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Special Report

Labor Pains

By on 2.3.12 @ 6:10AM

Indiana becomes a Midwestern alternative to the southern states.

Not so long ago, the Great Satan to the labor movement was Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker — who faces a union-led recall election later this year. This week, if perhaps temporarily, that title is being claimed by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels whose signature Wednesday made Indiana the only right-to-work state in the upper Midwest and one of only two such states in the entire northeast quarter of the nation. (See right-to-work state map here.)

Labor unions would like you to think that right-to-work laws outlaw unions. But what they actually do is say that a person can’t be compelled to be a union member or pay union dues in order to hold a job. In other words, right-to-work laws increase the economic liberty of all Americans while threatening the funding sources for union bosses in states where workers are held captive to big labor. This of course threatens Democrats whose life blood is that same union money.

Indiana is the 23rd right-to-work state and the first state to adopt a right-to-work law since Oklahoma, which took that step in September, 2001.

The industrial, labor-dominated states of the Midwest’s “Rust Belt” such as Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio have for years been losing jobs (and population) to the South, where there are legal protections of workers’ and employers’ freedom.

Indiana is aiming to become a Midwest alternative to those southern states. Republican Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, quoted in the Indianapolis Star, described an Indiana company which was going to move to Alabama but is now staying put, as well as saying that “a company from Michigan was planning to go to a ‘right to work’ state in the South. When they saw what was happening here, (they) invited the state to bid… . We are now in consideration for those jobs.”

If Indiana can show that its new law is a magnet for jobs, it may turn out to be the first domino to fall across a part of the nation which has been rapidly losing manufacturing jobs while Democrats’ desire to protect union coffers has trumped their desire to promote their citizens’ prosperity.

Although less discussed than Indiana’s move, Virginia also struck a blow for public finance rationality and to protect that state’s right-to-work law. With the state’s lieutenant governor casting a tie-breaking vote in the state senate, the legislature passed a bill that bans mandatory Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). The measure prohibits state agencies and their contractors from requiring union membership for any part of a project involving the building or repair of state facilities or infrastructure. Additionally, neither the state nor its contractors may discriminate against any worker or company for refusing to enter into a labor agreement with a union.

About two years ago, public sector union membership surpassed (in absolute number) private sector union membership, and that remains true today. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last week notes that “Public-sector workers had a union membership rate (37.0 percent) more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers (6.9 percent).” In absolute numbers, “In 2011, 7.6 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union, compared with 7.2 million union workers in the private sector.”

Within the government sector, about 28 percent of federal workers, 31 percent of state workers, and 43 percent of state workers are unionized, each of those representing an increase over the prior year. The fact that the absolute number of workers in each of these categories has declined suggests that in trimming their workforces, government are cutting more non-union workers than union members. While this may be because their hands are tied by certain contracts, it also implies that governments are not cutting costs — which is the real goal — to the same degree that they are cutting head count.

Since 2000, the percentage of the private work force, which is unionized, has fallen from 9.0 percent to 6.9 percent, whereas the percentage of government workers (federal, state, and local) who are union members has remained fairly constant around 37 percent. The drop in private sector union membership continues a long-running trend while the public sector union membership maintains gains made during that same trend: In the 1940s, union membership was the inverse of today’s situation, with more than a third of private sector workers and fewer than 10 percent of government workers being union members.

The downward trend in private sector union membership makes sense from the standpoint of one of unions’ basic missions: protecting the physical health and safety of its members. As we’ve moved toward a less industrial and more service-oriented economy, as we’ve added safety equipment and regulations across the economy, this particular union function is less important than ever. In other words, the natural evolution of technology (and to a lesser degree government) have eliminated a key raison d’être for unions.

Some may argue that the growth of public sector unions was less predictable. After all, do most government workers (with the obvious exception of certain first responders) actually risk physical harm while sitting in their offices, ordering the lives of citizens?

But public choice economics explains all. In short, when politicians are spending other peoples’ money on government workers’ salaries, those citizens whose taxes are being taken to fund government each suffer a very small loss, perhaps an extra few dollars a year, whereas the cash flowing into union coffers is enormous. This cash is then used to support the very politicians whom the union leans on for raises for its members, and a vicious circle is created in which those spending the money and those receiving the money have very little incentive not to make government as expensive as possible.

