NC Protests the Latest Showing of Big Labor's Push Into South

National Legal and Policy Center, by Paul Chesser, February 13, 2014

A Saturday march in Raleigh, NC, that consisted of participants from dozens of left-wing groups – many bused in from more than 30 states – marked a new level of effort by national organized labor to assert itself in the South.

The recognized leader of the demonstration is the president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Rev. William Barber (in photo, on right), who recently received national media attention for his remark that black conservatives – such as South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott – are “ventriloquists’ dummies” for the Tea Party. Barber last year conducted a series of “Moral Mondays” protests in the state capital against changes in state law that lowered taxes and limited the growth of government.

But unions have provided extra forces in opposition to the newly Republican-controlled state legislature and governorship. North Carolina, the most ardent right-to-work state in the nation, has become a top target for Big Labor, which has a stated goal to “Organize the South or Die.”

CONTINUED! 

AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY: STOP BIG LABOR!

Scott Walker’s recent victory in Wisconsin proves that Americans are starting to question union control of the workplace. But the struggle against Big Labor is just starting.

President Obama stacked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the independent agency charged with mediating union elections and enforcing labor laws, with former union cronies from the Service Employees International Union. Instead of protecting workers and enforcing fair elections, the NLRB is doing exactly the opposite.

This is a major blow to employers and the employees exercising their choice not to join a union. Thankfully, Congress is considering the Employee Rights Act, which will put a check on the power of labor unions.

Take action today and urge your representatives in Congress to support the Employee Rights Act and put the power back in the hands of employees—not union bosses.

The Employee Rights Act will give workers the choice of whether their dues money should go toward political purposes that they don’t support. The Employee Rights Act will also protect the secret ballot instead of allowing “card check” style elections where employees can be coerced.

When politics get in the way and unions are given unchecked power, it hurts workers’ rights and businesses’ bottom lines. It’s time to stop big labor bosses from hurting employees.

Take action today and urge your representatives in Congress to support the Employee Rights Act and put the power back in the hands of employees—not union bosses.

Sincerely,
Americans for Prosperity

Americans for Prosperity® (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than 2,000,000 members, including members in all 50 states, and 34 state chapters and affiliates. More than 95,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP or AFP Foundation. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

Morning Bell: Beneath Growth, a Sea of Poison

January 6, 2012

Today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor was encouraging news for the U.S. economy. It shows that 200,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate ticked down from 8.7 percent to 8.5 percent. Jobs were created in every sector of the economy save one — government! This report is consistent with other economic indicators and shows that the economy is finally coming out of its malaise. But like any reports, they must be put into context. The creation of 200,000 new jobs is solid growth and above the 130,000 to 150,000 new jobs that must be created to keep up with population growth. However, this doesn’t mean happy times are here again.


There are not enough Americans working or looking for work. In fact participation in the labor force is at its lowest point in 30 years as many potential workers are not yet even attempting to find jobs. Moreover, at this stage in a recovery, new jobs should be surging instead of averaging less than 140,000 for the last three months. So all is not well and President Obama should not check the “mission accomplished” box. In fact, Obama’s painful economic policies will only serve to further hamstring America’s economic engine, thereby preventing a truly strong, vibrant economy that the country is capable of having.

The President single-handedly unleashed another poison pill on Wednesday with the White House’s announcement that he will exact another illegal, unconstitutional end-run around Congress with the appointment of three new members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) without Senate approval, all of whom are union officials. Here’s why that matters.

The NLRB is a five-member board that is responsible for investigating unfair labor practices, creating labor-related rules, and conducting elections for labor union representation. Last year the NLRB enacted measures shortening union elections to as little as 14 days, limiting employees’ ability to hear from both sides before they vote, allowing unions to cherry-pick which workers in a company can vote on unionizing, and preventing workers from insisting on a secret ballot in union drives, as Heritage’s James Sherk explains. These measures will make it much easier for unions to organize workers — but at the expense of workers’ rights. If workers want to join a union they have that right — management gets the union it deserves — but the government should not limit their rights in order to press workers into unionizing.

Prior to the President’s appointments, the NLRB had only three sitting members, with the one member’s term ending at the end of 2012. Were the NLRB to go down to two members, it wouldn’t have a quorum to conduct its business, meaning that the President’s Big Labor agenda couldn’t be enacted. Now, though, the President has appointed three new members who will undoubtedly carry out his agenda without any checks or balances.

