LaborPains.org

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” So it was for Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III. So too it is today for former union members in Indiana.

As we have previously written, Indiana became the 23^rd right-to-work state back in March 2012. The centerpiece of the legislation liberated workers by allowing them to choose whether to pay money for the union’s services. Now, if workers decide a union is not right for them – or if they simply cannot afford it – they are no longer forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

But as the Indianapolis Star reported earlier this week, two powerful labor unions don’t quite see it that way:

Joshua Sterrett resigned from the Communications Workers of America Local 4900 union on January 21. Julie Huffman resigned from the United Food and Commercial Worker Local 700 union in May 2012. In separate complaints to the National Labor Relations Board, the two allege they still are being forced to contribute union dues.

Nevermind that right-to-work legislation prohibits forcing unwilling workers to pay union dues. Nevermind that some workers may simply prefer keeping more of their paycheck to cover other needs. When it comes to unions and collecting dues, they will do anything they can to retain fleeing members – even if it means pulling them back in.

Organized labor knows that employees are leaving it in droves. That shouldn’t be surprising: A history of corruption, forcing employees to pay up for political causes with which they don’t agree, and driving companies into bankruptcy (and employees onto the unemployment line) with unreasonable demands should all be warning signs that unions aren’t the way of the future.

Unions don’t want to be the next corporations unions lead to non-existence, so they’re looking for new ways to shore up their declining ranks. Unions think that avoiding the rules and transparency required by the laws regulating unions — the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) — is the way back to relevance, so they’re backing so-called “workers centers” to conduct campaigns that the unions themselves cannot.

A commentator writing at the American Spectator thinks that this isn’t fair to employees. Since these “workers centers” are funded by unions, act sort of like unions, or advocate unionization, they ought to be regulated as “labor organizations” under the NLRA and LMRDA. He explains, using the “workers center” Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) as an example:

CIW does little to hide that it acts as a labor organization — essentially a union. On its website, it includes as its goals promoting “enforcement against those who would violate workers’ rights” and “the right to organize on our jobs without fear of retaliation.”

Those clearly are union goals, yet CIW is not considered a union under current labor law. Officially, it is a “worker center,” which allows it to circumvent oversight and disclosure rules [...] If CIW and other worker centers are truly committed to the pursuit of better conditions for workers, they should have no objection to showing their supporters how they are funded and how they spend their money.

But then again, circumscribing and evading employee rights are longstanding Big Labor tactics. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would have effectively abolished employees’ rights to secret ballot votes on whether to unionize. Unions fought all the way to the Supreme Court to try to keep forcing public employees to give to their political programs on pain of termination. (They lost, in a case called Knox v. SEIU.)  And when Congress proposed granting workers the right to receive merit raises in unionized bargaining units, unions said, “No way.”

So evading regulations that ensure that unions have majority support and give employees the ability to see where there money goes is no surprise. That’s why real union reform, like the Employee Rights Act, is so necessary.

Organized labor’s newest tactics — recently endorsed by the AFL-CIO — are so-called “New Models of Worker Representation” outside the framework of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Both those laws place restrictions on labor unions to ensure that they actually have majority support of the workers they represent and to ensure they use their money for the workers’ desired purposes.

New organizing groups, like “Workers’ Centers,” have no such restrictions. But even union-like groups outside the rules of unions must follow all the other laws in society, as OUR Walmart, a group backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), may soon find out in a Florida state case. As Reuters reports:

Wal-Mart alleged that the defendants violated Florida law through coordinated, statewide acts of trespass in several Walmart stores over the last eight months. It has asked the court for a legal ruling that would prevent future trespassing.

In the lawsuit Wal-Mart cited an example where a group of protesters projected a video promoting OUR Walmart on the side of a store in Orlando and passing out literature inside that store in July, 2012.

So far, Wal-Mart employees haven’t shown that they want a union. So “new organizing groups” — actually union sock-puppets — are engaging in “strikes” that may violate state laws, even if they skirt federal union governance rules. Now the unions may find themselves in hot water. Looks like “New Labor” is a lot like the “Old Labor” with its disregard for the law and employee freedom.

Research from the Center for Union Facts Uncovers Union Agenda Behind President Obama’s Minimum Wage Hike Proposal

Today the Center for Union Facts released new research detailing how many collective bargaining agreements link union salaries and wage rates to the federal minimum wage. This research comes two days after President Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9—a move which labor unions broadly praised.

The research brief can be accessed here.

“This research shows that labor unions stand to gain from minimum wage increases, even though their members don’t make the minimum wage,” said Richard Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Union Facts. “Some union contracts set starting union wages as much as fifteen percent higher than the federal minimum wage.

“Union officials have been anything but altruistic in their support for minimum wage hikes over the years,” Berman concluded. “This also calls into question whether some politicians who support minimum wage hikes do so out of support for unions—the same unions that are some of the nation’s biggest campaign contributors.”

SEIU Healthcare Michigan Hit With ULP
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), now unanimously pro-union, found that SEIU Healthcare Michigan violated the rights of one of its own employees by not handing over files it is required to share. The Washington Free Beacon reports that the SEIU must post a notice that it was found to have committed an unfair labor practice (ULP). The notice will read: “The National Labor Relations Board has found that we violated Federal labor law … We will not in any like or related manner restrain or coerce you.”

Union Violence in Philadelphia
National Review has been covering the violence of the Philadelphia labor unions and what they are willing to do to get their way. Arson is one of the more popular tactics. We’ve covered this activity in the past, proving that the union thug tradition continues.

UFCW Local Takes a Mulligan on its Election
Supermarket News reports that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 must redo its elections because of potential violations found by the international union. The chief opponent to the incumbent president says that he was fired prior to the election for just daring to run. The challenger says that he did not believe the president was doing enough to find for the best interests of the membership.

Check out all of January’s reports from the Office of Labor Management Standards here.

Washington Times: EDITORIAL: Bring up right to work
The paper’s editors come out in favor of the National Right to Work Legislation proposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

The Nation: Walmart Workers Are Back on Strike Over a New Wave of Alleged Threats
Despite an NLRB settlement order, it appears that the UFCW is participating in protests against Wal-Mart.

Orange County Register: Opinion: Public unions the real freeloaders
A California public school teacher and agency fee payer responds to the baseless “freeloader” pejorative.

Look for the union label! (Photo credit: eggrole / Mark)

Organized labor in Northern California says it’s high time that they unite with the state’s growing medical marijuana industry. On Monday, cannabis operators in San Jose and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union hashed-out the details for their new partnership.

Angel Raich, founder and CEO of ARCH collective in Oakland, described her industry’s budding relationship with UFCW as “a meeting of the minds in a lot of ways.” Dispensary operators say that aligning themselves with one of the nation’s most powerful labor unions  brings “clout” to their industry.

UFCW Local 5 President Ron Lind told KGO-TV that the Silicon Valley Cannabis Coalition for Sensibility and Dignity was launched to help cannabis shops “build their power and legitimacy” through unionization. The Daily Caller reported in June 2010 that marijuana legalization in California would especially be a boon to UCFW membership:

By getting in on the ground floor, the UFCW has a chance to dominate in an industry where employees and employers alike are –as of this moment anyway– far less skeptical of organized labor than the long-unionized supermarket industry.

With medical marijuana sales expected to generate revenue of nearly $9 billion over the next 5 years, could it be that UCFW leaders are hoping for spillover benefits to their core industry?  UFCW employees will certainly be in a unique position to deal with any and every case of the munchies that comes their way.