Worker Rights Advocate Comments on Teamsters Endorsement of Gephardt’s Presidential Bid

Washington, D.C. (August 1, 2003) – Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, an employee rights advocacy group, issued the following statement regarding today’s anticipated endorsement of Congressman Richard Gephardt’s (D-MO) presidential candidacy: “For most observers of politics, this announcement should come as no surprise. In fact, the only people […]

Full Foundation Action September/October 2020 Newsletter Now Online

All articles from the September/October issue of Foundation Action are now on the website. In this issue: Foundation Defends New Rules Protecting Right to Remove Unwanted Unions Chicago Transit Worker Joins Mark Janus at Supreme Court in Demanding Refunds Mix to US Attorney: Let Workers Refuse to Fund Scandal-Ridden UAW Bosses Push to Remove UFCW Union […]

The Obama Administration’s Ethics Blind Spot for Big Labor

The Obama Administration hasn’t been shy about paying back the union bosses, but it has been shy about answering basic questions about its collusion with Big Labor. So while Monday’s report in Politico shouldn’t shock anyone, it is telling: President Barack Obama’s political director failed to disclose that he was slated to receive a nearly $40,000 payout from a large labor union while he was working in the White House.

Foundation Submits Comments Opposing Rollback of Labor Department Union Disclosure Guidelines

The National Right to Work Foundation has submitted formal comments opposing proposed rule changes that would dramatically undermine union transparency at the Obama Department of Labor (DoL). The full comments can be found here, but the long and short of it is that the Obama DoL is proposing two major changes to union disclosure under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959:

Obama’s Style of So-Called Leadership: “Mr. Contractor, Tear Down Those Employee Rights Notices”

President Barack Obama's efforts to transition the Department of Labor into a giant, taxpayer-funded extension of Big Labor's organizing and political fund-raising machine just hit another milestone. President Barack Obama's January 30, 2009 executive order, aimed to help union bosses seize more forced dues revenue to fund Big Labor’s political agenda, was just printed in the Federal Register -- making it official.  In a nutshell, the EO tears down posted notices to employees of federal contractors which explain they can actually refrain from paying forced union dues spent for union electioneering and the like.

Did Big Labor Break the Bank in the 2008 Elections?

To readers who followed Big Labor's record-breaking political contributions last election, it should come as no surprise that the AFL-CIO and the SEIU officials are hinting at big union debts. Of course, so long as the union bossses have a basically unrestricted right to to collect (and jack up) forced union dues, they will not have trouble raising revenue until most American jobs are destroyed. But don't be surprised to see the union bosses lining up at the federal bailout trough (again) to exploit the situation.  Here's the Wall Street Journal:

Greedy Detroit Union Boss Threatens Firings: Teachers, Your Money or Your Jobs!

The Detroit Free Press reports that the Detroit Federation of Teachers union is threatening to have up to 70 teachers fired for not paying forced union dues.  A school district error is mainly responsible for the mix up.  Yet, because of the clerical error, union official Mark O'Keefe stated that the "fair" thing to do would be to fire the teachers who fail to pay the full union dues. No, Mark.  The "fair" thing to do is to not require teachers to pay ANY union dues as a condition of teaching Detroit's schoolchildren.

Foundation Frequently-Asked Questions

¿Qué es el principio del Derecho al Trabajo?El principio de derecho al trabajo, el concepto que guía a la Fundación Nacional de Defensa Legal para el Derecho al Trabajo, afirma el derecho de todo estadounidense a trabajar sin que se le obligue a unirse a un sindicato. El sindicalismo forzoso, en cualquier forma —"unión," "cerrado," o "agencia" taller— es una contradicción al principio del Derecho al Trabajo y al derecho humano fundamental que representa el principio. El Comité Nacional para el Derecho al Trabajo recomienda que cada persona debe tener el derecho de unirse a un sindicato, pero no debe ser obligado. La Fundación Nacional de Defensa Legal para el Derecho al Trabajo ayuda a los empleados que son perseguidos por su afirmación a ese principio.

Foundation Frequently-Asked Questions

What is the Right to Work principle? The Right to Work principle--the guiding concept of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation--affirms the right of every American to work for a living without being compelled to belong to a union. Compulsory unionism in any form--"union," "closed," or "agency" shop--is a contradiction of the Right to Work principle and the fundamental human right that the principle represents. The National Right to Work Committee advocates that every individual must have the right, but must not be compelled, to join a labor union. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation assists employees who are victimized because of their assertion of that principle.

THE PERMISSIBLE USES OF FORCED UNION DUES: FROM HANSON TO BECK

by Charles W. BairdCharles W. Baird is a professor of economics anddirector of the Smith Center for Private Enterprise Studies,California State University at Hayward.Executive Summary On April 13, 1992, in what many consider to be nothing more than an act of political opportunism, President Bush issued Executive Order 12800, which requires all federal contractors to inform their employees of their "Beck rights." The order stems from a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Com- munication Workers of America v. Beck, in which the Court declared that employees forced to pay union dues under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) do not have to contribute to a union's partisan political activities. The Communica- tion Workers of America had been using as much as 79 percent