Look for the union label attached to Biden, it's making life hard for workers this Labor Day
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Most Americans realize that Labor Day is about celebrating workers, not union bosses. But that won't stop Big Labor's apologists from stealing the spotlight to demand more power.
The fact is, today's unions are built on the government-granted privilege of compulsion. In the 23 states without Right to Work laws, employees can be fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees - even if they don't want the union and never asked for it. Those workers and millions more have no choice but to accept union control over their wages and working conditions.
Union officials routinely funnel workers' dues into political campaigns aimed at defending or expanding their already extensive special privileges. These privileges are frequently at odds with the rights and freedoms of the very rank-and-file workers union bosses purport to "represent."
Unsurprisingly, President Joe Biden - who campaigned on being "the most pro-union president in American history" - is more than willing to undermine the rights of individual workers as he seeks to advance union boss power.
Biden regularly touts his support for union bosses' top legislative priority - the so-called "PRO Act" - which has as its signature provision the repeal of all 27 state Right to Work laws in the country by federal fiat.
Polls regularly show that workers support the choice they have under Right to Work laws. Right to Work doesn't stop a single worker from joining or paying dues to a union if they voluntarily choose to, but merely ensures union financial support is voluntary.
Yet, Biden and the union bosses would strip millions more workers across the country of the ability to decide for themselves whether union officials deserve part of their hard-earned paycheck.
Another striking example of the Biden administration and Big Labor working together to counter the rights of rank-and-file workers is their push to shut down union decertification votes. Under current law, workers can petition for votes to remove a union's so-called "representation" that they don't want.
Union decertification should be simple: When 30% or more of the workers in a bargaining unit sign a petition at the proper time, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should promptly schedule a secret ballot election. If a majority of the votes are against the union, then union officials lose their power to impose their monopoly "representation" on all workers.
Sounds simple enough. But in reality, NLRB-created obstacles to getting such a vote often mean months or more of litigation just to hold such votes.
Even worse, the Biden NLRB is in the process of making decertification votes even harder for workers to obtain. In rulemaking that could be finalized any day now, the Biden administration is seeking to give union officials the ability to unilaterally block decertification votes with "blocking charges" - unproven allegations against employers used as a pretense for halting workers' request for a vote.
These "blocking charges," combined with other NLRB policies barring decertification votes for years at a time, can indefinitely trap workers in union ranks most of them oppose. In one case, such tactics were used to block decertification even though 100% of the workers signed the decertification petition.
Union bosses may like the security of knowing that, no matter what they do, they cannot be removed by those they claim to "represent." But no one could claim with a straight face that trapping workers in unions they oppose is actually pro-worker.
Voluntary organizations - such as charities, churches and civic associations - are quintessentially American. But Big Labor has strayed from its traditions of voluntarism. Instead of persuading workers to join up and pay dues of their own free will, union bosses increasingly rely on coercion to protect their privileged position.
So, this Labor Day, don't buy into the union propaganda that pro-union boss is pro-worker. Truly being pro-worker must include respecting workers' right to choose to reject union membership and union dues.
After all, it's Labor Day, not Union Day.
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The successes that "labor" ( as opposed to capital) has had in America , and elsewhere, are almost entirely due to labor unions. Without unions owners and managers hold all the cards. Without unions we might very well still have 12 hour work days and child labor. Companies certainly werent going to end those things on their own.
Are all unions perfect? Of course not, but they are always needed to balance the power structure between capital and labor ( as much as it can be).
Why do you think that the many Dem led Congresses would have allowed that, Union or no Union?
Maybe 100 years ago. The laws have change- labor unions are now all about self enrichment and political power at the expense of those they are supposed to be protecting.
You think Unions aren't management? Unions are no better than employment agencies that take a portion of the worker's pay for any job they find. It is simply trading one yoke for another. Only this yoke is federal government backed; and the money you have to pay is mandatory. At least with employment agencies you can go around them and hire directly with the company.
We will all get to find out how self serving Unions are when the UAW goes on strike. They are asking for the moon. If the manufacturers capitulate their product will be priced out of competition. Thankfully we have Republicans blocking federal kickbacks on American cars (At least on combustion engine vehicles. Democrats have already sold us out on electric vehicles.).
Auto Unions never should have been bailed out by Obama (especially at the expense of investors and creditors). They were a major part of the reason the automakers went bankrupt the first time. Unions have no interest in the preservation of the companies they infest. They protect bad workers, making it nearly impossible to get rid of them- and force up the labor costs which affect product costs and make companies uncompetitive.
The only union Joe Biden supports is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Biden is a proponent of big soviet government solutions. That's the only reason Ukraine is important to Biden. Biden is trying to turn NATO into a soviet council.
This is probably beyond the memory or knowledge of NT members but it was the Mesabi, Vermilion, and Cuyuna iron ranges of northern Minnesota that produced 70% of the iron used by the US in WWII. Many of the jobs in those mines were exempt from the draft because of how important they were to the US war effort yet many left the mines to join the military, my dad his brother, and many other relatives among that group. My dad came back from WWII and went back to work in the mines and retired in 1980 and walked on in 1990.
The labor movement goes back to 1907 and again in 1916 when battles took place between the mining companies and the workers. The union won some concessions in the 1916 strike which was quite violent but the steel companies fought the unions for another couple of decades or to the start of WWII.
Most iron ore miners were immigrants and some Native Americans had little political power and were abused by the mining companies it was the union that eventually made their life safer and with a decent wage. The work was more than difficult, dangerous, and without any protection for decades. It was both underground mining and open pit mining with the Hull Rust mine being the largest open pit mine in the world at that time.
They still mine taconite there and the workers are still union.
Yes, the unions built America and were instrumental in the winning of WWII in more ways than just one.
A link to a good article on how important the Iron Range and union miners were to winning WWII.
I would like to know from this so-called expert how the ILWU controlled my life, they didn't and my wages were one hell of a lot more than the blue color worker and more than some professional positions.
I learned where the iron ore came from by studying railroad history, Duluth. Mesabi, & Iron Range was a very interesting railroad,
Neither the Textile Workers Union nor the Foreman's Association controlled my father's life but it made it much better.
Same here, charger. The United Steelworkers gave us a chance to eat and have a roof over our heads. and later in life the ILWU helped me and my family a great deal.
Thanks for the picture of the big locomotive
Biden will pander to any group that will have him.
Unions have accomplished some great things, but things change.
6% participation rate in the private sector is rather lousy.
Gee, now what could possibly cause people to not want to join a union? Higher wages? Benefits? Protection? Poor return on investment?