The negotiation between government workers and their employees is fundamentally different from the same private sector conversation, where the employer is spending his, or his investors’, own money.

A study by the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards offers historical context and current data:

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About the Author

Ross Kaminsky is a self-employed trader and investor and is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute. He is the host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver’s NewsRadio 850 KOA at 11 AM on most Sundays. You can reach Ross by e-mail at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (69) |

Appleby| 2.3.12 @ 6:35AM

Americans who are finally realizing what being Americans MEANS are once again taking responsibility for their own health, education and welfare -- taking up their cross, as it were -- because in these times the more flexibility you have, the better off you will be. The more successful this process is, the more momentum it will gain.

Bob K.| 2.5.12 @ 11:36AM

Appleby,

I wish that your sentiment was true. But there is a bias against all American Labor. Whether unionized or not. And America's largest corporations are the most biased.

I don't think that it will make one bit of difference whether there is, or is not a "right to work" law nation wide.

A few years ago Walmart was building a warehouse along Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County in Northeastern PA. Non Union labor was used in the construction. The work site was picketed by the local Trade Unions.

Although there are quite a few n0n-union contracting firms in the area Walmart chose one outside the area.

It turned out that this Contractor's work force was composed of skilled trade workers, illegally in the USA, from Mexico. The INS had to rent buses from the County to haul them off. There were over 100 of them.

Wal-Mart, of course denied all knowledge of this.

See my post below at 10:12 AM about the growing "Black Market" among the skilled tradesmen in America. If American Corporations like Wal-Mart 'black ball" them then a "black market" will result.

Kenny| 2.3.12 @ 7:11AM

In just 2008, unions thought they were in the catbird seat what with a true leftwing radical in the Oval Office backed up by a Reid/Pelosi congress.

But the Tea Party changed all that. In 2010, the GOP took over the House, diminished Reid's majority, and perhaps most importantly, swept in conservative goverfnors and legislatures in states like Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin,, Fla., etc.

Since then, Big Labor has been rocked back on its heels with Indiana's right-to-work law just the latest blow.

Big Labor is on a downward trajectory which the November election will confirm and amplify.

RCV| 2.3.12 @ 4:37PM

There's no doubt a battle is being waged, but the outcome remains in doubt. The anti-public union law enacted in Ohio was overturned by voters at the polls. Scott Walker in Wisconsin faces a bruising battle to hold on to his governor's seat in the upcoming recall election. This action by the Indiana legislature will not go unchallenged at the polls, although Mitch Daniels is hugely popular, and Indiana is, well Indiana.

Quartermaster| 2.3.12 @ 5:55PM

Having lived for a number of years in Ohio, I was not surprised the law was overturned. Ohio is a very strange state. Relatively conservative but elected idiots like Metzenbaum and Glen. They tend towards militant unionism, which has savaged Ohio based industry, but they vote against there own interests and further entrench the public unions in the state. Ohio is going to have fall a bit further before the electorate wakes up. Hopefully, they will wake up soon as they don't have too much further to fall.

PCP Smoker| 2.3.12 @ 8:37PM

Kasich's dumb mistake was to include policemen and firemen as part of the package. He should have followed Scott Walker's lead in excluding them, and letting the union defend how an 6% increase would be difficult for lazy union workers.

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 10:48AM

I see, so some unions are good... hypocrite

JmsA| 2.3.12 @ 8:10PM

You've must of traded in your previous crystall ball, for you're no longer predicting the recall of Governor Walker, who by the way, I've supported in his anti-recall effort.

RCV| 2.3.12 @ 8:55PM

I believe that he will be recalled.

JmsA| 2.5.12 @ 12:56PM

Good for you. Ever heard of the law of uninteded consequences, particularly in a general election year? I believe he won't be recalled. And I'm proud to have supported Governor Walker. My mother, a LAUSD employee for 37 years, had her wages not only cut, but all of her accrued vacation pay voided. When she called her SEIU union rep, she was told there was nothing they could do for her, and hung up on her. Government unions are shitholes, controlled by communists, and the sooner they're done away with, the better.

