Free Republic

It wasn't even close. The final count was 1,798 against and 738 for, 71% to 29%. The issue in question was whether the employees at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, wanted to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Not, as The Washington Post, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, put it: a contest of "Big Tech vs. its workers." The workers weren't one of the adversaries; they were the judges, and 71% of them decided -- contrary to media coverage and despite nudges from President Joe Biden -- not to choose the union. That has...

Kentucky just became the 27th state to enact a Right to Work (RTW) statute – the law that prevents workers from being fired just because they decline to pay dues to a government-certified union. In recent years, the RTW bill had been bottled up in the state House, but after the Democrats lost their majority in last November’s elections, the bill sailed through and was promptly signed by Governor Matt Bevin. At the same time, Kentucky made another good move by repealing its “prevailing wage” statute. Such laws are meant to shield construction unions from competition by preventing bidders for...

Link only due to uncertainty of copyright rules with WV Metro News.

SANTA FE – A New Mexico right-to-work bill that has reignited old economic arguments and fanned partisan flames was shot down Tuesday in a Senate committee, leaving its path to final approval blocked with less than two weeks left in the 60-day legislative session. The proposed change in state labor laws was derailed on a 5-3 party-line vote in the Senate Public Affairs Committee, after majority Democrats thwarted a GOP attempt last week to have the House-approved legislation sent to the full Senate for a vote. Labor union leaders lauded the vote but said they will be on the lookout...

Sen. Rand Paul and House Republicans have introduced legislation to strictly limit the ability of unions to force workers to have to pay them dues. Both right-to-work bills would amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit contracts between labor unions and businesses that force all of a company's workers to join a union or at least pay it a fee as a condition of employment. (SNIP) "Every American and their employer should have the power to negotiate the terms of their employment, and no American should be forced to pay union dues just to get or keep a job....

MADISON, Wis. -- A newly formed coalition of more than 300 construction-related private businesses in Wisconsin announced Wednesday that it will work to defeat a right-to-work proposal being discussed by Republican leaders in the Legislature. Formation of the group comes as talks proceed behind the scenes among Republicans who control the Legislature about the timing of a right-to-work bill and what form it may take. Gov. Scott Walker repeated his message Wednesday, during a brief speech to Republican state senators in the Capitol, that he sees right-to-work as a distraction from his agenda. He told lawmakers he wants them focused...

In the debate over whether or not people should be forced to pay money to unions as a condition of employment, opponents of right-to-work laws often claim that workers who exercise their rights under the law are “freeloaders.” That is, that they are taking advantage of benefits from union bargaining while not paying their “fair share.” The Michigan Education Association, like most unions, supports collectively representing workers whether they are in the association or not because of the leverage it gives them at the bargaining table. Still, no private organization should have to provide benefits to people who aren’t paying...

Labor unions fear that if Republicans win a majority in the lower house of New Mexico’s legislature, they will push for a right-to-work state. Democrats have only a three-seat majority in the New Mexico House of Representatives and if they lose those seats, the Republicans are more than likely going to make right-to-work a primary issue, Albuquerque Business First reports. Beverlee McClure of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry has said that New Mexico’s lack of right-to-work policies hurt the state’s ability to recruit businesses.

If you listen to opponents of right-to-work laws, the claims are dire. But if laws allowing workers the choice of whether to pay money to a union lead to such alleged problems, why are so many people moving from forced unionism states to right-to-work states? My colleague Michael Van Beek takes a look at a new study by Richard Vedder, an Ohio University professor and member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars, and researcher Jonathon Robe. Long story short, they show significant gains in income and jobs for right-to-work states. But they also include the following statistic: “[T]he proportion...

Your tax dollars were hard at work but so far nobody knows how many were spent to deploy 500 Michigan State Police officers to guard the state capitol and Right to Work demonstrators last month. Five hundred is darn close close to half the entire force. “I’m waiting to find out,” advises Inspector Gene Adamczyk, who was calling the shots on that historic day when 12,000 angry protestors showed up to battle for and against the RTW legislation that was eventually adopted and signed by the governor. The inspector says there were times when “we were hanging by the skin...

Lots of folks scoffed in town when reports surfaced that Democrats had petitioned the President of the United States to insert himself into the unseemly debate over Right to Work. Some asked out loud, doesn't POTUS have more important things to do than lobby Gov. Rick Snyder on that? But lobby the president did. During an exclusive one-hour sit down on WKAR-Public TV, the governor confirms that he and President Barack Obama shared a few minutes in private and the president looked the governor in the eye and said, "He wasn't pleased with Right to Work," Mr. Snyder reveals for...

