Free Republic

Earlier today, following rigorous debate in the legislature, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law SB 44, a right-to-work bill that makes union dues and participation optional for workers. SB 44 will further expand employee rights in Wisconsin and help create an atmosphere hospitable to economic growth. Right-to-work laws grant employees the freedom of choosing whether to financially support a union by prohibiting the payment of dues as a condition of employment. The implementation of voluntary union dues maximizes individual freedom in the pursuit of employment while holding unions more accountable to their members. Under a non-right-to-work state’s system of...

Overhauling more than a half century of labor law in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker on Monday signed so-called right-to-work legislation banning labor contracts that require private sector workers to pay labor fees. In a matter of weeks, Republicans pushed through the measure making Wisconsin the 25th state with such a law, giving a victory to manufacturers in the state and a blow to organized labor and some construction firms, which had opposed the measure. The passage marks a shift in the GOP governor's position that comes as he pursues an all but certain presidential run. Walker said repeatedly during the...

We are halfway there: On Friday, the state assembly of Wisconsin voted to make the state the 25th to pass right-to-work legislation, and Governor Scott Walker is expected to sign the bill with some satisfaction. That’s 25 down, 25 to go. (Our optimism is not so unanchored as to consider the sorry case of the District of Columbia.) Right-to-work laws end the practice of union bosses’ enriching their organizations through a legal variety of extortion under which all workers are required to pay the equivalent of union dues, whether they wish to be represented by a particular union or do...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the Southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God's earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself. (Immense applause and laughter.) I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence, and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations, and shall do all in my power to elevate...

In America, you have the right to remain silent, the right to rise—and soon the right to work. At least that is if you live in Wisconsin, or one of the other right-to-work states that allow private sector workers to opt out of union membership. Next week, it is expected that Gov. Scott Walker will sign legislation making Wisconsin the 25th state to pass right-to-work legislation. Interestingly, Walker didn't actively push for this legislation, but his signature will nonetheless guarantee one more feather in the cap of a Republican governor who has helped transform his state in recent years. You...

Welcome to government in Illinois, the worst-managed state in the country. The Land of Lincoln is buried under staggering debts, including a projected $6.7 billion operating gap for the next fiscal year and an $111 billion unfunded pension liability. Government unions and politicians engage in legal collusion that fleeces taxpayers. Between 2002 and 2014, 86% of Illinois state lawmakers received union contributions, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

"...Regardless of whether you’d characterize the right-to-work law as fanatical or not, it’s remarkable the extent to which Madison kept mum about its passage. Besides a few dozen Democratic legislators and a few hundred labor protesters the day before, the famously liberal city was placid as the conservative legislation rolled along. The liberals who have faced Walker have lost, and lost,and lost again,and progressive Wisconsinites’ stores of outrage seem,at least for the moment,to be exhausted.That’s not to suggest the left has given up. But Walker and the Republicans in the Legislature have more ideas they plan to advance,including cutting funding...

Scott Walker’s likely pending victory over organized labor — passage of a right-to-work law in Wisconsin — will be just the latest milestone in a resurgent anti-union movement marching across the industrial heartland. With passage expected as early as Friday, right to work — which allows workers not to pay dues to a union that bargains collectively on their behalf — is progressing through the states more swiftly than at any time since the 1950s. And where once such measures were confined largely to the South and West, they‘re now taking root in Midwestern union strongholds like Indiana and Michigan,...

".....Economists and others who study the issue say it's too soon to draw conclusions from either state about what effect right-to-work is having.But that hasn't stopped proponents from pointing to job growth in Indiana, and detractors highlighting union membership slides in Michigan,as possible outcomes headed Wisconsin's way.Under right-to-work,private-sector businesses cannot enter labor contracts that require workers to pay union dues. Supporters say that it's about worker freedom and that right-to-work will make Wisconsin more attractive to businesses looking to move in or expand.But opponents say the goal is to destroy unions,which they argue will hurt the economy,lower wages and endanger...

Former Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney and Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, squared off Tuesday, Feb. 10, in a debate over Michigan’s right-to-work law. “Those who are behind it want to see unions weakened,” Gaffney asserted. “Right-to-work comes from the rise of the political right in this country and the conservative movement becoming more active.” “If that’s so, than why have we seen unions actually growing in some right-to-work states?” Vernuccio responded. The debate was sponsored by the Michigan Labor and Employment Relations Association. An audience of approximately 50 attended the event,...

Thousands of Wisconsin union workers rallied at the Capitol Saturday to protest a “right-to-work” proposal that would outlaw the mandatory payment of union dues, but the crowd was much smaller than those in 2011 against Gov. Scott Walker’s law stripping public sector unions of much of their power. Speakers at the event jeered Walker’s comment Thursday that fighting against protesters during the 2011 debates prepared him to battle terrorists as president. Walker has not yet announced his presidential campaign, but is expected to do so later this year. “What we are doing here today is the heart and soul of...

During Chuck Nevitt's undistinguished NBA playing career, he earned the nickname "The Human Victory Cigar," as he only made it onto the court after his team was ahead by an insurmountable margin. The 7-foot-5 center played only 826 minutes over the span of nine NBA seasons, which is equivalent to about 18 full games. When Nevitt pulled his sweatpants off, the starting players began making dinner plans. In Wisconsin politics, the billionaire Koch brothers have now become the Republican human victory cigars. When the left has exhausted every talking point and political strategy, it trots out uncles Charles and David...

Madison — With echoes of 2011's labor battle, Republican state senators approved so-called right-to-work legislation Wednesday, less than a week after they announced they were fast-tracking the measure. A crowd of onlookers chanted "Shame! Shame!" as senators filed out of the chamber. The bill would bar labor contracts that require workers to pay union fees. It passed 17-15 mostly along party lines and now goes to the Assembly, where majority Republicans are expected to approve it next week. GOP Gov. Scott Walker has said he would sign it. The labor legislation comes four years after Walker advanced what is now...

"..........The right-to-work debate comes in the wake of the 2011 fight over Walker's law that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. That law also prohibited the automatic withdrawal of union dues for public workers, like the right-to-work measure would do in the private sector. Walker administration spokesman Cullen Werwie said between 1,800 and 2,000 people were inside and outside the Capitol at midday and there had been no arrests. After the rally, protesters filed into the Capitol rotunda and joined the ongoing hearing. While union members were vowing to fight the measure and try to sway Republicans to...

KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate. “There used to be a lot more people coming,” said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing. The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative...

Having lived through this two years ago in Michigan, I can tell you the insanity Wisconsin is in for, but then again the state that dealt with the Democrat fleebagger insanity isn’t going to be surprised by too much. Republican leaders in the Wisconsin Legislature have decided to fast-track right-to-work through the legislative process, and Gov. Scott Walker has indicated he’s ready to sign it: --snip-- Some will say Walker is only doing this to burnish his presidential bona fides. To that I would say two things: 1. It’s the Legislature that’s leading this charge; and 2. If the way...

Amid depressed turnout and pent-up frustration with the Springfield status quo, Illinois voters last November ousted Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, awarding billionaire venture capitalist Bruce Rauner a five-point victory. The five weeks since Rauner took office as Illinois’ first Republican governor in a dozen years have offered a vivid illustration of the truism that elections have consequences — consequences that will be paid disproportionately by the state’s poor, working class, and middle-income citizens. Rauner fired the opening salvo in his war on workers earlier this month, issuing an executive order that allows public employees to opt out of paying fees...

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. …