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 10:50AM

With the continual onslaught on the right to collective bargaining continuing in Indiana and moving to Arizona, you betcha he'll be recalled. Question is - why do you support destruction of unions. Do you even have a clue what they did for workers? Or you prefer WalMart wages and benefits countrywide? If you side against unions just because, you're stupid.

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 4:27PM

Right-to-work does NOT destroy collective bargaining rights for workers who chose to join a union. Right-to-work will not destroy unions. All it means is that workers who exercise their right as Americans to not join the union can no longer be coerced into paying union dues.

All this "destroying unions" rubbish is just Democrat propaganda because the union dues must be kept flowing into their campaign coffers.

Indeed, the Mackinac Center has shown that Right-to-Work states have higher employment and wages:

http://www.mackinac.org/10515

Pete| 2.5.12 @ 2:24PM

You realize that union are purely Democrat. Why would we support Democrats. Purp, you lack common sense.

Pete| 2.5.12 @ 2:24PM

You realize that union are purely Democrat. Why would we support Democrats. Purp, you lack common sense.

Pete| 2.5.12 @ 2:24PM

You realize that union are purely Democrat. Why would we support Democrats. Purp, you lack common sense.

runningdeer| 2.6.12 @ 12:07AM

I live in and work in a right to work state.It does not in any way prevent Unions from coming in to the area and organizing. It does give choice to American workers. It also give those states a better chance of attracting Industry. Not because of low wages as some would like you to believe. Because of the freedom to choose. With right to work we have good benefits and good wages as well as having jobs in areas where people need jobs. Unlike the states where unions dictate every move of the workers and where they hold industry captive to their demands. In right to work states , voters are not told who to vote for nor what party to belong to. They don't have to give money to support politicians either. The fact that unions take money and give it to political parties of their choice and that they watch the actions of every employee is downright un- American.

Brian Mc| 2.3.12 @ 7:20AM

When I was young I loved playing with wood. I would hammer away and saw for hours. I wanted to be a carpenter. Then, someone told me that I would have to join the union. This notion intimidated me so, I went on to other jobs over the years and lost my interest in wood.

I may make less than if I'd become that carpenter by I find moral solace in the fact that no union ever got any of my money. Silly me...if I'd only knuckled under and signed on the dotted line.

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.3.12 @ 7:27AM

What am I missing, here? How can the Federal, State, and Local Governments have a system, whereby, ONLY UNIONS can bid on a job?

How is that NOT discrimination? How is that any different than saying: "Only White Companies"? Or, "Only Companies run by Christians"?

I'm not seeing the CONSTITUTIONALITY in all of this.

All I see is RICO.

I'm just saying.

W| 2.3.12 @ 8:27AM

It is not that the contractor has to be Union to bid, the Davis_Bacon Act requires that wages paid on the bid job be "area" standards, which means in reality the union wages. The Davis Bacon was was passed 80-90 years ago to keep out companies using lower wage, non union black workers from government jobs and protect union white jobs.

Timothy L. Pennell| 2.3.12 @ 9:49AM

I understand that. What I'm saying is that these States are USING Davis Bacon, to keep Non-Union Shops out.

Who's getting the FEDERAL Contracts?

Can you tell me if Michigan or New Jersey or Massachusetts or Connecticut or D.C has hired any NON-UNION SHOPS, lately?

I'm just saying.

W| 2.3.12 @ 5:32PM

That is the unstated purpose of the law

mmercier| 2.3.12 @ 12:16PM

I was union for years. the project laborious agreement requiresnon union contractors to pay theprevailing wage on th job.

the deal essentially is... give thepla or wewill disrupt the job with strikes, pickets... qndthe old fqvorite... kicking the crap out of your employees and equipment.

c. j. acworth| 2.3.12 @ 7:44AM

My first real job was in a union shop. The only thing they ever did for me was take my dues money. That and make my job more difficult with their work rules. After ten years the shop closed, and I swore I would never work a union job again.

