Posted on Feb 19, 2016 by LaborPains.org Team
In 2012, the labor stronghold of Michigan passed a right-to-work law, allowing non-members of both public and private unions to refrain from funding unions they don’t want to support. It was a massive development, bringing substantial employee rights to the home state of the United Auto Workers shortly after it seemed like momentum for curbing […]
Posted on Jan 29, 2016 by LaborPains.org Team
This post has been updated since its initial publication with 2015 data from Unionstats.com. Yesterday, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual count of how many American employees are union members and what percentage of the workforce consists of union members. Overall union density remained constant at 11.1% of wage and salary employees, […]
Posted on Jan 07, 2016 by LaborPains.org Team
Monday of next week (January 11) marks a major milestone in the effort to bring employee rights in the workplace to teachers and other public-sector employees. The Supreme Court will hear a case titled Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association et al., brought by California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs (and other teachers) against her National Education Association-affiliated […]
Posted on Jul 01, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
The Supreme Court just agreed to take a major labor union case for its 2015-2016 sitting, titled Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. At stake is the power of public-sector unions like Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to collect forced dues—so-called “agency fees”—from non-members forced to accept their representation in at least 25 states. […]
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 Feb 24, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
Big news from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin: Legislators are calling a special session to advance a right-to-work measure. Following reforms permitting employees to refrain from funding unions in Indiana and Michigan, the state legislature has indicated that it will pass the measure and Governor Scott Walker has said he will sign it. Wisconsin would […]
Posted on Nov 14, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
In 2012, Michigan became the 24th state to pass a right-to-work law. Unions were outraged, but had little to complain about: Michiganders had just rejected a union proposal to rewrite the state’s labor laws to unions’ benefit (and prohibit right-to-work measures) despite over $23 million that was spent to pass it. For good measure, Michigan […]
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. […]
