unions? Some conservatives think so. Legislators will consider the question when right-to-work legislation is introduced early next year. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said members in his house would begin debate within weeks. But I think Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican leadership should tread carefully. There is scant evidence that right-to-work laws boost job creation; there is evidence that weaker unions hurt working people. And there is no doubt whatsoever that a fight over right to work in Wisconsin will be bloody. Remember Act 10? Under right-to-work laws, workers in unionized shops...

Last Thursday, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the state’s right-to-work law. The constitutionality of the law, which allows employees to choose whether or not to financially support a union, was challenged by Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers AFL-CIO. The appellees claim the law is unconstitutional under the Indiana Constitution because it demands particular services from the union without compensation. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 5-0 that Indiana’s right-to-work law does not violate the state constitution. The ruling is a victory for workers across Indiana because it will preserve their right to choose whether...

I’d almost forgotten to write this column. I’m sitting here watching election returns, and I am just stunned. Massachusetts? Maryland? MARYLAND?!?! Forget the Senate for a minute, or the massive Republican majority in the House, and think about the fact that Republicans did so well in the gubernatorial races across the country. In Michigan, after passing a “Right-To-Work” law, Gov. Rick Snyder wins handily. Union money and muscle plus President Obama campaigning against him couldn’t sink a man with the Twitter handle @OneToughNerd. Speaking of unions, no one had a bigger target placed on their back by the unions than...

"As soon as I was given the choice, I left," Amy Rosno, a teacher with the virtual class program at the Waukesha school system, told FoxNews.com. "I never really understood the union anyway." Rosno said she had a better understanding once she was asked to be a representative for her department and attended her first WEAC meeting. "I realized that it was all political and not about teaching," she said. Teachers who spoke to the nonprofit education think tank EAGnews.org said they were glad to be free of the union's grip, especially because of the perception their dues were spent...

A Michigan court ruled that the state branch of the powerful Service Employees International Union does not have to pay back tens of millions of dollars in dues taken from home health care workers who were forced into unionization. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled last week that the SEIU Healthcare Michigan does not have to pay back more than $34 million in dues collected from over 40,000 home health care workers. Many were forced into the union under state requirements that they join because they were taking care of sick family members at home.

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...