Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind

by Mallory Factor

  34 Vince Vasquez, Dale Glaser, W. Erik Bruvold, “Measuring the Costs of Project Labor Agreements on School Construction in California,” National University System Institute for Policy Research, July 2011; Paul Bachman, David Tuerck, “Project Labor Agreements and Public Construction Costs in NY State, Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, April 2006; Paul Bachman, Jonathan Haughton, David G. Tuerck, “Project Labor Agreements and the Cost of Public School Construction in Connecticut,” Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, September 2004.

  35 Rider, Levett, Bucknall, “Project Labor Agreements—Impact Study for the Department of Veteran Affairs,” June 2009, p. 35, http://www.thetruthaboutplas.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/PLAs-Impact-Study-for-the-Department-of-Veterans-Affairs-Rider-Levett-Bucknall-060209.pdf, accessed May 2012; David G. Tuerck, Sarah Glassman, Paul Bachman, “Project Labor Agreements on Federal Construction Projects: A Costly Solution in Search of a Problem,” Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, August 2009.

  36 Daniel Massey, “Ruling: Some WTC Workers Can’t Strike,” Crain’s New York Business, August 3, 2011, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110803/REAL_ESTATE/110809961, accessed January 2012. Joseph De Avila, “WTC Work Stoppage Continues for Third Day,” Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2011. In addition to construction delays from work stoppages, some reports show that projects with Project Labor Agreements in place take longer to complete that non-PLA projects. “Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature, use of Project Labor Agreements in Public Works Building Projects in Fiscal Year 2008,” New Jersey Department of Labor, October 2010 (concluding PLA projects have a longer duration than non-PLA projects).

  37 To an audience of building and construction union members, President Obama stated, “I believe our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits… that’s why we’ve reversed the ban on Project Labor Agreements. As long as I serve as your President, I’m going to keep it up.” “Remarks of President Obama at Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, April 30, 2012,” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/30/1087528/-Remarks-of-President-Obama-at-Building-and-Construction-Trades-Department-AFL-CIO-April-30-2012, accessed May 2012.

  38 Steven Greenhut, Plunder! (Santa Ana, Calif.: Forum Press, 2009), p. 73.

  39 Michelle McNeil, “Education stimulus maintained jobs, didn’t grow them,” Edmoney.org (blog), January 28, 2011, http://edmoney.org/blog/2011/jan/28/jobs/, accessed January 2012. Assuming that education workers pay an average of $600 a year in union dues, and that 75% of the jobs saved are union jobs (based on the percent of teachers that are unionized), then the stimulus preserves $165 million in teachers union dues annually. And the stimulus bill wasn’t the end of channeling money to the teachers unions, of course. In August 2010, Obama pushed through a second stimulus bill, this time focused on education: the Keep Our Educators Working Act, which cost “only” $23 billion.

  40 Alyson Klein, “States: Come Get Your EduJobs Money,” Education Week, August 13, 2010, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/08/edujobs_guidance_is_available.html, accessed January 2012.

  41 Kyle Olson, “Will Third Teachers’ Union Bailout Fund Obama’s Re-Election?” BigGovernment.com, September 13, 2011, http://biggovernment.com/kolson/2011/09/13/will-third-teachers-union-bailout-fund-obamas-re-election/, accessed December 2011.

  42 “Federal Grant Supports Union Initiative,” American Teacher, October/November 2010, p. 2, http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americanteacher/at_octnov10.pdf, accessed December 2011.

  43 Tamar Lewin, “Obama Wades into Issue of Raising Dropout Age,” New York Times, January 25, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/education/obama-wades-into-issue-of-raising-dropout-age.html, accessed January 2012.

  44 See “The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools,” Issue Brief, Alliance for Excellent Education, November 2011, http://www.all4ed.org/files/HighCost.pdf, accessed March 2012.

  45 This calculation is based on the current student/school worker ratio of 1:8.

  46 “NEA’s 12-Point Action Plan for Reducing the School Dropout Rate,” National Education Association, http://www.nea.org/home/18106.htm, accessed February 2012.

  47 See Rennie Center for Education and Research Policy, “Raise the Age, Lower the Drop Out Rate? Considerations for Policy Makers,” April 9, 2009, http://renniecenter.issuelab.org/research/listing/raise_the_age_lower_the_dropout_rate_considerations_for_policymakers, accessed February 2012; and “Raise the Bar, Not the Age,” Spotlight no. 321, John Locke Foundation, May 31, 2007, http://www.johnlocke.org/acrobat/spotlights/spotlight_321-compulsiveed.pdf, accessed February 2012.

