By James Sherk, The Washington Times
Desperate times call for desperate measures, but the union movement has taken this saying to a new level. It has reacted to dwindling membership by unionizing recipients of public assistance. In more than a dozen states, unions now extract dues from government benefit checks.
By Mark Peters and Kris Maher, The Wall Street Journal
Minnesota is set to allow unions to organize workers who provide home day-care services and other home care, giving organized labor a rare victory at the state level.
By Dan Mihalopoulos, Chicago Sun-Times
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s allies in the Teamsters union leadership have backed away from trying to represent airport janitors who work for a private company the mayor hired last year over the objections of other labor leaders.
By Jim Ragsdale, Star Tribune
The fight over unionizing in-home child-care providers kept the Minnesota Senate up through the night, as supporters and opponents debated whether the small, private businesses should have a right to vote on unionization.
By Jonathan Blake, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
The extraordinary union power grab underway at the State Capitol is breathtaking, especially in light of the prevailing trend of Midwest states enacting positive, taxpayer-friendly collective bargaining reforms.
Labor Pains
Recently, a number of groups taking the form of “worker centers” have staged walkouts of fast food restaurants in several cities.
Pioneer Press
The 2013 labor wish list at the state Capitol includes a measure to allow some home-care workers to bargain collectively with the state. Those who care for young and vulnerable Minnesotans deserve our respect. It’s important work they do, but union representation isn’t a good idea for the workers or for those they care for. We join the skeptics who doubt the proposal will bring us closer to what we all want: good care for those who need it, a good deal for taxpayers and stable costs.
By Amanda Becker, Thomson Reuters News & Insight
The Service Employees International Union fended off an upstart rival last week in a union-on-union battle over California healthcare workers, a symptom not of labor’s decline but of its growth in the health sector.
Star Tribune
A twin drive to create new unions for personal care attendants and home day-care owners stalled Monday on a tie vote in a Minnesota Senate committee.
By Jonathan Berry, York Daily Record
Outsourcing. Benefit cuts. Mergers.
Union leaders decried all of these practices this Labor Day. But these same labor chiefs practice what they preach against.