Wisconsin employees stripped of rights? By: Rob Wagner

   The din in Wisconsin is being heard round the country as state senators flee their tyrannical governor, and the people

rise up in popular support of freedoms long held dear.  Or is that really the way it is after all?  Consider the following

facts:

 

   Fact #1: Forced unionism is unfair to individuals

 

     What other organization or entity in the United States has the right to force an individual to become a member

thereof and to charge those members for the privilege?  The budget bill under consideration in Wisconsin would

liberate most state employees from being forced, as a condition of employment, to join a union and pay union

dues.  Percy Greaves Jr. states, “[L]abor unionism, as now practiced, is not only the enemy of employers, investors

and consumers, but it is primarily the enemy of competent job seekers who, as a result of union action, must remain

underpaid or unemployed.”

 

     Sources: “Wisconsin Close to Repealing Monopoly Bargaining”, Greg Mourad, National Right to Work Committee

     http://www.nrtwc.org/wisconsin-close-to-repealing-monopoly-bargaining/

     Feb 22, 2011

 

     “On Labor Unions”, Percy L. Greaves, Jr., The Freeman

     http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/on-labor-unions/

     Feb 24, 2011

 

   Fact #2: Granting special privileges to unions produces unfair monopolies

 

     State employee unions may command 80 to 100% of market share, and currently in Wisconsin they are given

special privileges not available to other collective service or labor entities found in the private market.  This sort of

unfair advantage tends to foster monopoly power – and monopoly power drives up costs, and decreases competition

and product quality.  Employees are no longer hired on the basis of personal qualifications but by union rules

that result in under-qualified and under-motivated employees.

 

     Sources: “Unions and Collective Bargaining Must be Abolished”, “SharpShtik”, National Right to Work – Blog Comment 

     http://www.nrtw.org/en/blog/new-right-work-podcast-mark-mix-talks-wiscons

     Feb 22, 2011

 

     “Extra, Extra! Teacher union rules hurt kids – poor kids especially”, Matthew Ladner, Goldwater Institute

     http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/5488

     Feb 24, 2011

 

     “Chopra on the Chopping Block”, Thomas C. Patterson, Goldwater Institute

     http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/1979

     Feb 24, 2011

 

   Fact #3: Many unions do not adequately represent their members

 

    In a nationwide poll of 760 union members in October 2010, it was found that 60% opposed the political expenditures

of union dues in the 2010 elections.  Moreover, 59% said they would vote to replace their union leadership

if allowed to vote by secret ballot.  Eighty (yes, 80) percent of respondents favor voluntary union membership and dues

collection.

 

     Source: “Poll: Union Members Overwhelmingly Oppose Union Boss Political Spending on 2010 Midterm Elections”,

     National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc.

     http://www.nrtw.org/en/press/2010/11/luntz-union-member-poll-11012010

     Feb 22, 2011

 

Additional Reading:

    “Unions on the Run”, Charles W. Baird, The Freeman

     http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/the-pursuit-of-happiness-unions-on-the-run/

 

 

   Fact #4:  Forced unionism is economically unproductive

 

     The National Institute for Labor Relations Research has published a fact sheet detailing various measures of

economic well-being and progress between states with laws that enforce forced unionism, and those with laws

that protect an individual right to work.  Here are a few of the statistics:

 

Percentage Growth in Real Personal Income 1999 – 2009

     Right to Work States – 28.3%

     Forced-Unionism States – 14.7%

 

Growth in the Number of People Aged 25+ Who Have Completed a Bachelor’s Degree 2000 – 2009

     Right to Work States – 31.8%

     Forced Unionism States – 24.0%

 

Welfare (TANF) Recipients Per Thousand Residents – 2009 Calendar Year Average

     Right to Work States – 7.6

     Forced Unionism States – 17.3

 

Percentage Growth in the Number of People Covered by Any Form of Private Health Insurance 1999 – 2009

     Right to Work States       +1.0%

     Forced Unionism States    -5.7%

 

     Another study, by economist Richard Vedder, found that from 2000 to 2008 forced unionism states lost over

four and a half million people to right to work states.

 

     Sources: NILRR Fact Sheet, National Institute for Labor Relations Research,

     http://www.nilrr.org/files/NILRR%20FACT%20SHEET%20RTW%20States%20Benefit%202010.pdf

     Feb 22, 2011

 

     “Wall Street Journal: As More States Consider Right to Work, Will GOP Cave to Big Labor?”,

     Article quoted by Nick Cote, National Right to Work

     http://www.nrtw.org/en/blog/wall-street-journal-more-states-consider-02032111

     Feb 22, 2011

 

     Contemporary forced unionism, particularly in the public sector, has become a giant, defying basic principles

of economics and crippling both business and government with it’s mighty clutch.  “Government-employee

unions, ” writes Thomas DiLorenzo a professor of economics at Loyola University Maryland, “have played a key

role in causing bankruptcy in most American states. . .”

 

     Source: “The Political Economy of Government Employee Unions”, Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Mises.org

     http://mises.org/daily/5072/The-Political-Economy-of-Government-Employee-Unions

     Feb 24, 2011

 

   Fact #5: Methods Matter

 

     As President Franklin Roosevelt once stated, “Action looking toward the paralysis of government by those

who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable.”  Indeed, Wisconsin citizens must not tolerate the

actions of their duly elected senators who have fled the state in defiance of the people and of Governor Walker,

rather than face reality.  Nor should they tolerate the teachers who have abandoned their classrooms in order to

protest at the state capitol.  This is an outrage, and ought to be dealt with sternly both for what it is and also

because of the example it is setting for students, that honesty and learning can be discarded on a whim, that

dependability and contract are unimportant.  The deceitful actions of these union workers ought to be rewarded

with the opportunity to demonstrate their worth in the private sector.

 

 

Sources: “Public Unions Force Taxpayers to Fund Democrats”, Michael Barone, The Washington Examiner,

     http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/02/public-unions-force-taxpayers-fund-democrats

     Feb 24, 2011

 

     “The Big Payback”, Frederick M. Hess, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

     http://www.aei.org/article/103223

     Feb 24, 2011

 

 

 

Additional Reading

 

“A History of Labor Unions from Colonial Times to 2009”, Morgan Reynolds, Mises.org

http://mises.org/daily/3553

 

“Lawmakers Walk Out on Legislatures, But No One Walks Out On a Union”, Joseph G. Lehaman,

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

http://www.mackinac.org/14637

 

“On Freedom of Association”, Charles W. Baird, The Freeman

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/on-freedom-of-association/

 

 

“Where Would General Motors Be Without the United Automobile Workers Union?”, George Reisman, Mises.org

http://mises.org/daily/2124

 

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