And that agenda is to bolster America’s unions — a key constituency and political force standing behind the President. Unfortunately, their goal is not primarily to protect workers. The trouble is that the Big Labor agenda is fundamentally at odds with the pro-growth agenda that America is so thirsty for. Sherk explains:

CONTINUED:
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/06/morning-bell-beneath-growth-a-sea-of-poison/

‘Forced Unionization’: SEIU Collects Union Dues From Disabled Kids’ Medicaid Checks

November 16, 2011

Robert and Patricia Haynes take care of their two children, who at the ages of 30 and 34 are more like children in adult bodies. That’s because they both have cerebral palsy, and rely on their parents to feed and change them — and likely will for the rest of their lives.


The Haynes family receives monthly checks from the state through Medicaid, allowing the parents to care for their son and daughter themselves instead of institutionalizing them. But because a Michigan law classifies Robert and Patricia as “home health care workers,” they are considered public workers and therefore automatic union members — meaning the SEIU gets a $30 cut of the family’s Medicaid subsidy as union dues.

“We’re not home health care providers — we’re parents taking care of our children,” Melissa Haynes told Detroit Fox affiliate WJBK-TV:  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/forced-unionization-seiu-collects-union-dues-from-disabled-kids-medicaid-checks/

Obama Stands In the Way of Job Creation, Where Does Governor Perdue Stand?

Will Governor Perdue Stand Up to Obama and Labor Unions to Protect North Carolina’s Economic Future?  (I think we know the answer to that!)

For Immediate Release Contact: NCGOP Press Office
Thursday, July 28, 2011 (919) 424-5555

RALEIGH, NC – President Obama’s appointees at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have sued Boeing to prevent it from building a new plant in South Carolina, a right to work state. An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal highlights the battle pitting Boeing, a private company committed to creating jobs, against the White House, the NLRB and their labor union allies.


In a statement, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes urged Governor Perdue to step up and join other right to work governors in rejecting President Obama’s and the NLRB’s meddling with private companies and right to work states: “A number of governors in right to work states have stepped up to protect jobs. What is Governor Perdue waiting for? Now is the time for Governor Beverly Perdue to show real leadership by calling on President Obama to oppose the NLRB’s gross overreach and protect North Carolina’s economic future.”


The White House vs. Boeing
Wall Street Journal Editorial


July 28, 2011


Teenagers in the 1960s listened to Beatles records backwards in search of hidden meanings—a trick akin to the task of deciphering President Obama's statements on the battle between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board. Since the NLRB sued the airplane company in April to prevent it from building a new plant in South Carolina, Mr. Obama's position has alternated between silent and incomprehensible.


At a press conference in June, the mellifluous one said he felt that "as a general proposition, companies need to have the freedom to relocate." In case anyone mistook that as a full-throated defense of a business's right to expand its operations and hire workers in any state it likes, Mr. Obama also emphasized that the NLRB is an "independent" agency and that the issue is being decided by a judge.


Finally on Tuesday, we got the straight story. In a formal statement of Administration policy, the White House opposed a bill sponsored by South Carolina Rep. Tim Scott that would reduce the power of the NLRB and prohibit it "from ordering any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstance." Translation: Mr. Obama intends to guard the NLRB for his union allies, but if no one notices, all the better.



In opposing the bill, the White House says "The [National Labor Relations Act] does not restrict the location of company operations, provided companies comply with the law." But companies don't live in this land of hypotheticals. The NLRB lawsuit is an explicit attempt to block Boeing from opening its new South Carolina factory, and either the Administration believes the NLRB is appropriately enforcing the law, or it believes the NLRB has exceeded its mandate and needs to be reined in. Now we know it's on the side of the NLRB, which is run by Mr. Obama's appointees.


As politics, the NLRB issue is a doozy for Democrats, who know that few voters will countenance a policy of punishing business for building plants and creating jobs in their states. In Virginia, Republican George Allen has been pressing the question with Tim Kaine, his opponent for an open Senate seat next year. If Mr. Scott's bill passes the House, Senate Democrats running for re-election will also be on the spot.

The NLRB's campaign against Boeing has captured political attention—and created business anxiety—because it is a government attempt to restrict the free movement of capital. It attempts to punish workers merely because their states passed right-to-work laws.

This strikes millions of people as contrary to the kind of freedom that America was founded on. The Administration has thrown its lot squarely with the unions, and full marks to Mr. Scott for forcing Mr. Obama finally to declare himself.


URL: http://www.ncgop.org/Stand-Up-to-NLRB

Lou Calling: Something wicked this way comes…

June 29th

The Sun Journal
Letter to the Editor

Something wicked this way comes…

Creeping Socialism has been the hallmark of the Obama administration and the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) is just another cog in the wheel. Consider this: in 2009, the Boeing airline manufacturer announced it would open a plant in South Carolina, providing employment for 1,000 men and women.