WRTolkas| 2.3.12 @ 3:31PM

Same with me and my wife.

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 11:01AM

So now you can work for WalMart wages and benefits ... nice and safe and poor... just like the 1% want you while they laugh at you all the way to the bank.

runningdeer| 2.6.12 @ 12:17AM

You mention Wal-Mart wages as if that is so very bad but have you considered that many retirees and people who need part time jobs work at Wal- Mart. For a decent wage. That company employees more folks than anyone else in more areas where the stores are needed and jobs are needed. You might like to think that everyone is entitled to a very high paying job and all the extra perks and benefits that go with that , but that utopia is never going to happen and shouldn't happen. For people who are still students, or those challenged with birth defects, and all those who need to work but are not the highly educated or skilled, Wal- Mart is a great place.
Do you also feel that those people who work in fast food restaurants, or who drive school buses, who fish for a living and sell to the public, change your oil in a station, or generally do the grunt work that is too often taken for granted but that is so important as to be missed when you no longer have them around, should all go union and demand to be in the 1%?

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 4:29PM

I was a UAW and Transportation Workers Union member. The union bosses did absolutely NOTHING to help me keep my job even though I paid my dues.

Indeed, I was "bumped" off my job as a quality control supervisor by a man who could neither read nor write because he had more seniority and, I dared speak up against the union.

Indy| 2.3.12 @ 8:05AM

A good piece on right to work states

http://pjmedia.com/blog/gop-st.....y-in-2011/

al222| 2.3.12 @ 8:10AM

fta: "Democrats' desire to protect union coffers has trumped their desire to promote their citizens' prosperity." Game, set, match.

Le Cracquere| 2.3.12 @ 9:51AM

Speaking as a South Carolinian:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Darin| 2.3.12 @ 10:06AM

Unions once were necessary and performed valuable services. Those days are gone. Companies can't abuse workers without word getting out via the Internet or any of several social media outlets. The world has changed - unions have not.

Unions have become self-licking ice cream cones. They benefit only themselves.

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 4:00PM

You're kidding, right? In Texas a state lawmaker introduced a bill to repeal child labor laws. Newt Gingrinch wants to put them all to work. If you think employer abuses are a thing of the past, you aren't paying attention. Just like racism, it's just below the surface - when they think they can get away with it, they will.
Unions should clean up their act, of course, but because Enron was a crooked company, we don't throw out all companies do we?

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 4:31PM

Newt Gingrich NEVER said he wanted to put children to work. Child labor is NEVER returning to the US.

Oh and, people are sick-to-death of hearing "racism" at every turn.

You might actually make a cogent argument if you could once get your facts straight.

Alan Brooks| 2.4.12 @ 9:04PM

"Unions once were necessary and performed valuable services."

Unions BUILT this country.

Stormzeye| 2.4.12 @ 10:22PM

There is a huge difference between craft and trade unions vs. public service unions. I agree that the craft and trade unions helped build this country but to say that there is any logic behind the existence of government or public service unions is utter nonsense.

JmsA| 2.5.12 @ 1:34PM

You're wrong: Unions played a part, though not at the beginning, in bulding this country, which was ultimately made by hard working men and women.

Pete| 2.5.12 @ 2:25PM

Worker's built this country. Unions destroyed the jobs.

Bill| 2.3.12 @ 11:12AM

Kudos to Gov. Mitch Daniel and the IN GOP legislator, who stood up against the union-thugs, passing the "Right-to-Work" law ans making IN more viable for job. IN has now become the 23rd state to be the "Right-to-Work" law state.

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.3.12 @ 3:43PM

The American worker needs to stand up to the corporate fascists and their political lapdogs.

Bill| 2.3.12 @ 9:02PM

You're a stupid union-thug, go to hell!

