Supreme Court could deliver crippling blow to Big Labor

Washington Examiner ^ | May 2, 2014 | Sean Higgins

[jazusamo]

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 in a union. If the ruling is "no," that could effectively extend right-to-work laws to all public sector employees.

The possibility has labor law experts closely watching the case. About half of all union members nationally - more than 7 million people - work in the public sector. Many, possibly a majority, are in workplaces that were unionized before they were hired, so they never had a chance to decide for themselves. Many may leave, hurting Big Labor's already-sliding membership numbers.

The court could announce the ruling as early as Monday.

The Roberts court has already delivered a few blows to Big Labor, such as limiting the ability of unions to raise political funds from unwilling members in 2012's Knox v. SEIU.

Another tough blow is not certain though. During January's oral arguments, conservative Justice Antonin Scalia caused a stir by appearing to lean towards Big Labor's take on the case. He could be the swing vote.

[cripplecreek]

Watch the massacre coming to Michigan teachers unions in August.

[winner3000]

I somehow feel great if Scalia is the swing vote. We’re not even talking here about private unions - if you don’t like them, you could go and work with a company that is not unionized. However, if you are a public employee, you have no choice whatsoever. I just don’t see ANY way that this could be considered fair.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

To dream....

Now, if only Ohio were to become a “Right to Work” State along with Michigan. THAT would be crippling.

BTW, wanna piss off a liberal, remind them that it was LBJ who cast the deciding vote in the Senate mandating states rights to determine right to work status.

[jazusamo]

I love it and would be ecstatic if SCOTUS rules for Harris, could possibly turn out to be a massacre nationwide.

[jazusamo]

Bump

[cripplecreek]

If I were in the Dingell district I would definitely vote for this UAW member.

Terry Bowman for congress

He was a big mover and shaker for RTW in Michigan and has testified against his own union's political activities on Capitol Hill.

Testimony before the Full Committee U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

[georgia peach]

Think of the lost Dem contributions.....makes me smile......

[gasport]

BoIaB, libs like choice.

[veracious]

The correct, lawful, righteous thing to do, verses what USG has become in order to do, is so completely obvious. Evil thinks, conjures and does deception.

[Flintlock]

TRUST the Supreme Court??

.....are you out of your (bleeping) minds???

[GeronL]

Now if we can just outlaw government employees from unionizing

[lacrew]

To add to the post, a quick primer on ‘Right to Work’:

A lot of people think unions are just workers banding together, so they can bargain as a group, etc. Well that’s sort of accurate in a right to work state - some construction workers unionize, and some don’t, etc.

But this is not true in a non right to work state. You have to join the union, in order to work in certain professions. There is no option. The union becomes a third party, which controls entire industries. The union decides who gets hired, promoted, can take vacation, etc - NOT the employer. Its evil to the core.

[ExTxMarine]

However, if you are a public employee, you have no choice whatsoever. I just don’t see ANY way that this could be considered fair.

Exactly! In the private sector, one company may screw over their employees, and having the option to work for a similar company that has a union to protect them, makes sense (in theory)!

But, in public sector work, their is no job so specialized (except the DOD), that you would need a union to "protect you" from unfair competition! There is NO competition for public sector jobs - there is only ONE government! Each city, county, and state (even the Federal government) has only ONE government. So, why are they allowed to unionize?

So that Democrats can get subsidized! So that politicians can negotiate with OUR money, benefits, pay rates, and JOB SECURITY which cannot change without too much red tape and too much trouble and too much COST! They are designed to FORCE the taxpayer to pay and pay and pay - PERIOD!

ALL public sector unions should be SHUTDOWN! PERIOD!

[Servant of the Cross]

ALL public sector unions should be SHUTDOWN! PERIOD!

Bump that! Even FDR, the patron saint of the American labor movement, knows that ....

All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations ... The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for ... officials ... to bind the employer ... The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives ...

[EQAndyBuzz]

“I love it and would be ecstatic if SCOTUS rules for Harris, could possibly turn out to be a massacre nationwide.”

And could also explain illegal immigration. The rats are losing the unions. Look at Keystone, several blue states goin RTW and now this.

They need to replenish the ranks.

[jazusamo]

Absolutely, in RTW states the employer runs their business, not the unions.

Public employees are employed by taxpayers and should not be required to support political causes of any kind through union dues.

[jazusamo]

I agree that could be the reason Rats are so hot on amnesty. There's 11 to 12 million admitted illegals here, it's probably more like 25 million, that's a lot of bucks in union dues.

[GOPJ]

:)

[ExTxMarine]

Labor unions, like all the alphabet agencies are a scourge on the American people!

Even if we elect new politicians to change the direction of America, the bureaucracies of the agencies and the legal costs of fighting the unions usually make it not worth the time (sense in the case of union deals - even if you fire the worthless person, he still gets a helluva severance paycheck)!

This is how America slowly dies! Death by paper cuts brought about through our own self-made union and bureaucratic paper-filled HELL!!!