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Union Officials VOLUME 47, NUMBER 4 www.nrtwc.org April 2001 National Right to Work Measure Returns Will Republican Congressional Leaders Seize This Opportunity? Joined by 29 original cosponsors, Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R) reintroduced the National Right to Work Act (H.R.1109) in the U.S. House of Representatives March 20. A companion Right to Work Bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate within a few weeks. Under six National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Railway Labor Act (RLA) provisions, workers can now be fired for refusal to pay dues or “fees” to union officials whom federal bureaucrats have certified as their “exclusive” (monopoly) bargaining agents. Right to Work Supporters’ Hopes For Floor Votes Are Now Far Higher Emulating Leonid Brezhnev’s exile of autoworkers on “psychiatric leave” Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, UAW while Congress forces them to pay for Like other Right to Work measures union bosses are sending uncooperative UAW rule’s “benefits.” introduced by Mr. Goodlatte since 1995, his new bill would repeal all of these Monopoly-Bargaining Agent autoworkers who had refused to kowtow forced-dues provisions. to their local UAW brass were recently National Right to Work Committee Pins ‘Crazy’ Tag on Worker Who Dared to Challenge Him put on involuntary “psychiatric leave.” hopes for congressional floor votes on According to Mr. Shotwell, none of forced-dues repeal are far higher now Compulsory union dues are only half these workers had threatened or harmed than in previous years, since President anyone, or even been examined by a George W. Bush and the leaders of both of Congress’s double-pronged attack on employee freedom. mental-health professional, prior to being chambers of Congress are all on record in put on “leave.” favor of this measure. By denying individual employees the freedom to represent themselves in In all three cases, he wrote, “union With the White House’s backing, officials supported, assisted, and/or congressional Right to Work supporters negotiations with their employers, and instigated the action.” now have a window of opportunity to instead maintaining the union monopoly- One employee that Mr. Shotwell initiate a debate over the basic moral bargaining privilege in labor law, described as an “easy going, even issue of whether federal labor policy Congress puts countless thousands of tempered” middle-aged man, who should favor compulsory union workers out in the cold. intended to run for union office, quickly membership. Several examples were recently cited consented to a psychological evaluation That’s a debate Right to Work by United Autoworkers (UAW) union supporters are sure to win, no matter local official Gregg Shotwell. in order to be permitted to return to work. what the outcome of House or Senate Writing in the December 2000 issue of The psychiatrist found nothing wrong, floor votes. the unofficial union publication Labor but the man was still not allowed to But this window may not be open Notes, the independent-minded Mr. return to his job for another three months. much longer. Shotwell described how three Ford See Americans page 3 Union Bosses Rush to Rewrite Electoral History But Record Shows Big Labor-Appeasing Candidates Hurt Themselves As the actual results of Election 2000 Right to Work issue, 2000 nominee begin to recede in the collective memory George W. Bush openly pledged to “work of politicians Inside-the-Beltway, AFL- with Congress” to pass the Right to Work CIO czar John Sweeney is busily Bill. engaged in myth-making about what And in the 12 states with the highest happened. share of unionized workers the Bush- Of course, Mr. Sweeney and his Cheney ticket performed, on average, cohorts really do have plenty to brag seven percentage points better than the about. 1996 Dole-Kemp team and two points Wielding an estimated $800 million in better than Bush-Quayle in 1992. union treasury funds, which are derived At the same time, Bush-Cheney overwhelmingly from dues and “fees” carried 20 of the 21 states with Right to that workers are forced under federal and Work laws on the books, failing to win state law to pay as a job condition, they only Iowa, and falling short there by nearly installed union puppets as U.S. fewer than 5300 votes. Senate and House leaders and came within a few votes of electing Al Gore as Candidates Who Stick President. JEFF MITCHELL / REUTERS To Principle Often Defeat Derailed Cabinet pick Linda Chavez: But Mr. Sweeney is not content Massive Union Machine The rub with Big Labor politicking is merely to impress politicians and their it’s financed by forced dues. advisors with the extent of his forced The union machine is formidable, and dues-fed power. worth far more than