Minimum Wage Business Realities

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:59:57 +0000

In support of a higher minimum wage, advocates typically point to a handful of business owners who voice ideological support for the policy. Take Costco, for instance, whose CEO has voiced strong support for raising the federal minimum wage.

Why do these few businesses support raising the minimum wage while many others oppose it? Watch this new video from the Employment Policies Institute to find out:

For more information, visit MinimumWage.com.

Election 2012: Union Money vs. Labor Reform

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:13:46 +0000

This election year, Mitt Romney faces a simple challenge: if he beats Barack Obama in a handful of key swing states he wins; if not, he doesn’t. To win, he’ll need to score with independents, who make up more than 40 percent of the voting population, on issues that hit home locally and resonate nationally.

To find such an issue, Romney need look no further than the swing state of Missouri, where Senate candidate Sarah Steelman (R) has endorsed the Employee Rights Act (ERA). The ERA, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), takes the momentum for labor reform seen in Wisconsin straight to the federal level, where it provides relief and protection to the greatest number or people.

Significantly for Romney, the ERA incorporates a series of key measures that draw overwhelming support from union and nonunion households alike—at a moment when union overreach has become a national issue with special importance in many of Romney’s must-win states.

It’s a lesson underscored by the political fight in Wisconsin, where the recall election organized against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) highlighted union overreach. Fearing that Walker’s reforms could touch off a popular movement to break their powerful grip over member dues and employee destinies, Democrats and unions pulled out all the stops to take Walker down, spending some $14 million to defeat him.

Despite strong Democratic support from labor leaders, over one third of those voters from union households supported Walker. In fact, Wisconsin’s second-largest public-sector union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, lost over half of its members between March 2011 and February of this year. The American Federation of Teachers’ Wisconsin chapter lost 6,000 of its 17,000 members. It all speaks volumes that when given the chance, many employees reject forced unionization.

Wisconsin was sharply divided by the recall effort. But nationally, it’s clear that public opinion is tilted strongly in favor of comprehensive labor reform—the very issue that looms largest in the states Romney wants to win most. A poll conducted by ORC International reveals that union and nonunion households are united in support for the ERA’s reform measures, which include paycheck protection for unapproved political donations, protection from ‘quickie’ or ‘ambush’ elections, and protection from union threats and intimidation in the workplace. The ERA explicitly guarantees secret ballot elections—one of the most basic rights in a democracy—for employees voting on unionization and recertification. A right that aggressive unions have been seeking to render meaningless.

Union officials recognize the election-year dynamic—and the stakes. In Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin unions spent a total of $32,610,410—94 percent of union political spending in those states—to elect Democrats in 2010. It’s safe to say that Romney’s targeted swing states will see an even greater influx of union cash this time around.

Union leaders aren’t going for broke out of unconditional love for the president. Obama touched off a furor by backing away from the Wisconsin recall campaign, flagrantly breaking his promise to put on his “comfortable shoes” and march with his union allies. Labor leaders are spending big in this year’s key states because they know a critical mass of voters now agree that breaking their lock on power is essential to securing economic freedom for American workers and economic prosperity for all Americans.

For Mitt Romney, that makes for an excellent political opportunity. Romney should embrace labor union employees by supporting their agenda and endorsing the ERA while dismissing the union leaders for opposing workplace democracy. Voters in swing states are hungry for the kind of national leadership that Scott Walker and Sarah Steelman have offered. By taking up the mantle of the ERA, Romney can provide that leadership, showing that he’s got the back of employees, and not union leaders, across the country.

Center for Union Facts Obtains Internal Wisconsin Education Association Council Messaging Document

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:43:10 +0000

In the aftermath of the Wisconsin recall election, many public sector unions are still licking their wounds—and apparently leaving their internal documents out in the open.

In an internal memo obtained by the Center for Union Facts, the Wisconsin Education Association Council outlines the communications strategy for messaging against “Walker and his right-wing allies.”

A few interesting “Dos” and Don’ts” (emphasis added):

DO

Stay focused on students – voters care about schools because they care about students.

Use parents as messengers when possible – while educators themselves can also be good messengers, parents’ motives are seen as less self-interested.

DON’T

Use cuts to teacher/education support professional benefits or pay as an example of the negative impacts of cuts – many voters still view educators’ benefits as overly generous.

Use the “union” entity as a messenger – making this about WEAC vs. Walker causes many voters to tune out and dismiss communications as “politics as usual.” Keep a face on this issue by featuring members/parents to tell about the impact of cuts.

You can view the document below in its entirety. Enjoy!

This piece was originally posted on Labor Pains.

Have Unions ‘Occupied’ the Occupiers?

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:25:24 +0000

Leave it to America’s labor unions to turn revolutionaries into defenders of the status quo. It wasn’t long ago that the Occupy movement belonged in the same category of grassroots insurgency as the Tea Parties. Their tactics and their aims differed widely, of course. But together, they showed that many Americans felt they no longer controlled their own destiny, and the only way to get it back was to take it into their own hands.

That’s a view which is increasingly foreign to today’s Occupy movement—thanks in large part to the unions that have co-opted it. Unions were caught flat-footed by the sudden prominence of the Occupiers. But now, they’ve put themselves first, ensuring that Occupy protests advance their own agenda. The SEIU has gone as far as to rent office space for the former park dwellers. As one union deckhand and Occupy activist told San Francisco public radio: “What we’re really trying to do is break down this narrative that there’s the union and Occupy as two separate entities[.]”

Union leaders have a lot at stake in absorbing the Occupy movement. If they don’t, they’ll lose control of the status quo they work so hard to protect—and the privilege and power that comes with it. Unions have gamed the political system so well that they’re counter-revolutionaries, dedicated to convincing activists and employees alike that they can’t do anything themselves. The unions are co-opting the Occupy movement with the same playbook they use every day with their own members, taking their destiny out of their hands and setting the self-serving agenda of union leadership.

At a moment when voters in both parties are fed up with business as usual in Washington, unions personify what’s wrong with our broken system. Unions pop up everywhere today’s challenges are to be found. They’re not just hobbling America’s recovery inside the factory or the budget-busting public sector. In our education system, they’re impairing the ability of our kids to rise to tomorrow’s challenges.

That’s why now is the right time for the Employee Rights Act (ERA), a new piece of legislation dedicated to reforming our outdated, obsolete labor laws. Sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Ut.) and Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the ERA restores workers’ control over their destinies through paycheck protection, secret ballot votes on unionization, recertification, and strikes, and protection from workplace intimidation and coercion by unions on par with what’s already in place to protect employees from employers’ abuses. The ERA’s measures command broad public support in union and non-union households alike. Polling conducted by ORC International on behalf of the Center for Union Facts shows that approval of the ERA’s provisions ranges between 71 and 91 percent.

Without these reforms, unions will continue to work their members like cash cows instead of individuals with their own dreams, goals, and interests. Employees will see more “quickie” votes without information or secret ballots. They’ll see more support for political agendas they don’t support. And they’ll get fewer chances—if any—to actually vote to recertify their union’s status established by people long since gone from the workplace. Already, less than 10 percent of currently unionized employees have ever voted for the union that collects their dues.

For union leaders, numbers like that insure their power and stability. They are cause for celebration. By seizing control of the Occupy movement and tightening their hold on members and their dues, today’s unions hope to cling to power despite diminishing popularity and shrinking member rolls. Their bitter opposition to labor reform isn’t just an affront to our aspirations for better days ahead. It’s an open invitation to politicians this election year to get behind a piece of legislation that would safeguard those aspirations.