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.4.12 @ 3:24AM

I'm no thug, but you're an idiot. Union membership was at its highest in the 1950's and alot of the "Greatest Generation" the men who fought WWII came back home, went back to work and were union members. Even Eisenhower a Republican President was friendly to labor. Many look fondly on the 1950's as one of the greatest periods of American history and guess what? That's when American labor was at its strongest as well. So you can remain an idiot believing that international corporations that only care about the bottom line will give you a fair shake and allow you to earn enough to take care of your family or you can organize and let the power of collective bargaining take effect and demand it from a position of power. As a blue collar, working class American I'd rather have the power of a labor union behind me than be left to the mercy of a corporation that doesn't give a shit about me, my family or even America for that matter.

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 4:38PM

You are actually correct on some of your points. The US was indeed strong as was the labor movement after WWII.

However, that was when the union bosses were more interested in protecting worker rights than in lining Democrat campaign coffers.

The union bosses have sold us out because of the unholy alliance they've made with the donks.

I'm not anti-union. Indeed, you are correct some workers must be organized in order to negotiate fair wages and safe working conditions. I support the Laborers' for example.

However, union members need to come to the realization they are mere pawns in the bosses and Democrat money-laundering scheme.

When you vote for your leadership; you and your brothers need to make sure you're voting for people who represent your and not THEIR and the Democrats' interests. The best way to do this is to ask yourselves, "How many jobs has this guy saved and how many has he let go to keep himself and his cronies in Washington in power?"

The best example I can give you right now is the Caterpillar plant in London, ONT which is being shuttered and the jobs moved to Indiana. If you read the Canadian press; you will see the bosses had NO strategy except intimidation to keep the jobs in Ontario.

How did they serve the workers?

Dmitry Aleksandrovich| 2.4.12 @ 8:00PM

Tom I'm not a Democrat and I'm well aware that come election time the Democratic pols wave the union banner and then stab us in the back during their tenure.

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 8:59PM

Cheers to you, Dmitry Aleksandrovich for recognizing how the Democrats exploit the worker while making specious claims about "caring" and "helping" them.

The American labor movement was strong when it indeed stood for the worker. However, it's weakness today is the result of workers awakening to the fact the union bosses have betrayed the workers in order to fatten their and their Democrat bosses' pocketbooks.

The American worker is the salt of the earth. While I know eliminating unions will result in exploitation, human nature being what it is - the real enemy of the worker today is the union bosses and Democrat pols who exploit them and take their wages in the form of dues - not to represent them but merely to fill donk coffers.

We know and understand capitalism is all about profits but, we fail to understand Democrat politics is all about exploitation. At least the businessmen are honest!

"Purp" is a running dog for the Democrat exploiters.

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 6:19PM

you are right on, Dmitry. These guys have drunk the Kool-Aid and don't see the man behind the curtain laughing at them all the way to the bank. Why aren't they all rich? Are they all stupid, lazy, don't work hard enough, on the public dole? Why do the companies they work for have so much profit, and they themselves barely can make ends meet? It's their labor that makes the profits. They never consider that they are alone against the corporate world without a union or a government to speak for them. Idiocracy is a conservative value apparently.

snipelee| 2.6.12 @ 10:49AM

Unions gained power during WWII by threatening the war effort with strikes. How American!

Purp| 2.4.12 @ 4:02PM

you must be just plain stupid to not see this is exactly what all employers want - no unions. Then, you are simply at their mercy for jobs/wages/benefits (if you get any). WalMart wages/benefits anyone? Or are you a corporate shill paid to say this crap?

Pete| 2.5.12 @ 2:26PM

Union destroy jobs and they are nothing more than stooges of the Democrat Party.

shipley130| 2.3.12 @ 1:16PM

On the flip side, when government workers (the military) don't have a union, you can bet that the government will try to keep wages down as low as possible. Of course, the retiree makes up for it after retirement, if they live long enough. But there are grumblings of a change to the military retirement system and I have a feeling it isn't going to be good for the retiree.