Big labor bosses at the International Assoc. of Machinists Union filed an Unfair Labor Practice against Boeing demanding that the plant be shut down. South Carolina, like our own State, is a right to work State.The NLRB comes into all of this when their acting General Counsel, Lafe Solomon, filed a complaint against Boeing to stop the building of the plant and force Boeing to transfer the manufacturing to Washington -a forced union State.

There is a bill before the Senate (S.964) that simply states that employers have the right to open businesses and hire workers wherever they think it makes sense to do so. The Obama bureaucrats at the NLRB will be prevented from suing them from making sound economic decisions to move to a Right to work State.

That this is happening in our Country, is hard to believe yet it comes as no surprise to many of us. There is a cancer in the white house that must be removed and this is just one more example of why moderates, independents and conservatives must join together and present a united front in 2012. If we fail, the Nation that you and I grew up in, the Nation that so many died protecting will cease to exist.

CCTA Member, Louis Call
River Bend, NC

Obama’s Labor Board Accused of ‘Malicious Attack’ on Right-to-Work States

Thursday, May 05, 2011


By Susan Jones

(CNSNews.com) - A political battle is brewing over the Obama administration's National Labor Relations Board for its "attack" on right-to-work states.

On Wednesday, 19 Republican senators wrote to President Obama, warning him that they will "vigorously oppose" two of his nominees to the National Labor Relations Board -- if Obama doesn't withdraw their names.

READ MORE:  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-s-labor-board-accused-malicious-at

A Union Education: What Wisconsin reveals about public workers and political power..

March 1, 2011
Wall Street Journal Online

The raucous Wisconsin debate over collective bargaining may be ugly at times, but it has been worth it for the splendid public education. For the first time in decades, Americans have been asked to look under the government hood at the causes of runaway spending. What they are discovering is the monopoly power of government unions that have long been on a collision course with taxpayers. Though it arrived in Madison first, this crack-up was inevitable.


We first started running the nearby chart on the trends in public and private union membership many years ago. It documents the great transformation in the American labor movement over the latter decades of the 20th century. A movement once led by workers in private trades and manufacturing evolved into one dominated by public workers at all levels of government but especially in the states and cities.

The trend is even starker if you go back a decade earlier. In 1960, 31.9% of the private work force belonged to a union, compared to only 10.8% of government workers. By 2010, the numbers had more than reversed, with 36.2% of public workers in unions but only 6.9% in the private economy.


READ THE ARTICLE AND SEE THE VIDEO:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704615504576172701898769040.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Michelle Malkin

Waivers for Favors: Big Labor’s Obamacare escape hatch

"The Communications Workers of America, which sent its workers to lobby for Obamacare on Capitol Hill as part of the left-wing billionaire George Soros-funded Health Care for America Now front group, snagged a waiver that will spare a hefty 19,000 of its members from the onerous federal mandate."

READ THE COLUMN:  http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/28/waivers-for-favors-big-labors-obamacare-escape-hatch/

COMMUNISM ON WHEELS!

Young Communists Launch National ‘Red School-Bus Tour’



It‘s communism that’s about 40 feet long and rolls along on four wheels. And it could be coming to a town near you.


The Southern California Young Communist League (YCL), a branch of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), announced on its website that it’s launching a “National Red School-Bus Tour.” The YCL calls each stop on the tour “weekend long schools” for “young activists.” So what exactly is this tour all about

The group even has a video advertising the event:


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/young-communists-launch-national-red-school-bus-tour/

National Right to Work Act

A Letter from Representative Rand Paul (R), KY

Dear Concerned American,


They snickered when I said I came to the U.S. Senate to change Congress.


But their laughter stopped when I sponsored the National Right to Work Act to free U.S. workers from forced unionization and break Big Labor's multi-billion dollar political machine forever.


President Barack Obama and Big Labor allies in the Senate are now feverishly scheming to bury the National Right to Work Act without a vote.


So I have a question for you.  Will you be my sledgehammer?


Your signature on the petition to your Congressman and Senators is what is needed to bust through the opposition and force a vote on the National Right to Work Act.  This is an opportunity you and I cannot afford to miss.


As you know, the right to decide freely whether or not to join a union was taken away from American workers by Congress almost 75 years ago.


A result of back-room deals between union bosses and their tax-and-spend Congressional puppets, compulsory unionism provisions in federal law currently empower union officials to:

• Force nearly 11 million Americans to pay tribute to a union boss to get or keep a job ...
• Brazenly loot union treasuries to fund the election of their hand-picked political puppet candidates like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid ...
• Terrorize workers and communities with violent strikes -- where they get away with beatings, arson -- even murder.