  48 This two-step process of card collection, followed by secret-ballot election, is set forth in the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 159(c) (http://www.nlrb.gov/national-labor-relations-act). Currently, if over 50 percent of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a card requesting a union, the employer can voluntarily choose to waive the secret-ballot election process and recognize the union. The Employee Free Choice Act—the card check legislation—would replace the provision requiring a secret-ballot election with the following provision: “If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative… the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative.” Employee Free Choice Act of 2009, H.R. 1409, 111th Cong. (2009), http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr1409/text, accessed April 2012.

  49 “Union-Controlled NLRB Approves Union Thuggery in Union Elections,” RedState, March 13, 2011, http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/03/13/union-controlled-nlrb-approves-union-thuggery-in-union-elections/, accessed December 2011.

  50 James Sherk, “Workers Reject Card Checks, Favor Private Ballots in Union Organizing,” WebMemo #1363, Heritage Foundation, February 16, 2007, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/02/workers-reject-card-checks-favor-private-ballots-in-union-organizing, accessed December 2011.

  51 Kris Maher, “President Tells Unions Organizing Act Will Pass,” Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123611995496723249.html, accessed December 2011.

  52 Sam Stein, “Obama’s Remarks On Employee Free Choice Act Make Labor ‘Very Pleased,’ ” Huffington Post, March 15, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/12/obamas-remarks-on-employe_n_166345.html, accessed December 2011.

  53 Kyle Olson, “Wisconsin Unions Insurance Scam at Stake in Collective Bargaining Reform,” BigGovernment.com, February 23, 2011, http://biggovernment.com/kolson/2011/02/23/wisconsin-unions-insurance-scam-at-stake-in-collective-bargaining-reform/, accessed January 2012.

  54 Kimberley A. Strassel, “Union Power for Thee, But Not for Me,” Wall Street Journal, February 25, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703530504576164822561737348.html, accessed December 2011.

  55 “SEIU: Building a New American Health Care System,” http://www.seiu.org/SEIUHCstory/SEIU%20healthcare%20reform%20booklet.pdf; Mandy Nagy, “SEIU: Building a New American Health Care Empire?” BigGovernment.com, November 16, 2009, http://biggovernment.com/libertychick/2009/11/16/seiu-building-a-new-american-health-care-empire/, accessed December 2011.

  56 Don Loos, “21.1 Million Reasons Big Labor Pours Money into ObamaCare,” BigGovernment.com, January 7, 2010, http://biggovernment.com/dloos/2010/01/07/21-1-million-reasons-big-labor-pours-money-into-obamacare/, accessed December 2011.

  57 SEIU, “The National Health Care Workforce Enhancement Initiative,” December 9, 2008, http://otrans.3cdn.net/eaad856a6456eb4795_i2m6bxlyz.pdf, accessed April 2012. The memo represents proposed stimulus spending initiatives for health-care worker training prepared by the SEIU, and states, “$10 billion in federal funds will be available over two years through the economic stimulus package for use in the health care workforce deve
lopment initiatives… Priority would be given to joint labor-management training and job placement initiatives, and consortiums involving nursing school, community colleges and worker organizations [i.e., labor unions].” The cover letter from SEIU health-care chair Dennis Rivera states, “We look forward to working closely with you to reform health care in 2009.”

  58 Don Loos, e-mail to the authors, March 15, 2012.

  59 James Sherk, “Labor Unions on Health Care: Their True Motives,” Heritage Foundation, September 8, 2009, http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2009/09/labor-unions-on-health-care-their-true-motives, accessed January 2012.

  60 Loos, “21.1 Million Reasons.”

  61 “SEIU: Building a New American Health Care System,” booklet, Service Employees International Union, http://www.seiu.org/SEIUHCstory/SEIU%20healthcare%20reform%20booklet.pdf.

  62 Mandy Nagy, “SEIU: Building a New American Health Care Empire?”

  63 For a detailed discussion of Obamacare’s treatment of Cadillac plans, see Jenny Gold, “Cadillac plans explained,” Kaiser Health News, March 18, 2010, http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/March/18/Cadillac-Tax-Explainer-Update.aspx, accessed January 2012.

