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As the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 session comes to a close, one of the major cases left for a decision is Harris vs. Quinn,which could effect some 7 million public sector workers in the United States.
The case originates in Illinois, where home health care workers have been successfully organized by public sector unions. Now, a small group of these workers, represented by lawyers from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, have sued and their lawyers contend that the agency fees, or the fair share dues that even non-union members of a bargaining unit are required to pay to unions that bargain for higher wages on their behalf, violate the First Amendment. Agency fees are barred in so-called "right to work" states, which have much less unionization and lower wages and benefits.
Joel Rogers, a professor of law and sociology at the University of Wisconsin, calls it "the most important labor law case the court has considered in decades." This is because when the Supreme Court decided to take on the case, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation dramatically expanded the scope of the case beyond the home health care workers to include all public sector workers, from teachers and firefighters to sanitation workers to librarians. If the court follows National Right to Work's lead, every state in the country would essentially turn into an anti-union "right to work" state, which would be a significant blow to public sector unions' collective bargaining efforts and also complicate thousands of existing contracts between organized workers and municipalities, cities, counties, and states across the country.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTWLDF) is the 501(c)(3) arm of the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC), a 501(c)(4) organization. Additionally, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research is an affiliated anti-union research shop. Founded nearly 60 years ago, the NRTWC has been a national leader in the effort to destroy public and private sector unions. The groups have increased their funding and staffing in recent years. In 2012, the three groups combined reported over $25 million in revenue, making them a powerful instrument of the corporate and ideological interests that want to keep wages low and silence the voice of organized labor in the political arena.
NRTWC's success and the demise of unions in the United States has directly contributed to the erosion of high-paying middle class jobs and to growing inequality, as this chart from the Economic Policy Institute graphically illustrates.
National Right to Work's Deep Connections to the Koch Brothers and the John Birch Society
The NRTWC has deep connections within the national right-wing network led by the Koch brothers. Reed Larson, who led the NRTW groups for over three decades, hails from Wichita, Kansas, the hometown of Charles and David Koch. Larson became an early leader of the radical right-wing John Birch Society in Kansas, which Fred Koch (the father of Charles and David) helped found. Several other founders and early leaders of the NRTWC were members and leaders of the John Birch Society, specifically the Wichita chapter of which Fred Koch was an active member.
The groups remain tied to the Kochs. In 2012, the Kochs' Freedom Partners group funneled $1 million to the National Right to Work Committee, while the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation gave a $15,000 grant to the NRTWLDF, which has also received significant funding from the Koch-connected DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Today, at least three former Koch associates work as attorneys for the NRTWLDF.
The Koch brothers.
Surprise, surprise.
Do you have mommy check in the closet and under your bed each night, to make sure the Kochs are not hiding there?
There are jobs in Right to Work states.
Good paying jobs with work rules that are fair to both employee and employer because each understands the consequences of screwing the other.
Now shall we talk about Detroit?
'Right to Work' for LessStates with "Right to Work" Laws Have:
Lower Wages and Incomes
The average worker in states with "right to work" laws makes $1,540 a year less when all other factors are removed than workers in other states.1
Median household income in states with these laws is $6,437 less than in other states ($46,402 vs. $52,839).2
In states with "right to work" laws, 26.7 percent of jobs are in low-wage occupations, compared with 19.5 percent of jobs in other states.3
Less Job-Based Health Insurance Coverage
People in states with "right to work" laws are more likely to be uninsured (16.8 percent, compared with 13.1 percent overall; among children, its 10.8 percent vs. 7.5 percent).4
Theyre less likely to have job-based health insurance than people in other states (56.2 percent, compared with 60.1 percent).5
Only 50.7 percent of employers in states with these laws offer insurance coverage to their employees, compared with 55.2 percent in other states. That difference is even more significant among small employers (with fewer than 50 workers)only 34.4 percent of them offer workers health insurance, compared with 41.7 percent of small employers in other states.6
Higher Poverty and Infant Mortality Rates
Poverty rates are higher in states with "right to work" laws (15.3 percent overall and 21.5 percent for children), compared with poverty rates of 13.1 percent overall and 18.1 percent for children in states without these laws.7
The infant mortality rate is 15 percent higher in states with these laws.8
Less Investment in Education
States with "right to work" laws spend $3,392 less per pupil on elementary and secondary education than other states, and students are less likely to be performing at their appropriate grade level in math and reading.9
Higher Rates of Death on the Job
The rate of workplace deaths is 36 percent higher in states with these laws, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.10
I do not consider right to work the destruction of America.The Koch brothers.
