Labor |

Employee Freedom Does Not Enable “Free Riders,” Union Contracts Do

March 22, 2012 at 5:35 am | Posted in Political | Leave a comment
Tags: Dave Thompson, Employee Freedom, free rider, gop, Labor, minnesota, Right-to-Work, Steve Drazkoswki, unions

I have a friend who I’ve known longer than I haven’t, an unapologetic conservative who happens to serve the City of Minneapolis as a firefighter. Last week, he told me he could no longer vote ‘yes’ for the proposed employee freedom constitutional amendment in good conscience. Why? Because his union had told him that the passage of employee freedom would enable employees to obtain all the benefits of union membership without paying dues. “That’s not what I thought it was,” he told me.

Although he wants the choice to be part of the union or not, he said he believes the freedom of association should work both ways. I agreed and suddenly found myself in the uncomfortable position of not having a good answer for a legitimate concern. Was it true that unions would still have to represent people who did not pay dues if employee freedom was ratified? If so, how does that jive with free market principles? Continue Reading Employee Freedom Does Not Enable “Free Riders,” Union Contracts Do…

GOP Must Go All-In on Employee Freedom

February 3, 2012 at 5:00 am | Posted in Political | 5 Comments
Tags: Dave Thompson, David Hann, Doug Wardlow, Employee Freedom, Ernie Leidiger, gop, Labor, Mary Franson, minnesota, Photo ID, Right-to-Work, Steve Drazkoswki, unions, voter ID

We should clone Senator Dave Thompson. At a recent meeting of the Southwest Metro Tea Party in Chanhassen, the freshman legislator joined Senator David Hann along with their House colleagues Representatives Mary Franson, Ernie Leidiger, and Doug Wardlow in previewing the Reform 2.0 initiatives proposed for this year’s legislative session. At one point, Thompson declared that he would not weigh his prospects for re-election in his decision to support employee freedom (also known as right-to-work). The line earned rousing applause, and for good reason. Thompson understands that he was not sent to St. Paul to advance his political career. He was sent to advocate for his constituents’ fundamental rights.

Unfortunately, if murmurs through the grapevine are true, there are a significant number of Republican legislators who are skittish about joining Thompson and Representative Steve Drazkowski in pursuit of employee freedom. They worry about the effect it may have on their re-election campaigns. That concern misses a number of points, both principled and practical. Continue Reading GOP Must Go All-In on Employee Freedom…

HuffPo Brushes Off Blogger Strike as Hypocritical “Scabs” Keep Writing

May 15, 2011 at 6:15 pm | Posted in NewsRealBlog | Leave a comment
Tags: Arianna Huffington, Government, Labor, Labor Unions, Picket Line, Public Employee Unions, Scab, strike, The Huffington Post, union

by Walter Scott Hudson, contributed to David Horowitz’s NewsReal Blog on May 12.

Laughing all the way to the bank.

Labor unions claim to champion the Worker, confronting management in pursuit of “fair” compensation. However, the real enemies of organized labor have always been competing non-union workers.

We need look no further than the word “scab.” This pejorative reference to someone who crosses a picket line was coined for a single purpose, to coerce behavior through intimidation.

That’s the only way a union can function. The only way to prevent people from filling vacancies left by strike is to – well, prevent them. That is why conservatives tend to oppose organized labor, not because there is anything inherently wrong with collective bargaining, but because we detest coercion. Continue Reading HuffPo Brushes Off Blogger Strike as Hypocritical “Scabs” Keep Writing…

Pages: 1 2