Labor Unions

December 12, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Not fit to print, Michigan right-to-work edition

Featured image The passage of right to work legislation in Michigan represents an interesting development in the aftermath of Obama’s reelection. For the left, of course, this cannot stand. One can infer the intensity of the opposition from the quotes in the page-one New York Times story by Monica Davey, at the top of the RealClearPolitics honor roll this morning. Davey leaves out a few items that illuminate the import of the »
June 21, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Suspense Builds at the Court

Featured image No Obamacare decision from the Supreme Court today.  (There had been rumors that it might be announced today.)  However, the Knox v. SEIU decision was handed down today, and it looks like an important blow against labor unions. And once again, the egregious  Ninth Circus Court of Appeals was reversed. Knox concerns coercive union dues collected from non-members and used for political purposes.  When dissenting employees brought suit against these »
June 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Big Labor morphs into predatory bankers

Featured image With collections from union dues declining, how is Big Labor finding the resources to spend so heavily in elections like the one last night in Wisconsin? According to Peter Schweizer, they are doing it in part by acting like banks: Big unions are morphing into the kinds of big businesses and banks they decry, hawking to their members everything from high interest credit cards to home loans. . . . »
March 12, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Whose Interests Are Special?

Featured image The Hill reports that unions and other liberal groups are vowing to make life miserable for any companies that contribute to Republican campaigns this year: Liberal interest groups, watchdogs and unions on Monday threatened to boycott, protest and publicly embarrass corporations that spend money trying to sway the outcome of the November election. Gathered Monday at the Washington headquarters of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the groups issued a »
November 3, 2011 — Steven Hayward

This Week’s Applied Hayek: Occupy AFL-CIO Edition

Featured image Chapter 18 of The Constitution of Liberty is on “Labor Unions and Employment,” which will be considered in my class next Monday evening (are you paying attention, class?), the day before Ohio’s vote on the reforms to public employee compensation and collective bargaining rights.  Advance polls suggest Gov. Kasich’s reforms are going down to defeat, chiefly because of tactical mistakes.  National Review’s Brian Bolduc explains. Anyway, Hayek’s chapter on labor »
August 17, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Does Anyone Care About Actual Political Violence?

Featured image Over the last year, we have seen absurd efforts to blame violent acts committed by people who had nothing to do with politics on politicians and activists who have nothing to do with violence. No matter: it is all about political opportunism. In fact, however, we do have a political or quasi-political movement in the United States that in recent years has often resorted to violence: the union movement. To »
June 30, 2011 — John Hinderaker

There Is Really Only One Special Interest Group

Featured image And that is labor unions. Antony Davies of Duquesne has prepared a series of charts that summarize special interest political contributions from 1989 to 2009, based on data from Open Secrets. This chart is the most revealing; it shows that the overwhelming majority of special interest money goes to Democrats, and that unions dwarf everyone else. It’s actually even worse than the chart shows at first glance, since teachers’ unions »