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.3.12 @ 1:46PM

Mitch Daniels is a SCAB!!! This is just another attack on labor by the globalist corporations and their mainstream Republican flunkies who wrap themselves in American flags made in China. Bunch of scabs all. Our grandfathers fought and bled for the right to collective bargaining and God willing the young workers of this country will wake up understanding that there are powerful corporate interests that want to take that right away from them. We must fight. We must not give an inch and we should call for a general strike if need be and bring commerce in this country to a stand still. Hit'em in the wallet that's all they understand. Otherwise we'll be on our way back to being serfs.

dc| 2.3.12 @ 2:34PM

Comrade: Mitch Daniels is governor of the State of Indiana, and right popular one at that. Sorry, there's no mandate that governors of midwestern (or other states) be lapdogs for rapacious packs of communist goons like yourself, and piss away taxpayer money on six-figure union leadership salaries, which slaves like you ratify over and over again. Like an old whore who can't change her ways, but doesn't know what else to do. Indiana and the most productive, well-run, wealthy states in the country, now and in the future, will all be right to work. You may not like it, but come on down South and see how far you get with your message. If you leave without being beaten senseless by people who want to work and will work.
And why are American flags made in China? It isn't pretty, but I'm sure they'd cost 5 times as much to make in a Michigan or Illinois closed shop, with 10 of your comrades standing around in your smoking spaces, whining and bitching about how your afternoon 15 minute government-mandated break isn't as long as it used to be. Dinosaurs are far more relevant to the modern world than you are. Enjoy rotting away in your dying states, with the rest of your slob comrades.

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.3.12 @ 3:17PM

You sir are the slave...not I. You think your a good American but your not. Your loyalty is to corporations that are not American and who's loyalty is most definitely not to the average American just like the mainstream Republican Party and Democrat Party for that matter. You probably think that this new right to work law is going to bring back manufacturing to Indiana and it might bring some but you can rest assured that any business that is brought to Indiana by this law will most likely be at a significantly lower wage than would a union shop. Also there used to be no problem keeping manufacturing in the United States and that's because we had tariffs on foreign goods. In fact originally the United States government was meant to be financed by taxes on imports not on income taxes. Call me a commie, call me a goon. Call me what you will but the fact of that matter is that the deck of cards has been deliberately stacked against the American worker and that's why you see the Middle Class shrinking and slipping into the ranks of the working poor while guys like Romney get richer and richer. America is not supposed to be that way. Not long ago NAFTA, GATT, CAFTA and our membership in the World Trade Organization wasn't a factor. Not long ago capital gains taxes and corporate taxes were much higher. Not long ago Wall Street a much stricter set of rules to abide by and not long ago the American worker was the envy of workers around the world. We've been betrayed by our elites both in the financial sector and in the political sector. We have been sold out and then pit against each other for the scraps.

dc| 2.3.12 @ 4:28PM

Fascinating.

I'm the slave because I believe that a person should be free to work wherever he can be hired, without a mob of government-sponsored thugs telling him where to work, for how many hours, and at what wage. So, freedom is slavery. I get it, comrade.
And I'm happy to fight for the scraps, i.e. COMPETE, against retrograde whiners like you, rather than begging (like a slave) for the mercy of an omnipotent government to save me from competition.
Pathetic. But entirely consistent with our current fascist president's Mussolinian mentality. Some day soon, I know I'm going to have to not just compete against dinosaurs like you, but fight alongside my family and friends to make sure that when (not if) otherwise useless oxygen consumers like you are dragooned into being cannon fodder for Il Duce Nero's praetorians, you pay a very bloody price for it. I'll be ready.

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.3.12 @ 7:37PM

So let me get this straight. Union members are greedy for wanting decent pay and benefits but large international corporations are not greedy when then close domestic factories and open up new ones in places like China and Indonesia? Do you like your weekends? How bout your overtime pay? Do you like your holidays? Would you rather your 10 year old child be working rather than going to school? Are retirees greedy for asking for their pension that the companies promised them? Are American workers greedy when they ask for health care benefits in this country where one major health emergency can literally bankrupt an entire family?

You're not the conservative...I am. What's best for business isn't ALWAYS the conservative position. Maintaining a strong American Middle Class should be more important than maximizing profits for global conglomerates. My Uncle who votes a straight Republican ticket every election and is not pro-union at all says that we need to bring back the tariffs on imports that threaten American industry and jobs. Is he a communist in your book? Is hands off capitalism your religion? Is it the religion that has replaced Christianity in the West. It sure seems that way.