  64 Michelle Malkin, “The Year in Obama Scandals—and Scandal Deniers,” MichelleMalkin.com, December 28, 2011, http://michellemalkin.com/2011/12/28/the-year-in-obama-scandals-and-scandal-deniers/, accessed January 2012.

  65 Dr. Milton R. Wolf, “Obamacare Waiver Corruption Must Stop,” Washington Times, May 20, 2011, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/20/obamacare-waiver-corruption-must-stop/, accessed December 2011.

  66 “ObamaCare’s Billions In Hidden Pork For Unions,” Investor’s Business Daily, November 3, 2011, http://news.investors.com/Article/590517/201111031841/ObamaCares-Union-Slush-Fund.htm, accessed December 2011.

  67 Ibid.

  68 Jena Baker McNeill, “TSA Privatization Freeze: More Politics Than Security,” WebMemo #3130, Heritage Foundation, February 2, 2011, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/tsa-privatization-freeze-more-politics-than-security, accessed January 2012.

  69 “TSA Administrator: ‘We Will Not Negotiate on Security,’ ” press release, Transportation Security Administration, February 4, 2011, http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2011/0204.shtm, accessed January 2012.

  70 Rory Cooper, “Putting Politics over Security, Obama Moves to Unionize TSA,” The Foundry (blog), Heritage Foundation, February 16, 2011, http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/16/morning-bell-putting-politics-over-security-obama-moves-to-unionize-tsa/, accessed January 2012.

  71 10 U.S. Code 976. See also 32 CFR 143—DOD Policy on Organizations that Seek to Represent or Organize Members of the Armed Forces in Negotiation or Collective Bargaining.

  72 Department of Defense, Implementation Plan for Executive Order 13522—Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services, May 5, 2010, http://www.cpms.osd.mil/ASSETS/6ED1D73CDAE34512BB14A42C47847921/DOD_ImplementationPlan_EO13522.pdf, accessed May 2012.

  73 Implementation Plan for Executive Order 13522, Department of Homeland Security, March 8, 2010, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/mgmt/mgmt_eo_implementation_plan_13522.pdf, accessed May 2012.

  74 Ibid. Unionizing these national security workers “reduces the government’s flexibility when defending the country,” James Sherk writes. James Sherk, “Opportunity, Parity, Choice: A Labor Agenda for the 112th Congress,” The Heritage Foundation Center for Data Analysis, Special Report #96, July 14, 2011, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/07/opportunity-parity-choice-a-labor-agenda-for-the-112th-congress#_ftnref82, accessed April 2012. See also “National ICE Council,” http://www.iceunion.org/; “National Border Control Council,” http://www.nbpc.net/.

  75 See National Collective Bargaining Agreement Between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and National Treasury Union Employees, May 11, 2011, http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/careers/benefits_employees/bargaining_agreement.ctt/bargaining_agreement.pdf, accessed May 2012; Statement of Colleen M. Kelley, National President, National Treasury Employees Union, on Building One DHS: Why is Employee Morale Low?, Testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management, March 22, 2012.

  76 “AFGE Certified as Exclusive Union at TSA,” press release, AFGE, June 29, 2011, http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1296, accessed April 2012.

  77 Federal employees also aren’t compelled to join unions or forced to pay dues, but 1,185,000 federal employees were union members or were represented by a union in 2011. “Table 3. Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry, 2010-2011 annual averages,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm, accessed April 2012.

  78 Kimberley A. Strassel, “Union Power for Thee, But Not for Me.”

  79 Executive Order 13,522; “Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments/Agencies and Labor Management Forums,” Unites States Office of Personnel Management, January 19, 2011 http://www.fedsmith.com/articles/records/file/2011/Pre_Decisional_2011.pdf, accessed May 2012.

  80 The UAW was traditionally an industrial union, but it now represents both private employees and government workers.

  81 Alex Kellogg and Kris Maher, “UAW to get 55% stake in Chrysler for concessions,” Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124087751929461535.html, accessed March 2012.

  82 Newt Gingrich, “Once, We Would Have Called It a Scandal,” Human Events, June 10, 2009, http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32212, accessed December 2011.

  83 Ross Kaminsky, “Government Motors,” Human Events, June 1, 2009, http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32085, accessed December 2011.

  84 Ashby Jones, “Product Liability Winners Made Losers by Big Auto Bailouts,” Law Blog (blog), Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2011, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/05/27/product-liability-winners-made-losers-by-big-auto-bailouts/, accessed December 2011.

