Most Americans realize that Labor Day is about celebrating workers, not union bosses, but that won’t stop big labor’s apologists from seizing the spotlight to demand more power.
The fact is that modern unions are built on the legal privileges of compulsion and extortion. In 27 states without Right to Work laws, nonunion employees can be fired for refusing to pay union dues.
Millions more nonunion workers have no choice but to accept union bargaining over their wages and working conditions, even if they want nothing to do with the union. This despite the fact that poll after poll shows the American people overwhelmingly oppose forced union dues and affiliation.
What’s more, union officials routinely funnel nonunion workers’ forced dues into political campaigns aimed at defending or expanding their already extensive special privileges. Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that big labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as was previously thought.
This forced-dues-funded billion-dollar machine enables union bosses to wield an immense amount of political clout in Washington, D.C., and state capitals, even though private-sector voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline.
Earlier this year, President Barack Obama ignored the U.S. Constitution and unilaterally installed two pro-forced-unionism lackeys and Beltway insiders onto the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that administers and enforces federal labor law. Not surprisingly, the board continues to churn out lopsided decisions in favor of union bosses and against employees.
Large organized labor unions thrive on a system of government-granted special privileges. But what do workers get out of this arrangement? According to union apologists, they’d be helpless without it. But the facts reveal a different story.
Total private-sector employment in Right to Work states went up by 10.3 percent from 2000 to 2010, compared to a gain of just 1.9 percent for the non-Right to Work states.
Moreover, based on cost of living adjusted Bureau of Labor Statistics and Commerce Department data, workers in Right to Work states enjoy higher wages, more disposable income and higher standards of living compared to their colleagues in forced unionism states.
Compulsory unionism makes union bosses unaccountable to rank-and-file workers, whose financial support is absolutely mandatory. After all, why should union officials bother with the hard work of representing employees if they’re sitting on a forced-dues revenue stream guaranteed by the government?
The flood of forced-dues cash also breeds extravagance, abuse and corruption. Union boss spending sprees and forced-dues funded political activism take precedence over protecting worker rights.
For instance, seven years ago, Service Employees International Union officials imposed on all 36,000 California state employees forced to accept SEIU representation a “special assessment” for a self-described “political fight back fund” to pay for a campaign to defeat several California ballot initiatives. Union officials even imposed the fee on nonmembers without notice or opportunity to opt out.
After years of legal wrangling, long after SEIU officials defeated the 2005 proposals, the U.S. Supreme Court held 7-2 that SEIU bosses had violated the workers’ First Amendment rights. The court’s majority ruled for the first time that union officials must obtain affirmative consent from workers before using workers’ forced union fees for union politicking.
While this National Right to Work Foundation-won victory is a step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go.
In litigating nearly 200 cases nationwide today, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys are helping employees stand up for their rights against union bosses’ intimidation, coercion and even violence. These cases underscore the extreme lengths to which union bosses will go to retaliate against anyone who refuses to toe Big Labor’s line.
If union officials really wanted to celebrate Labor Day, they’d renounce their special privileges and free hardworking Americans from being forced to pay tribute to unions as a condition of employment. Otherwise, their talk of “workers’ rights” rings awfully hollow.
Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the National Right to Work Committee based in Springfield, Va.
Mark Mix’s Op Ed no doubt has some legitimate points, but if a reader was from Mars he/she might get the impression that unions are growing in America and are ever more powerful. Are you serious? As if Pres. Reagan (once the head of a Hollywood union before he converted to conservatism) and the two Bush Presidents didn’t do their best to destroy unions, not least Reagan’s elimination of the air traffic controllers’ union once they went on strike. And surely even Mix has heard about the anti-union laws passed by Ohio and Wisconsin and other states. What planet is Mix on? Of course, “the right to work” planet.
You are correct union power in the private sector is waning. But Unions are fully entrenched where they are capable of doing the most damage. City Halls, State Government offices, Federal offices, teachers and healthcare. If how screwed up government & healthcare isn’t evidence, I don’t know what is.
I’m sure you would much prefer the rampant nepotism that is in evidence in the right to work states. Where it is routine to clean house if a new Mayor or Sheriff is elected. Got to take care of cousin Billy Bobs little boy.
Unions prevent nepotism? You know how people get on at the mill, right?
They sure do.
If a new sheriff gets elected in Maine where there are unions, he can’t just come in and make room for his cronies by firing deputies. He may try other means but he best know what he or she is doing.
At what mill is the Union on the hiring board? I was the shop steward in a place that hired lots of people. I never once was consulted when they interviewed potential emloyees.
If nepotism exists at the mills hiring process then that lays squarely upon management. If they are mills that have union contracts they can’t just walk through the mill and point to someone and say your fired to make room for my wifes nephew.
Nepotism is the only way anyone can get a job these days. Don’t discourage it. Young people should be encouraged to utilize their networks, even if it does mean gaining employment through nepotism. Meritocracy be damned, because it is a myth.
If you are fired to be replaced by a relative of the boss you might not feel so enthralled with nepotism.
Believe me I am not enthralled with nepotism.
Are you saying that the police in Maine are screwed up? That the highway workers DOT are screwed up? That our hospitals are screwed up?