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 9:30PM

See my reply to you below. It is GE, allied with the Democrat Obamavik regime that has closed its last incandescent light bulb plant in the US in order to make CFLs in China.

Don't be fooled by these Obamaviks.

"The Road to Serfdom" is the socialist road. If you have not read von Hayek's book; please do so.

The right to collective bargaining is not under threat in this country - and, it never will be.

I recognize the workers' right to organize in direct proportion to the degree to which they respect MY right not to.

Jeff Perren| 2.3.12 @ 2:41PM

Repeal the Wagner Act and similar Federal legislation and all this would be unnecessary. Of course, unfortunately, that is an unlikely as James Madison being reincarnated.

PCP Smoker| 2.3.12 @ 8:34PM

Kashitsky is full of shit again. First, Indiana is not an "upper Midwest" state. That would be Mi, Mn, Wi, or the Dakotas. Second, the Forehead was forced into signing this measure. Last year, when She should have provided leadership, he was attacking his own house over the RTW measure. Give credit where credit is due, the legislature. Asshole.

Stan Redmond| 2.3.12 @ 8:39PM

It sure looks like Dick Cheney is right on in front

Speedypete| 2.3.12 @ 8:59PM

As a hoosier and worked with unions, never with them, and worked in non union companies which ones treat me with more respect and are more productive do you think? Answer honestly. I have had more union threats thrown at me when trying to do my job and I was sick and tired of trying to please three bosses, my customers first, my boss second and some power hungry union steward. Which one cared the least about the customer? I thought it was so telling on talk radio in the well run union city of Chicago (humor) when some state politician was asked if the shift in politics in Wisconsin (simply defined as more freedom and government accountability) has driven more jobs out of Illinois to Wisconsin. This politician said, no, not as much as Indiana has. I wished I had a tape recorder, the moment was priceless.

PCP Smoker| 2.3.12 @ 9:14PM

The union workers I have seen, mostly at Lilly and mostly fitters, were pretty good about their jobs. They were always fearful of explaining it, as if they were giving away their secrets, but otherwise good guys. Now, the SIEU and AFSCME, those are detestable slime buckets

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 9:24PM

The average union worker is a hard-working, loyal American who is proud of what he does. The worker is not the problem. The problem is the unholy alliance between self-serving and corrupt union bosses who don't represent the workers' best interests (how else do you explain 1.5 million UAW members in the late 70s and less than 370,000 today? If it was "unfair foreign competition" or "greedy bosses," as the union bosses complain - why were the union bosses so ineffective countering these putative enemies?).

Even the Service Employees and public sector workers were this way until the bosses convinced them they were "victims" in order to exploit them.

The problem is NOT the worker. The problem is the American leftists who exploit them for vulgar political gain and to maintain their sick hold on power, "by any means necessary."

Bill| 2.3.12 @ 9:04PM

Abolish the "Collective Bargain" law.
Abolish the public sector unions.
Prosecute all union-thugs.

Dimitry Aleksandrovich| 2.4.12 @ 12:27AM

Then we can all say ZIEG HEIL because we will be living in a real fascist state of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 9:16PM

Once again, Dimitry Aleksandrovich - you are close to the mark.

However, what people in the United States fail to recognize is; the corporate alliance is with the Obama administration. Merely witness the alliance with GE and Berkshire Hathaway. Just as in the fascist states; the leaders of these companies realize the best way to keep their wealth is to ally with the administration.

This is precisely what happened in the fascist states beginning with Italy and extending to Germany and Japan. In the latter, the so-called zaibatsu were allied with the Japanese militarists. In Germany, companies like Krupp allied with the Nazis to form an unholy alliance like that we see today between GE, Berkshire Hathaway and the Obamaviks.

While the Obamaviks claim the stand for the worker; they are really just using this specious claim to exploit the worker. How else do you explain GE closing their last incandescent light bulb plant in the US in order to make CFLs in China?

I'm not saying the Republicans are the workers' savior but, when you consider the companies that are moving jobs from America; if you ignore Democrat lies, you will quickly see it is companies allied with the Obamaviks such as GE and GM who are moving jobs away from America. All the while they distract us by showing concern about Boeing moving jobs from state-to-state. They feint with the left hand while punching us with the right.