Politics: The union mob that tore down that tent outside the Michigan state capitol was aiming at a free-market advocacy group on the president's enemies list promoting right-to-work and other pro-growth measures. In an editorial headlined "Drinking the Kochs' Kool-Aid," the Detroit Free Press, a newspaper in a decaying city with 18.9% unemployment, opined it was pressure from the Koch brothers, David H. and Charles G., who head a Kansas-based conglomerate with 50,000 U.S.-based employees, that moved Michigan Republicans to make the state adopt right-to-work legislation. Randy Richardville, majority leader of the state Senate, and Gov. Rick Snyder may have...

12-12-12 I joined a handful of people who supported Right to Work Legislation in Lansing yesterday. While the union goons circled the AFP tent like a pack of hyenas all morning, I ventured out with my friend Wendy, and videotaped the crowds as they swelled from a few hundred at 8 AM to at least 15,000 by 11:30AM. We also spent considerable time observing the planned events that culminated in a near riot. Between 8 and 9, the union leadership directed the protestors to kick Michigan Americans for Prosperity people off the Capitol's front steps, which the AFP had reserved,...

Former Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.) was hit with pepper spray while protesting “right to work” legislation outside the Michigan state capitol on Wednesday. “I immediately began to retreat and began to cover my eyes and my mouth,” he told the Battle Creek Enquirer. “It was not good.” Meanwhile, Fox News contributor Steven Crowder was punched repeatedly in an altercation with one protester. Schauer served one term; he beat Rep. Tim Walberg (R) in 2008 only to lose to the former congressman two years later. Tear gas was sprayed at least once, according to the Detroit Free Press. At least two...

Minutes before Michigan Governor Snyder signed the 'Right-To-Work' bill into law... ... Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa appeared on CNN, as seen in the clip below, warning that: "This is just the first round of a battle that's going to divide this state. We're going to have a civil war," ...as the bill to weaken unions' power is passed. If Hoffa is right, look for Michigan GDP to soar: after all it is one of the more Keynesian states in the union. Via AP: Michigan Gov. Snyder signs right-to-work bills LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed right-to-work...

In the early 1980s, Ford and Chrysler were struggling to make ends meet and Chrysler needed a government bailout to keep going. General Motors' predicament in the 1980s wasn't life threatening so it continued along its merry way without making significant changes. I don't remember which automaker it was, but in the early 1980s one of the Big Three asked its union workers in Michigan to take a pay cut so that it could continue to operate. The unions were told that if they didn't accept a pay cut, the firm would move production to Texas. The unions considered the...

     Q.What’s the difference between the Michigan Legislature and the U.S. Legislature?      A.The Michigan legislators read their bills before they pass them. So they were aware that by passing the Right to Work bill they were granting employees the choice to opt out of union membership.Since that makes the payment of union dues likewise optional,they realized that it would likely upset some of Michigan’s unions. Proud member of the Michigan Teachers’ Union poses in front of a giant rat…whoops!Somebody spelled Governor SNyder’s name wrong!Thank a teacher. (snip)The pro-union forces gathered in the pre-dawn hours to prepare their chants:"Hey hey,...

THE NAME IS MISLEADING It isn't about a right to work but rather a right for workers to choose whether they want to join a union or pay fees that amount to union dues. The legislation prohibits what are known as "closed shops," where workers have no choice but to join a union or pay those fees. IT MOVED SWIFTLY The GOP majority used its superior numbers and backing from Gov. Rick Snyder to ramrod legislation through the House and Senate last week. They brushed aside denunciations and challenges by helpless Democrats and cries of outrage from thousands of union...

MUSKEGON, MI -- Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed historic right to work legislation Tuesday with thousands of protesters in the Capitol. Among them were at least five busloads of union members and supporters from the Muskegon area. All five buses left Tuesday morning and joined 10,000 other protesters in Lansing. Around 5:20 p.m., a bus full of disappointed protesters returned to the CIO hall on Western Avenue in downtown Muskegon. “It wasn’t fair at all. It was partisan politics to its finest,” Don Kosheba of Ravenna said of the day's activities in the state House and Senate. “It’s bad for...

A violent mob destroys the Americans For Prosperity tent on the lawn of the state capital during protest against right to work legislation. While destruction happened, there were people inside the tent and some in the crowd were armed with knives.