Is it slavery for union workers to work alongside nonunion workers? The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) filed a lawsuit claiming that Indiana’s right-to-work law violates the 13th Amendment, which states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States.” The union claims that: The Defendants have exacted compulsory service and/or involuntary servitude from the Union through the combination of the passage of the Right to Work law and the existing federal requirement of the duty of fair representation. Through these laws the Union is compelled to … More
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The Brooklyn Hospital Center wanted to reward its best nurses, so it honored high-performing nurses with a breakfast and gave them $100 gift cards. Unfortunately, the nurses’ union did not approve. They filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, and the board forbid the hospital from giving such bonuses again. This ruling was unsurprising. The National Labor Relations Act requires unionized companies to bargain over all pay changes. Companies cannot pay individual employees less than the union rate, but they cannot pay them more than the union rate, either. … More
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No one likes tax increases, right? Not quite. Government unions do. In California, government unions recently postponed their contract negotiations until after a vote on an initiative that would hike taxes. The unions support the initiative, and they don’t want their new contracts to cause Californians to vote no. Their concern is understandable. Heritage senior policy analyst Jason Richwine estimates that on average government employees in the state make 30 percent more than their private sector counterparts. The minimum retirement age for most government employees in California is 50. To … More
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Claire Waites, an Alabama school teacher who joined the local teachers union to obtain liability insurance, was pressured by her union to donate to the NEA Fund for Children. In reality, she found out later that the funds went to political action groups chosen by the union—which turned out to be in support of John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. Waites was furious and recently testified about the situation on the House floor. As it stands, the law empowers unions over employees when conflict arises. This is … More
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Claire Waites, an Alabama school teacher who joined the local teachers union to obtain liability insurance, was pressured by her union to donate to the NEA Fund for Children. In reality, she found out later that the funds went to political action groups chosen by the union—which turned out to be in support of John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. Waites was furious and recently testified about the situation on the House floor. As it stands, the law empowers unions over employees when conflict arises. This is … More
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Claire Waites, an Alabama school teacher who joined the local teachers union to obtain liability insurance, was pressured by her union to donate to the NEA Fund for Children. In reality, she found out later that the funds went to political action groups chosen by the union—which turned out to be in support of John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. Waites was furious and recently testified about the situation on the House floor. As it stands, the law empowers unions over employees when conflict arises. This is … More
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Claire Waites, an Alabama school teacher who joined the local teachers union to obtain liability insurance, was pressured by her union to donate to the NEA Fund for Children. In reality, she found out later that the funds went to political action groups chosen by the union—which turned out to be in support of John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. Waites was furious and recently testified about the situation on the House floor. As it stands, the law empowers unions over employees when conflict arises. This is … More
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Congressional investigators are probing a decision by the Federal Elections Commission to drop a case against a major teachers’ union that allegedly violated federal law by forcing union members to donate to its political action committee. Claire Waites, an eighth grade science teacher and member of the National Education Association, testified at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in February that she was told by union leadership that a donation to the NEA’s “Children’s Fund” PAC was “non-negotiable.” Compulsory political contributions by workers to a union’s PAC is illegal. Waites filed … More
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“I’m not really anti-union, I’m pro-worker,” Rep. Tim Scott insists. A freshman Republican from South Carolina’s first congressional district, Scott has staked out a strong position in favor of workplace democracy and union accountability. That hasn’t earned him much support from union leaders, who consider him “the anti-union legislator in America, especially in the South,” he told the Heritage Foundation in our latest In the Green Room interview. But rank-and-file members are open to his views, Scott said. But Scott noted that even his bill, the Employee Rights Act, which … More
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Did you know that there are no Volkswagen manufacturing plants in the Detroit area? Or Mercedes-Benz? Or Kia? Or Hyundai? Or BMW, for that matter? The Motor City has a well-earned reputation for having the greatest auto workers in the nation, yet honorable Michiganders largely build cars for only three companies. Apart from having their cars assembled in Michigan, it turns out that those three companies have something else in common: the United Auto Workers union (UAW). It also turns out that every other car manufacturer has something in common, … More
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