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Big Labor Flexes Its Muscles in a Small State
National Review ^ | October 17, 2026 | George Leef

Posted on 10/19/2026 3:41:19 AM PDT by karpov

Labor unions are all about two things: money and control. The problem is that they go about achieving their aims through coercive means, often political, sometimes violence.

In New York, for example, the union bigwigs have contrived to get their allies in the legislature to enact a bill designed to keep workers from learning about their right to opt out of paying dues to public-sector unions under the Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision. I discussed that bit of skullduggery here.

In Vermont, the same political alliance has placed on the ballot a proposed amendment to the state constitution, a Right to Collective Bargaining amendment. If enacted, the state legislature would be forbidden from passing any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to collectively bargain with respect to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety.”

Does Big Labor have anything to worry about in Vermont? It is not a Right to Work state and has embraced public-sector collective bargaining, but what if enough residents came to realize that they would be better off with worker freedom of choice and without the added tax burdens that public unionism entails? Even if they did, the state constitution would stand in the way.

(A Right to Work statute does not, in fact, interfere with collective bargaining, but you never know how a court might rule.)

But even in a “progressive” state where the voters like Bernie Sanders, compulsory unionism skates on thin ice. If people start to think seriously about the consequences rather than the glittering rhetoric, they might sour on Big Labor’s project.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: New York; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: berniesanders; demagogicparty; dsa; janusvafscme; newyork; unions; vermont

1 posted on 10/19/2026 3:41:19 AM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

Unions killed Detroit. Prove me wrong.


2 posted on 10/19/2026 3:52:06 AM PDT by EandH Dad (sleeping giants wake up REALLY grumpy)
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To: karpov

The problem with unions is they don’t represent the interests or workers.


3 posted on 10/19/2026 4:02:49 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (Orange is the new brown)
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To: karpov

The problem with unions is they don’t represent the interests or workers.


4 posted on 10/19/2026 4:03:35 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian (Orange is the new brown)
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To: karpov
If people start to think...

Right, there's the problem.

5 posted on 10/19/2026 5:26:43 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (The greatest power the media has is the power to ignore.)
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To: EandH Dad

They killed Fenton, for sure.


6 posted on 10/19/2026 5:31:52 AM PDT by steve8714 (I have great hope for Pope Leo. Oops. Not now.)
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To: karpov
Union killed manufacturing jobs ... So did Wall Street...

And yes, I do own stocks

7 posted on 10/19/2026 5:38:26 AM PDT by DeplorableTrumpSupporter (FKA ConservaTeen)
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To: karpov

Unions kill productivity when everyone makes the same amount of money per paycheck regardless of merit.

Why would an employee want to work harder than anyone else if there is even one single lazy bum earning the same as them? It destroys motivation in the workplace. For example: look at all the lazy worthless slobs in government that can never be fired.


8 posted on 10/19/2026 5:39:15 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus (Tony Fauci will be put on death row and die of COVID!)
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To: Flavious_Maximus

Being a Union member in a closed shop state is like being a Democrat member of Congress. A Congressmen on assuming office relinquishes all capability to the ruling members of the party and does exactly as ordered. A union member in a closed shop does exactly as ordered.


9 posted on 10/19/2026 5:57:02 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. +12) Quid Quid Nominatur Fabricatur)
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To: EandH Dad

**Unions killed Detroit. Prove me wrong.**

Union bosses killed International Harvestor’s ag equipment manufacturing in 1983 (or 84). Farmers were still suffering from the results of Jimmah Cawtuh’s triple whammy: high inflation, high interest rates, and the insane Russian grain embargo.

IH dealers with ample new equipment sitting on their lots, but no big deal to union bosses: WE WANT MO MUNNY, GO ON STRIKE!


10 posted on 10/19/2026 6:22:51 AM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
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