  85 Gingrich, “Once, We Would Have Called It a Scandal.”

  86 Trumka himself says, “Being called a Socialist is a step up for me.” When Trumka ascended to head of the AFL-CIO, he immediately ended the long-standing prohibition on Communist Party members serving in its leadership. The Communist Party of America publically works closely with him, as does our White House. Matthew Vadum, “AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka Is a Thug’s Thug,” BigGovernment.com, November 3, 2011, http://biggovernment.com/mvadum/2011/11/03/afl-cios-richard-trumka-is-a-thugs-thug/, accessed January 2012; Nice Deb, “According to AFL-CIO’s Trumka, He and White House Are Pretty Darn Tight,” NewsRealBlog, February 23, 2011, http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/02/23/according-to-afl-cio%E2%80%99s-trumka-he-and-white-house-are-pretty-darn-tight/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nrb-feature+%28NewsReal+Blog+%C2%BB+Feature%29, accessed January 2012.

  87 Dana Milbank, “Wanted: More Bite from Obama the Great Nibbler,” Washington Post, August 26, 2011, http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/wanted-more-bite-from-obama-the-great-nibbler/2011/08/25/gIQAigGAgJ_story.html, accessed March 2012.

  88 Matea Gold and Melanie Mason, “Unions Return to Democratic Fold for 2012 Election,” Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2012, http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/19/nation/la-na-labor-politics-20120220, accessed March 2012.

  89 Jennifer Liberto, “Obama Council Repeats Job-Creating Ideas,” CNNMoney, January 17, 2012, http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/news/economy/Obama_jobs_council/, accessed January 2012.

  90 Michael Warren, “Immelt, Trumka to Join First Lady at Jobs Speech,” The Blog (blog), Weekly Standard, September 8, 2011, http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/immelt-trumka-join-first-lady-jobs-speech_592909.html, accessed January 2012.

  91 McQuillen, “AFL-CIO Drops Criticism to Endorse Obama.”

  92 Michael O’Brien and Kevin Bogardus, “AFL-CIO: Labor Will Stand by Obama,” The Hill, August 18, 2011, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/177271-afl-cio-labor-will-stand-by-
obama-, accessed December 2011.

  93 Sam Hananel, “Unions Gearing Up to Spend Big in 2012 Elections,” Huffington Post, February 22, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/labor-unions-obama-elections-2012_n_1293173.html, accessed February 2012.

  94 Stephen Sawchuck, “NEA’s Delegates Approve Obama Endorsement, Dues Increase,” Teacher Beat (blog), Education Week, July 4, 2011, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2011/07/neas_delegates_approve_obama_e.html, accessed December 2011.

  95 Sixty percent of the assessment would fund the Ballot Measure/Legislative Crisis Fund. The other 40 percent would fund media for political campaigns.

  96 Kyle Olson, “Will Third Teachers’ Union Bailout Fund Obama’s Re-Election?” BigGovernment.com, September 13, 2011, http://biggovernment.com/kolson/2011/09/13/will-third-teachers-union-bailout-fund-obamas-re-election/, accessed December 2011.

  97 Kevin Liptak and Paul Courson, “Endorsing Obama, SEIU Says President for 99%,” Political Ticker (blog), CNN, November 16, 2011, http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/16/endorsing-obama-seiu-says-president-for-99/, accessed April 2012.

  98 Ed Barnes, “Obama Draws Fire For Appointing SEIU’s Stern to Deficit Panel,” Fox News, March 6, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/05/obama-draws-appointing-seius-stern-deficit-panel/, accessed January 2012.

  99 Wallsten, “AFSCME Votes to Endorse Obama for Reelection.”

  100 Various bills have been introduced in Congress to repeal Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, but none have been successful—yet. See H.R. 6384 (111th Cong.). Section 14(b) states: “Nothing in this Act [subchapter] shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial law.” The text is available at https://www.nlrb.gov/national-labor-relations-act.

  101 Amanda Palleschi, “Expansion of Federal Collective Bargaining Considered,” Government Executive, February 16, 2012, http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/02/expansion-collective-federal-bargaining-considered/41227/, accessed February 2012. It should be noted that President Clinton also mandated that federal agencies had to negotiate these same issues with unions, although Clinton’s administration apparently failed to enforce this expansion. President George W. Bush then removed the mandate.