The National Right to Work Act strikes at the foundations of the union bosses' power.
And here's the thing -- the National Right to Work Act is wildly popular with American voters.  In fact, for years polls have shown nearly 80% of Americans think it should be against the law to force workers to pay money to union bosses just to get or keep a job.


All you and I have to do is force an up-or-down roll call vote on the National Right to Work Act ... And the American people will do the rest.


Many Democrats and more than a few Republicans elected with Big Labor's over $1 billion in forced-dues political cash cower in fear of casting a vote against the National Right to Work Act.


What will they do when forced to vote?  It's a win-win situation -- either they pass the National Right to Work Act and free American workers or they pay in 2012.  It will be a marathon battle.


But I will not flinch in the face of opposition and insider attacks.  I believe, with your help, this is a fight we will win.  And I know it's a fight worth fighting.


You see, the union bosses fear a vote on the National Right to Work Act more than just about anything else.  They know it's a losing proposition for them whether the bill passes or not.


The fact is for decades union officials have schemed to seize billions of dollars from their "members" and then used it to elect their candidates to protect these privileges.


This is how Washington -- from Jimmy Carter to Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Nancy Pelosi to Barack Obama -- got to be what it is today.


The National Right to Work Act will turn this entrenched, corrupt Washington order on its head.


Every year Big Labor siphons over $8 BILLION from workers' paychecks; mostly from workers who, if they refused to pay, would be fired from their jobs.


Union bosses take this eye-popping heap of dough to feed a lifestyle of limousines, penthouses and raw political power.


And, my friend, Big Labor's political corruption costs all of us:

• Hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts and bloated government spending suck the life out of our economy, rewarding failed businesses like GM and letting union-boss featherbedding and rigged contracts rocket the cost of schools, hospitals and roads through the roof.
• Millions more good-paying jobs destroyed or driven overseas as union czars cripple America's bedrock industries with wasteful work rules, hate-the-boss propaganda and violent strikes.
• You and all Americans robbed of your wealth as the economy stays in recession and the price of cars, gasoline and groceries climbs upwards.
• Small businesses strangled with red tape and bureaucracy designed by greedy union flunkies to kill companies too small for so-called union “organizing.”

That's why it's crucial you sign the petitions today and, if possible, make a generous contribution to the National Right to Work Committee.  It's clear that if the Committee is to rally the 80% of Americans who support this bill they will need your financial support.


The National Right to Work Committee isn't some Johnny-come-lately organization. They've been on the front lines opposing Big Labor for over fifty years.


The National Right to Work Committee is spearheading the effort to rally the American people, just as I am leading the fight here in the Senate.


Without your support for the National Right to Work Committee, we have little chance against Big Labor's money and power in Congress.


That's why I ask you to submit your signed petition, along with the most generous contribution you can afford to the National Right to Work Committee.


In order to pass the National Right to Work Act, the National Right to Work Committee has drawn up an aggressive plan of action:

• Mobilize up to 14 million Americans to stand up for freedom by signing petitions like the one I link to in this email. Only when politicians feel the heat of the people, will they see the light of truth. That's what I meant when I asked you to be my sledgehammer.
• Place full-page newspaper ads and launch intense internet campaigns coast to coast, reminding the American people what Big Labor's power costs all of us in out-of-control government spending, sky-high taxes, a seemingly endless recession, lost jobs and rising prices.
• Inform favorable columnists, talk show hosts and editorial writers nationwide to help mobilize public opinion.
• Run TV and radio ads targeting, if funding permits, wavering Congressmen and Senators in the days leading up to key committee and floor votes.

Without your financial support, this program will not be possible.  And without this program Big Labor will stop the National Right to Work Act in Congress.  It's that simple.


Every dollar the National Right to Work Committee receives comes from Americans like you -- working folks, shopkeepers, business owners, retirees, farmers, engineers, delivery drivers, homemakers, grandmothers and grandfathers. Not one penny of their funding comes from government.


ABOVE ALL, SIGN THE PETITION!  Please do not delay signing the petition or think someone else will carry the load. I count on your support.


