Page 29 - Unionism News Today

They pay dues. this case was brought by the national right to work foundation which has been gunning for unions for 40 years or so. theyve been very successful in decimating private sector unionism. in the public sector until now, employers have not been particularly viciously opposed to unionism as they are in the private sector. private sector unionism is about 6% private sector workers are union members. in the public sector its about 60%. >> quickly, amy, you were sort of setting this up in ...

Signing them up for dues collection. i think its actually been healthy for those unions and these workers to say, hey, look, this is what the union provides you, the collective benefit. they didnt have health care themselves before the union. they got health care -- >> look what you got. >> i think its actually healthy and will force the labor movement to create a new model of unionism and go the full length to explain to workers, this is what a nonunion workplace looks like. >> the other piece ...

California. so what theyre saying is, we dont want to be part of your union. well bargain for ourselves. we want out of you totally, union. this will probably go to the supreme court and it will be a big issue. its basically, do we want to have union, mandatory unionism in the united states or not. >> unions have been here for a long time. they do great things. i loved the way people complain. oh, i could do it myself. do you think you could get the same wages on your own that you get through th...

Director of labor policy at the mackinac center for public policy, the group that did this most recent study. good morning to you vinnie. >> thanks for having me on. >> absolutely. tell us a little bit about what you make of these numbers. because i want to put these two up here. its a chart after 2000 that really shows how things began to change now people in right-to-work states are getting a lot more bang for their bucks. tell me a little bit more about this study. >> thats right. what you ar...

>> unions still worked up over michigans new right to work law. theyre trying to get it on the ballot on hope voters will shoot it down. toby says that could have big repercussions everywhere. >> shows 50 years, 10 years, 20 years, right to work states, do not have to pay union dues to work at a company have outperformed in sales growth, job growth and unemployment rate and if you look at the vast example of michigan, lets put it towards indiana where they changed the law. come on, man, the math...

Necessary that well use the police, were prepared when necessary to file lawsuits, and were going to go - after them. >> sean: these are two big losses for the president. i t mean, the president, big supporter of big labor, went there the day before, and then the legislature, you know, passed right to work which, by the way, ends legalized stealing. im not talking about rank-and-file members. im talking about union leadership. they shouldnt bebo spending rank-and-file money on political campaign...

None too happy about it. you predict within 10 years all but 15 states will have the same new law that michigan does. explain. >> i do, bill. the dominos are falling. as you seen what happened in michigan, by the way who would have thought this would happen in michigan the birthplace of unionism in america. you will see more and more pressure especially states with republican legislatures, bill, to do this. i predict within 10 years there will be only 12 to 15 states left not right to work. that...

States have forced unionism and it will not work. i was making point, remember the famous incident about a year or two ago when boeing moved their facility out of washington state to south carolina and there was all this opposition to doing that. one of the reasons boeing moved to south carolina with that big plant, hundreds of workers was because south carolina is right-to-work state. bill: instead of washington where they were going to make the dreamliner, 787 is union. we saw the fight that e...

>> im afraid its probably a long trend line. our percentage of union membership in the state is supposedly down to around 17%, if you can believe that. and michigan was considered the cradle of unionism. so, you know, unions are under assault. not just in the private sector, chris, but the public sector unions. remember, right to work yesterday has effected the entire public sector union movement. and thats where most of the membership and growth has been in the union movement in the last decade...

Trying to serve their fellow man, help the weak and do it well. the last two years from wisconsin to indiana to michigan, have they just been a period in which american labor suffered some very hard hits, but their fortunes will turn again? or is this really the end of real powerful unionism in america? joining us now is mary kay hendry, president of the service employees international union who is born and raised in the great state of michigan. miss henry, thank you very much for taking the tim...