Workers' right to organize is not under threat in this country as most realize the necessity lest we fall back into a state where only corporations have power.

However, anybody who thinks the Democrats are representing the worker is being fooled. The Democrats don't care a bit about the worker. If they did, they would have approved the XL Pipeline which would have meant at least 20,0000 - MOSTLY UNION - jobs. Instead, Obama killed it so Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway-owned trains could transport the oil instead of the pipeline.

Make no mistake. The oil WILL be shipped but, it will come via Warren Buffett's trains and NOT via pipeline that would have provide many high-paying MOSTLY UNION jobs.

I am not anti-union. I am pro-worker, wishing each and every one could earn the highest wages possible.

Cheers, Dimitry Aleksandrovich.

POST American| 2.3.12 @ 9:09PM

---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------

EVEN by '90's Show' standards ---this is
a side show issue.

MEANWHILE, the recent reports that
80% of our ALaskan oil is being shipped,
at Warren Buffet's profit, to RED China.

"Understand, 'Free Trade', Globalism,
USURY, TREASON ---and EUGENICS
are ALWAYS intertwined. ALWAYS."

-----Actuarial psycopathy (ie capstone USURY)
--IS-- by nature TREASONOUS ---HATES
creation, to say nothing of GOD
---and DOES beget EUGENICS.

Unaccountable USURY ---IS--- DEVIANT
economy.

Ultimate EUGENICS ----is----GENOCIDE.

The Word of GOD
-------LAW of Moses
----------TRUTH of Christ
--------------and human history tells us so. . .

jaytrain| 2.4.12 @ 10:22AM

This web page really REALLY needs a moderator .

Tom in Michigan| 2.4.12 @ 4:22PM

Though a native Hoosier, I've lived in Michigan the past thiry years. While I've managed to stay employed (I've had to constantly "reinvent" myself though to do so); I've watched my friends and family suffer through repeated layoffs and watched companies, including three which previously employed me - shut their doors and leave the state. The reasons are quite clear; egregious regulations, onerous taxes and hositle and entrenched unions as well as a self-serving, until recently - mostly Democrat government.

Indeed, the greatest job-killer on earth may well be our erstwhile Democrat Governenss, Jennifer Granholm, who moved post-haste to California as soon as she was term-limited out of office (She is indeed THE single greatest endorsement for those who support term limits). At one time, we were counting on being a bio-technology Mecca but, she almost single-handedly drove out Pfizer which was to be the anchor of that industry. Instead, she promised 40,000 "green" jobs to replace the 1 million we lost on her watch (One of my "self-reinventions" was to develop a biotechnology curriculum for one of our great universities. However, that program died along with the hopes once engendered in Michigan for that industry).

As far as "right-to-work" is concerned; I've held my peace with my friends and family who support the "union shop" by saying I supported the policy that provided "the most jobs at the highest wages." The Mackinac Center has indeed determined that is "right to work:"

http://www.mackinac.org/10515

So, congratulations Hoosiers. Indeed, the union bosses want closed shops in order that they may line their own and their Democrat allies' pockets. Sadly, the average worker in a union shop is bombarded relentlessly with the union line about "right-to-work" meaning the end of unions. Unlikely but, it does mean greater economic liberty and just a few less bucks in the pockets of Democrats who, despite all their lies to the contrary care more about re-election than they do the workers.

Bob K.| 2.5.12 @ 10:12AM

We have have a thriving "Black Market" economy in this country. I don't think this will change whether or not there is a "right to work" rule unless and until we get taxes under control.

I know many members of craft and trade unions who, when not on union jobs, work for cash in "under the table" jobs in our growing black market economy. I'll bet most people reading this do also and likely have employed them.

For that matter, I also know many unionized government workers (teacher's in particular, but others in the first responder category) who have "under the table" businesses during their time off.

JmsA| 2.5.12 @ 1:38PM

You're right, Bob K. I know a public school teacher who moonlights as a tutor. And no, I will not turn her in

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