Big Labor’s $83 fierce union-boss opposition, noted that He wants them to believe that it is million in reported contributions to federal the size of Big Labor’s war chest is not futile for any politician to challenge the candidates and parties in 1999 and 2000. really the issue. union hierarchy’s special privileges, As noted journalist Victor Riesel, a The problem, said Ms. Chavez, is that especially the federally-granted privilege personal friend of long-time AFL-CIO “[u]nion dues are not really voluntary. to get workers fired for refusal to pay chief George Meany, showed in a series “What should not happen is that union tribute. of syndicated columns in the 1970’s, [treasury funds], which are not voluntary, Mr. Sweeney’s propaganda is in no unreported union campaign expenditures be spent on political action and be spent way borne out by the 2000 election are worth up to 10 times as much as the secretly.” results, nor by the results of previous reported contributions. elections. That puts the total value of Big National Right to Work Labor’s hidden 1999-2000 federal slush Bill Is True Solution Not One Senator Who Had fund at roughly $800 million! Voted For Right to Work Unreported forced-dues contributions, While Ms. Chavez suggested that Bill Was Defeated in 2000 explained Mr. Riesel, include “staff time political abuse of forced dues could be — meaning union officials who are effectively addressed by regulatory While the Big Labor machine helped assigned to campaigns for months on end agencies, federal courts have already oust five incumbent GOP senators last [while remaining on the union payroll],” tried for 40 years to curb forced-dues year, not one of these senators had stood and also “printing costs, postage, politicking through case law, with very up to the union bosses by voting in favor telephone, and various other support limited success. of the National Right to Work Act when it services . .” “The true federal solution to the came to the Senate floor in July 1996. There’s no magic formula for a problem of forced union dues in politics Meanwhile, every one of the eight candidate who is opposed by this huge is repeal of the provisions in federal labor senators on the ballot (all Republicans) political machine to win an election. But law that empower union officials to who had voted for the Right to Work Bill, the record in 2000 and in previous collect forced dues,” said Mark Mix, which would repeal federally-authorized elections shows that taking a principled, senior vice president of the National forced union dues, won reelection. public stand in favor of Right to Work Right to Work Committee. The fact is, GOP senators got no definitely helps. “Passing forced-dues repeal quarter from Mr. Sweeney by seeking to legislation, even with President Bush’s appease him. But the senators who had Real Problem Is Simple: support, is going to be an uphill battle in voted for Right to Work could claim the Union Bosses’ War Chest the current Congress. moral high ground as the true defenders Comes From Forced Dues “But the mere act of bringing the of basic rights and freedom. Right to Work Bill up for floor votes, so The 2000 presidential election results In a recent speech at a Washington, that freedom-loving citizens can know demonstrate the same point. D.C., think tank, Linda Chavez, whose exactly who supports it, and who opposes Unlike the GOP presidential nominees nomination as Bush labor secretary was it, will be a big step toward solving the in 1992 and 1996, who ran away from the derailed in January largely because of problem.” National Right to Work Newsletter – April 2001 2 Americans Oppose Forced Unionism Continued from page 1 Later, he discovered that his UAW freedom to penalize union bosses “rep” had written a statement asserting financially for negligence or abuse of that he suffered from Post Traumatic office by resigning and withholding their Stress Disorder due to his experiences in dues. Vietnam. “Passage of the National Right to In reality, the man graduated from Work Act is a key step toward a new high school in June 1974, more than two labor-law system designed to protect months after U.S. military involvement in workers’ dignity, not union officials’ Vietnam had come to an end. institutional interests.” Forced Dues Promote Big Labor Why Miss Opportunity Indifference, Hostility Toward To Bring Up Politically Individual Employee’s Needs Potent Right to Work Issue? Now that he is back on the job, the Most Americans don’t have any autoworker, who understandably wishes trouble seeing that federally-imposed to remain anonymous, is still being forced unionism is wrong. Mark Mix: Every new cosponsor denied access to most areas of the plant, Poll after poll has shown that reinforces the message that Right to according to Mr.
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