INK February 2, 2012

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:50:12 +0000

In this issue:

• Labor Relations Insight by Phillip Wilson: Hell Freezes Over

• Perspectives on 2011 Labor Stats

• Dems Fear Massive Wisconsin Cash Drain

• Union Hypocrisy Over FAA Compromise

• The Burdens of Non-Transformational Employment

• SEIU Watch, Social Media Spotlight, Sticky Fingers and more…

NOTICE: You can make a PDF of this issue of INK directly from the post. Click here for instructions on how to do so.

Labor Relations Insight by Phillip Wilson: Hell Freezes Over

While most of the country is experiencing a spring-like winter, I think things might be a little chillier in the underworld. Indiana just became the rust belt’s first Right to Work state. I hope the Devil

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Labor Relations Insight by Phillip Wilson: Hell Freezes Over

Phillip Wilson — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:53:34 +0000

It was only a matter of time, but I don’t think we’ll have to wait another decade for the next Right to Work state (my home state of Oklahoma was the last one to adopt Right to Work in 2001). I believe at least one more rust belt state will be Right to Work by the end of the year and it is conceivable that half of America will be Right to Work before

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Union Bailout Update

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:51:53 +0000

Senator Rand Paul announced on Monday he was joining the legal challenge of President Obama’s “recess without a recess” appointments to the NLRB. Paul is the first member of the Senate to legally object to the appointments and plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of legal action by the National Federation for Independent Business and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The groups are arguing that the NLRB appointments, and Richard Corday’s appointment to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are unconstitutional.

“With the recent recess appointments, President Obama has circumvented our Constitution and showed complete disregard for the separation of powers,” Paul said in a statement Tuesday. “He has demonstrated once again that he is willing to treat the office of the presidency like a dictatorship.”

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee will begin hearings this week on the effect the President’s actions may

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Update: Persuader Disclosure Changes

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:47:44 +0000

DOL documents appear to point to an August 2012 implementation of new persuader reporting rules. The changes to the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act will put every employer in the country under a “gag order” by forcing them – under threat of criminal penalty – to report things like money spent on supervisory training, attendance at seminars and even employee opinion surveys. This proposed rule dramatically limits the so-called “advice” exception and means that most discussions about unions between company managers and their attorney or consultant will be subject to public reporting requirements.

Perspectives on 2011 Labor Stats

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:45:03 +0000

The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its 2011 Union Members Survey late last week calling the percentage of unionized workers “essentially unchanged” from 2010 to 2011. 11.8% of the American workforce was unionizing in 2011, a new post-WWII low, down slightly from 11.9% in 2010. The bureau reports 14.8 million union members in 2011 with another 1.5 million working under union contracts as non-members. Public sector workers were more than five times more likely to be unionized than private sector workers (37% and 6.9% respectively).

The report showed a loss of 61,000 public sector unionized jobs (due to local and state government cutbacks) while unions picked up 110,000 dues payers in the private sector. Unions gained the most in construction, healthcare, retail, metal production, hospitals and

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Dems Fear Massive Wisconsin Cash Drain

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:40:51 +0000

Democrat strategists are handwringing over the money Big Labor continues to dump in Wisconsin. Public sector unions alone spent at least $15M on the ground last year collecting signatures to recall Governor Scott Walker and tens of millions more went to ad buys. Unions also targeted six Republican congressmen for recall who supported the governor’s budget agenda, generating a flood of political dollars into a state that rarely sees that level spending even in a presidential election year.

After nine months gathering signatures, organizers may have to push for another six months to get to the actual Walker recall election date, probably in late June. Unions will need far more staff on the ground in Wisconsin until then, burning through even more dues dollars

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Quotes on Occupy Super Bowl

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:33:36 +0000

The morning after Mitch Daniels signed Indiana Right to Work into law it’s uncertain if or how Big Labor will screw up Super Bowl events in response. One thing is certain, with Right to Work rumblings now in at least three surrounding states (Kentucky, Michigan and Minnesota) we won’t be rescued from union Right to Work hysteria any time soon.

“It’s a union-busting tactic all the way,” said protesting carpenter Mike Coomes. “You just create more poverty. They want us to go back to slavery. We’ve worked 150 years to get here and they wiped it out in one vote.”

And it borders on unconscionable how Big Labor is whipping up the membership into a froth about a measure that only requires union locals make member service a top priority just like any other business. But never mind that. According to the unions, Indiana Republican lawmakers just blew us

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Workers Vote to End Manitowoc Strike

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:28:02 +0000

By a vote of 112-59 striking Machinists union members agreed to go back to work on January 18, ending a two-month strike against Manitowoc Crane. Members accepted a four-year contract that does away with mandatory dues and requires the IAM earn the support (and dues) of Manitowoc workers on an annual basis. The contract also includes a 2% annual pay increase in each of the four years and a $250 signing bonus.

Of course the union campaigned hard to convince its Manitowoc members that giving workers freedom of choice and the power to withhold dues is a bad thing that inevitably leads to the erosion of pay and benefits.

Several news outlets reported that supporters of the new contract were reluctant to go on

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Union Hypocrisy Over FAA Compromise

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:22:23 +0000

Eighteen unions have signed on to a statement against the Senate FAA funding compromise in but another jaw-dropping example of union hypocrisy and hubris.

“The proposed Railway Labor Act changes would drastically rewrite a statute that was crafted by labor-management cooperation and has not been changed for over 75 years without the agreement of both employer and employee representatives…

A rewrite of long standing labor law deserves proper and due consideration through the normal deliberative process. Acting otherwise directly conflicts with the non-partisan recommendations of the 1994 Report of the Dunlop Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations…Unilaterally changing that law without labor’s input and without due deliberation threatens to unravel its carefully balanced goals of labor stability and uninterrupted commerce.”

It’s unclear if the

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Twinkie Demise Update

editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:12:57 +0000

Confirming what we already knew, Hostess has asked its bankruptcy judge to rewrite its collective bargaining commitments and modify its pension obligations. The company claims labor costs, “arcane work rules” and union pension plan debt load put Hostess at a “profound competitive disadvantage.”

The company says it is going through a “cash burn” of $2 million per week, and that the competitive burden of its multiple convoluted collective bargaining agreement obligations has “never been meaningfully addressed.”

The Teamsters responded, as one would expect, with the usual union blubbering, even as the union still demands that Hostess and Wonder products be delivered on separate trucks and Teamsters truck drivers never be required to touch product. And, per usual, the union confuses blaming the union with blaming the workers who

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