Sincerely,
Rand Paul, M.D., U.S. Senator


PS.Tea Party revolts and the election of real outsiders ready to shake up Congress means you and I have an historic opportunity to break the cycle of tax-and-spend, political corruption and out of control budgets caused by Big Labor's compulsory union power.

http://righttoworkcommittee.org/rprtwa_petition.aspx?pid=th1

THE BLAZE

Big Labor Hints at Lame-Duck ‘Card Check’ Vote

Depending on the outcome of November’s midterm elections, the subsequent lame duck session may be Democrats’ last chance to push through some major agenda items that have been on the back burner since they took control of Congress in 2006. Among these priorities is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), or “card check.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/big-labor-hints-at-lame-duck-card-check-vote/

A Labor of Love - Opinion - PatriotPost.US

A Labor of Love - Opinion - PatriotPost.US

Morning Bell:

Labor Day Has Become Government Day

This Labor Day marks a milestone in the history of the U.S. union movement. It is the first Labor Day on which a majority of union members in United States work for the government. In January the Department of Labor reported that union membership in government has overtaken that in the private sector. Three times as many union members work in the Post Office as in the entire domestic auto industry. The face of the union movement is not a worker on the assembly line but a clerk at the DMV.


This is a dramatic shift for the union movement. The early trade unionists did not believe that unions had a place in government. They believed the purpose of unions was to redistribute business profits from owners to workers … and the government makes no profits. Not until the 1960s did unionizing government employees become widespread. Now government employees make up 52 percent of all union members.

So what? Why should Americans care if unions are now dominated by workers who get their paychecks from governments, instead of workers who get their paychecks from private firms? There’s one simple reason: private firms face competition; governments don’t.


Collective bargaining, the anti-trust exemption at the heart the labor movement’s power, was created to help workers seize their “fair share” of business profits. But if a union ends up extracting a contract from a private firm that eats up too much of the profits, then that firm will be unable to reinvest those resources and will lose out to competitors. But when a union extracts a generous contract from a government, there is no check on that spending. Instead of being forced out by more efficient competitors, the government just raises taxes.

The shift from private to public sector has fundamentally changed organized labor’s priorities. Unions used to support policies that would help their private sector employers grow. But now that they are largely dependent on the government, the only growth that unions are interested in is the growth of government. So unions push for tax increases across the country. Consider recent union activism:

•Illinois. Unions want state lawmakers to increase the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent and to expand the sales tax to cover some services. In April 2010 they organized rallies of government workers outside the state capitol shouting “Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes! Raise my taxes!” At that rally, a government union member was caught on camera chanting “Where’s the money?” and “Give up the bucks!”


•Montana. The Montana teachers union openly sees itself as a supporter of tax and spend politics. Its President boasts, “Were it not for us almost any one of the … anti-tax and spend ballot issues proposed in the last 25 years would have passed.”


•New Mexico. Unions lobbied the state’s legislature to raise taxes to deal with its budget deficit. The union got its wish, but it was not the wealthy who paid – the legislature imposed a 2 percent sales tax on food.


•Washington state. Washington state has no income tax, and unions want to change that. They have placed an initiative on the November ballot creating a state income tax and are among the top donors to the campaign to pass it.


Government unions are the backbone of the Obama dependency economy. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize union campaigns, much less those that call for tax increases. At the very least Congress should end the automatic payroll deduction of union dues.

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/06/morning-bell-labor-day-has-become-government-day/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning+Bell

Congress Should Abolish ‘Labor’ Day

Congress Should Abolish ‘Labor’ Day

Michelle Malkin

Obama’s Big Labor Thugs Have a Legacy of Violence


By Michelle Malkin
 
To mark Labor Day 2010, President Obama will join hands with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka in Milwaukee and pose as champions of the working class. Bad move. Trumka’s organizing record is a shameful reminder of the union movement’s violent and corrupt foundations.


The new Obama/AFL-CIO power alliance — underwritten with $40 million in hard-earned worker dues — is a midterm shotgun marriage of Beltway brass knuckles and Big Labor brawn. Trumka warmed up his rhetorical muscles this past week with full-frontal attacks on former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He indignantly accused her of “getting close to calling for violence” and suggested that her criticism of Tea Party-bashing labor bosses amounted to “terrorizing” workers.

Trumka and Obama will cast Big Labor as an unassailable force for good in American history. But when it comes to terrorizing workers, Trumka knows whereof he speaks.

Meet Eddie York. He was a workingman whose story will never scroll across Obama’s teleprompter. A nonunion contractor who operated heavy equipment, York was shot to death....

Read More and Comment: 
http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/obamas-big-labor-thugs-have-a-legacy-of-violence/?utm_source=Floyd+Reports&utm_campaign=0e28340f6d-FR_09_03_20109_3_2010&utm_medium=email

Katie Gage

Union Bosses & Their Supporters On Capitol Hill Put The Lame In Lame Duck

http://townhall.com/columnists/KatieGage/2010/08/29/union_bosses__their_supporters_on_capitol_hill_put_the_lame_in_lame_duck/page/full/