From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Throughout the country, public sector unions are campaigning for higher taxes as a means to prevent government cutbacks. From Oregon to New York and states in between, unions are waging ferocious fights to prevent states from balancing budgets by cutting expenses.

Unions, such as SEIU and AFSCME, are spending extraordinary sums to promote higher taxes as a means to prevent cutbacks that they feel will result in fewer members, lower amounts from union dues, and less money to spend on political campaigns.

In Oregon, the Oregon Education Association and the SEIU spent millions of dollars to pass ballot initiatives that ultimately raised business and income taxes by approximately $727 million.

In Arizona, unions were behind an effort that increased sales taxes from 5.6% to 6.6%, thus helping to raise one billion dollars.

In New York, the United Teachers union spent $750,000 to prevent the state from capping some of the highest real estate taxes in the nation. In fact, real estate taxes in New York State are so high that many middle class families and small businesses have left the state.

And so it goes from state to state, but it doesn’t stop there. It exists nationally as well. Unions give more money than do any other entities to the national Democratic party. And the purpose of their giving is no different from their state-by-state donations: generous donations to congressional, senatorial, and presidential campaigns require a payback, And that payback is legislation that will increase wages and benefits for public sector workers by raising taxes. Public sector unions benefit; public sector workers benefit. And the American people, their states and corporations foot the bill. The American people, who are not members of public sector unions, are the victims of a vicious cycle of union-government-union actions that are increasingly injurious to the health of the American economy.

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From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

In an effort to further aid organized labor, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is considering permitting unions to organize small numbers of workers in any company. Unions may choose to organize as few as five to ten employees, while not bothering with dozens or even hundreds of others. Obviously, it will be far easier for unions to organize five to ten workers rather than an entire workforce. The result will be the formation of “micro unions.”
The creation of “micro unions” would permit unions to focus on workers who have specific job descriptions, ones that may be easier to organize than other types of workers.
If a union wanted to organize workers at department stores, for example, it could choose to organize stock workers, shipping clerks, and sales clerks without attempting to organize more senior level employees. Similarly, in hotels, unions could attempt to organize maids, busboys, waiters, and bell hops, while not bothering with desk clerks and various levels of managers. Such efforts, if successful, would not only give unions a foothold into various businesses, but it would give them negotiating leverage, for a “micro union” could call for a strike, thus making it impossible for the non-union employees to operate a company. Like an army winning one small battle after another, such a step-by-step approach would provide unions with an eventual opportunity to win the battle against management and take over the entire workforce.
It is essential that management learn the appropriate survival strategies so that it can defeat incremental efforts at unionization. It will be one of the vital topics at my upcoming labor relations seminars.

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From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com), the Service Employees International Union, which presently has 2 million members, intends to launch a major offensive against corporate America that will “peak in the summer of 2012.”

The Union intends to recruit new members to its ranks in 10 to 15 major American cities, including Cleveland, Milwaukee, Miami, and Detroit. Its recruitment efforts will take place at political primary events, town hall meetings, and other gatherings. No doubt, its focus will be at Democratic Party events, for the SEIU is a stalwart contributor to Democratic candidates. In the last presidential election, the SEIU spent $70 million! It is reportedly prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars on its aggressive new recruitment efforts.

Many of its members are public sector workers who will receive inordinately large pensions upon their retirement, which will further contribute to the near bankruptcy of states. The Union, obviously, hopes to defeat any legislative measures that will curtail the size of those tax-payer funded pensions. Hence, its forthcoming efforts to beef up its membership rolls and deliver the maximum number of votes to its Democratic allies in 2012.

It is essential that both legislators and Corporate America prepare effective survival strategies to defeat the deleterious efforts of the SEIU. If not, public service pensions will indeed bankrupt one state after another leading to financial devastation throughout the land.

2012 · cabot institute · Cleveland · corporate america · deficits · Democratic Party · Democrats · Detroit · economy · jobs · Labor Relations · Miami · pensions · public service employees · public service workers · SEIU · Service Employees International Union · stephen cabot · Steve Cabot · The Wall Street Journal · unionization · Unions · United States · workers · wsj

From the desk of Stephen Cabot:

Right-to-work states are growing faster than states where unionization is the norm. A study by Richard Vedder, published in the Cato Journal, found that 4.7 million U. S. citizens moved to right-to-work states from forced-union states during the years 2000 to 2008. In addition, his study found that there is a “statistically significant relationship between right-to-work laws and economic growth.” In fact, during the years 1997 to 2007, those right-to-work states enjoyed a 23% more rapid growth rate for per capita income than states in the Northeast and Midwest.

Not only are jobs and people leaving the forced-union states, but companies, domestic and foreign, are choosing to build new manufacturing facilities in right-to-work states, primarily in the South. Such trends do not portend an economic resurgence for forced-union states. The onerous deficits that are hurting those states will only get worse.

And governors and state legislatures realize that one ailment keeping their economies on life support are unions. It is no wonder then that three states are considering becoming right-to-work states. They are Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Those states, like their neighbors in the northeast, desperately need new businesses, greater employment, and more tax dollars. The only way they will grow their economies and achieve their goals is to become right-to-work states. Other states should take notice and join the trend to economic growth.

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