Surprise, surprise.
Do you have mommy check in the closet and under your bed each night, to make sure the Kochs are not hiding there?
Do you always celebrate the destruction of the American people in this manner?
So?
Do you not think that the political opposite of the NRWC has financial backers?
We obviously needed a Koch brothers thread today.So?
Do you not think that the political opposite of the NRWC has financial backers?
OK, NOW can we talk about Detroit?
State Policy Network - SourceWatchhe State Policy Network (SPN) has franchised, funded, and fostered a growing number of mini Heritage Foundations at the state level since the early 1990s.[1] SPN is a web of right-wing think tanks in every state across the country. It is an $83 million right-wing empire as of the 2011 funding documents from SPN itself and each of its state "think tank" members. Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[2]
SPN describes itself as a network and service organization for the "state-based free market think tank movement," and its stated mission is "to provide strategic assistance to independent research organizations devoted to discovering and developing market-oriented solutions to state and local public policy issues."[3] It was founded in November 1991[4] and incorporated in March of 1992.[5]
Koch Connection
The Koch Brothers are the conservative billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.
The founding chairman of the board and a major funder was Thomas A. Roe (1927-2000),[6] and the founding executive director was Byron S. Lamm.[4] In the mid-1980s, Roe allegedly told fellow wealthy conservative donor and Heritage Foundation trustee Robert Krieble, "You capture the Soviet Union -- I'm going to capture the states."[7]
SPN was formerly known as the Madison Group (see SPN's history below).[1]
Fueled by robust funding from right-wing funders including the Koch brothers, the Bradley Foundation, the anonymous wealthy donors to the donor-advised funds of DonorsTrust, and others, SPN has grown rapidly in recent years. There were 12 original think tanks when SPN was founded. In 2013, there were 64 SPN member think tanks in all 50 states.[8] (See SPN Members for more, including links to articles about each of them.)
In response to a November 2013 report issued by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) -- "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government" -- SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent."
Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organizations model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[9]
A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[10] The funding proposals are from 40 SPN members to the Searle Freedom Trust, a private foundation that funds right-wing groups such as Americans for Prosperity, ALEC, Americans for Tax Reform, and more. It is the family foundation funded by the "NutraSweet" fortune of G.D. Searle & Company, which was purchased by Monsanto in 1985 and which is now part of Pfizer. The documents were submitted to Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal editorial board member, founder of the Club for Growth, and ALEC "scholar," who was asked to review the proposals and "identify your top 20 and bottom 20 proposals."
Aw, please, tell us about the worker's paradise in Detroit and how it's sprouting jobs like dandelions in springtime!
I consider progressive politics the destruction of the American people. Something not to be celebrated.We obviously needed a Koch brothers thread today.So?
Do you not think that the political opposite of the NRWC has financial backers?
Again. Do you always celebrate the destruction of the American people in this manner?
Goit anything other than the generic off the rack prog boilerplate whining about the Kochs, or is this about it?
I consider progressive politics the destruction of the American people. Something not to be celebrated.We obviously needed a Koch brothers thread today.
Again. Do you always celebrate the destruction of the American people in this manner?
Goit anything other than the generic off the rack prog boilerplate whining about the Kochs, or is this about it?
The Koch brothers.
Surprise, surprise.
Do you have mommy check in the closet and under your bed each night, to make sure the Kochs are not hiding there?
Do you always celebrate the destruction of the American people in this manner?
