Posted on Jun 10, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
If a normal person stood outside his or her workplace and shouted racist epithets at coworkers and passersby, that person would be fired. But an Administrative Law Judge with the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that normal rules of civilized conduct don’t apply while on union business, ordering Anthony Runion, a United Steelworkers picketer […]
Posted on Jun 08, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
Unions and Democratic Party politicians are infamously loyal to one another. Labor PACs consistently send about 90 percent of their contributions to Democrats—even as roughly 40 percent of union households consistently vote Republican—and Democrats supply labor favors in return. But when labor and Democrats disagree, unions can savage their allies as brutally as they would […]
Posted on Apr 22, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
The International Association of Machinists (IAM) has had a lousy month. Two major organizing campaigns by the 569,000-member union have hit serious stumbling blocks, and the manner of flop demonstrates the need for the Employee Rights Act’s federal protection of secret ballot votes on whether to form a union. First, the IAM’s effort to organize […]
Posted on Mar 20, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
While unions who lose an organizing election can come back year after year until they win once and (effectively) forever. The Employee Rights Act (ERA) would correct the structural imbalances in the organization process by requiring automatic recertification votes once half or more of the original certification voters had left the bargaining unit. This certification-related provisions […]
Posted on Mar 09, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
Today, Wisconsin became the 25th right-to-work state when Governor Scott Walker signed SB 44, which passed the Wisconsin Assembly last Friday. The measure, which prohibits the conditioning of employment on the payment of union dues or fees, means that half of the states now have laws prohibiting the so-called “union shop” or “agency shop.” This […]
Posted on Dec 18, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich continued his work in support of employee rights today with an op-ed (co-signed by our Executive Director) published by the Washington Post. Looking at the recent midterm election results, they find a pattern in the victors’ platforms: On Election Day, voters didn’t just rebel against President Obama. There […]
Posted on Nov 11, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
In February 2012, advocates for employee rights welcomed Indiana as the 23rd state to pass a right-to-work law under which unions cannot force non-members to fund the union. Big Labor (specifically the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150) sued on the preposterous grounds that the law violated their free speech rights, among other things. […]
Posted on Nov 06, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
With few exceptions, Big Labor took a “thumpin” on Tuesday night, flushing tens of millions of their members’ dollars down the tubes to stall labor reform and curtail employee rights. Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO had vowed to take out six Republican state governors whom he deemed a threat to his agenda. Unfortunately for Trumka, all but one were […]