Which part or which department is screwed up? How are they not performing? Also how is the unions preventing these workers from doing their job?
As a retired federal law enforcement officer and a long-time union officer at the national level, I’d agree that unions are stronger in the public sector. Perhaps we should consider why that’s true. I believe that it’s because public sector managers are far more political than private sector managers. They don’t have to show a profit, they just have to satisfy the voters or their political bosses. If “government & healthcare” are “screwed up”, it’s because of the way they’re run; and they’re run by the managers, not the unions. We used to say that our best organizers were managers; if it wasn’t for so many poor managers, public sector unions would have a much harder time surviving.
Those few good public sector supervisors and managers who try to “do the rights things” are usually marginalized by their politically-motivated bosses.
The damage is done by Union officials negotiating directly with their employers in as you admit a political environment. The unions then support these officials and political parties with campaign donations. The only looser in that scenario is the taxpayer, it can’t help but be.
“The damage is done by Union officials negotiating directly with their employers.”
Umm, who do you think they are supposed to negotiate with?
In non-union companies you can also be fired at will, with or without cause. Unions worked to make sure that workers did not have 12-16 hour days, 7 days a week. Unions made sure that workers had a livable wage, which helped create the middle class. Even most non-union businesses offer benefits like health insurance and vacations not because they are generous but because they want to keep their workers happy so that they do not push for a union. Unions are a part of Labor history, whether or not businesses want to acknowledge it.
Yes because telling the owner he can not fire a person even though they do not do there job is great. The unions did break Ford and the other companies however with the current laws all workers have protection. Unless of course you get hurt on the job in Maine where the liberals took your right to go to court and seek damages. Other states you can in Maine you get what the insurance co says you get no matter how low and you have ZERO recourse.
My point was that people can be fired even without cause in Maine, and if you don’t have a union to back you, you are up the creek without a paddle. Sure, if someone does not do their job, that is one thing. And if you think everyone has protection from arbitrary firings even without unions, you are sadly mistaken. And I doubt that the liberals were the ones who took away the right to sue for damages if injured on the job, That is more in line with conservative thinking, to protect businesses. If you have been convinced otherwise, you have been conned.
An employer can fire union employees if that employee is caught doing something that is barred in the contract that the employer negotiated with the union. The employer can’t revert to pre union years when they would routinely fire people at will, to make room for a younger healthier replacement.
I think you better check all these touted ‘right to work’ states on how well they protect workers. While you are at it read up on the history of ‘Labor’ in this country. Or take a trip to Mexico to see what the Republican/Tea/ALEC/MHPC has in mind for American workers.
If that’s true how did BIW fire union workers ?
Employers can and do fire union employees. But they can’t do it for no reason.
“Right-to-Work” laws prevent employers (Job Creaters) from making certain agreements with their workers. In a “Right-to-Work” state my company and I would be prohibited from making an agreement with my employees that provides for payroll deductions that both my employees and I agree to be fair.
My employees and I don’t need the government, through a “Right-to-Work” law, telling us what we can agree to and what we can’t.
Keep government out of business decisions.
Oppose “Right-to-Work” laws and let employers and employees decide for themselves the best terms of their relationships.
“A “right-to-work” law is a statute that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees’ membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment, either before or after hiring. Right-to-work laws exist in twenty-three U.S. states, mostly in the southern and western United States. Such laws are allowed under the 1947 federal Taft–Hartley Act”
It seems to me that Right to Work laws are actually anti-union, not pro-union as you appear to believe.
I inferred from his post that Right to Work laws are anti- union. Anti- Union is anti-labor as far as I’m concerned. They make a lot of hay out of so-called corrupt union bosses. I would love to see their incomes compared to those of anti-labor CEOs.
Another carpetbagger commentary. Pro union does not just mean pro-union leaders. Sounds like Mix is afraid of unions. We should be more afraid of ALEC, Koch Bros., Norquist, etc.
Not to mention the Progressive States network.
Mr. Mix considers it his patriotic duty to bash those commie unions. Maybe he should try bashing the titans of industry for exporting jobs to a communist nation. Thereby funding the spread of communism. Anyone who sends a thin dime or a single job to a communist nation should be brought up on charges of treason. If supporting communism is an act of treason, does that mean shopping at WalMart is treasonous activity? WalMart sends so much money to communist China every year that it is a very closely guarded secret. They do not want to come off as un-American. Even though they really are.
Excellent op-ed, Mr. Mix. I wish you success in your Right to Work efforts. Happy Labor Day!
Mark Mix states…”In 27 states without Right to Work laws, nonunion employees can be fired for refusing to pay union dues.” In RIGHT to WORK states, employees are fired at will. I’ll take union every day. Local example, Fairpoint. Layoff 400 management employees, union none. Which job do you want? People are fools to believe that companies care about them and doing a great job will keep you working.
“Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the National Right to Work Committee based in Springfield, Va.” That pretty well explains this “op ed”. “The right” constantly crows about the fact that unions, particularly private sector unions, are “on life support”; and yet, they still fear unions. Unions are one of the few organized voices for the middle class and working people. If “the right” is successful in “finishing off” unions, there will be much less oppostion to their proganda. Without unions workers will have to rely on the generosity and kindness of their employers. I know it hard to believe, but not all employers are generous or kind.