California Policy Center: "This Labor Day, CA government unions have 77,000 fewer members"

 

This Labor Day, California government unions have 77,000 fewer members

Dear Arthur,

As Californians gear up to celebrate Labor Day weekend, consider this good news: Government unions in California are facing their lowest membership numbers in decades.

Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that government workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues or fees as a condition of their employment. Forcing people to join a group violates their First Amendment right of free assembly; forcing them to pay for union messaging violates their First Amendment free-speech right.

As a result of that landmark decision, government unions across the nation have seen their membership rolls plummet — and no state has seen a greater drop than California.

That decline is due to the generosity of California Policy Center’s donors. In the past five years, hundreds of freedom-loving Americans took the problem head-on. They poured almost $7 million dollars into helping public employees unshackle themselves from union dues.

These donors are the heroes who funded our campaign to help government employees leave their unions.

In fact, since we launched our Janus Project, California’s government unions have lost a whopping 29 percent of their members compared to 22 percent nationwide. Government unions in the Golden State are down nearly 400,000 members — now at their lowest membership since the 1990s.

That translates into a loss of $337 million in membership dues every year! That’s money California unions can’t use to influence local and state elections, push left-wing policies that hurt California’s working families, or lobby union-backed politicians who pull the strings in our state legislature and local governments.

How do we know California government union membership is cratering? Thanks to CPC’s unique model of using Public Records Act requests (PRAs) to access government payroll records, we're able to reveal the actual numbers when it comes to membership totals instead of taking the unions’ word for it.

In fact, California government unions have 77,000 fewer members since just last year!

This Labor Day, consider celebrating worker freedom by leaving your union — or by supporting our outreach efforts to union workers by making a donation to CPC’s Janus Project in any amount. All contributions made over Labor Day weekend will go directly toward our digital outreach to union employees.

To learn more about leaving your union, visit mypaymysay.com.

Janus v. AFSCME: How to Leave Your Teachers Union

Janus v. AFSCME ended forced unionism and forced dues.

Every public school teacher has rights as a public sector worker.

Janus v. AFSCME has ended the "agency fees" imposition which public sector unions were allowed to get away with for decades.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf

This website has some more information on this issue:

https://spn.org/landing_page/janus-v-afscme/?gclid=CjwKCAjwt8uGBhBAEiwAayu_9YvHLkU4lvK2U9ZKVFMimDIHJg053-97-rwta2Be189aS9u2Bm13cRoCJtYQAvD_BwE

Janus v. AFSCME | State Policy Network spn.org What was Janus v. AFSCME about and how will it impact workers? Learn more about the Janus case, see the latest media coverage, and find out what is happening in your state.

 

Here's another website that people can check, which clearly recognizes their restored JANUS rights:

 

https://myjanusrights.org/

MyJanusRights.org Homepage myjanusrights.org MyJanusRights.org Welcome to The Official Janus Rights Page. National Right To Work’s recent Supreme Court Victory in Janus v. AFSCME created newly-won "Janus Rights" provide Right To Work protections for all government employees. Additionally, every government employee must request union membership (opt-in) rather being forced by unions to annually opt-out of union membership.

 

And here's the general Right to Work Foundation website:

 

https://www.nrtw.org/

National Right to Work Foundation Home - National Right to Work Foundation www.nrtw.org The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization. Its mission is to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information, and education programs.

In the meantime, you can get all of your questions about opting out and help opting out from this website. 

Teachers can read this toolkit, which answers teachers’ frequently asked questions and addresses the lies of the unions:  https://www.forkidsandcountry.org/teachers-toolkits/ 

Then go to the menu item “Teacher Freedoms and Protections” for all you need to opt out (letters, legal help if needed, liability insurance from independent organizations and more:  https://www.forkidsandcountry.org/ 

This is a great deal of information. At the very least, direct every teacher who wants out of their union to visit the MyJanusRights.org website. 

LA Unified Teachers on Strike: Halldale Elementary, Torrance (Really, Harbor Gateway) -- Photos

The West Virginia Public School Strike: What's Really Going On

West Virginia was once an absolute Democratic stronghold. Since FDR and the New Deal Days, government largesse was the defining factor for West Virginia politics. Even though the state embraces some of the most socially conservative values in the country, the state still voted Democrat, and even placed plutocrat lawmakers like Jay Rockefeller into office.

One of the longest-serving crony US Senators was Robert Byrd, a hard-core big government boondoggle self-enricher who plastered his name all over the state in order to promote himself at the expense of everyone else.

He was also a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan, yet Democrats from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama and later Hillary Clinton justified his membership in that odious group or turned a blind eye to it.

The media enabled that disgusting double-standard, too.

Now, West Virginia has become a rub-red GOP trifecta, including a Governor who was elected as a Democrat, but became a Republican last year. The last remaining Democrat in any office in the state, US Senator Joe Manchin, is facing the fight of his life. His state voted for Donald Trump overwhelmingly, in fact it was the highest margin of victory for Trump in any state in the union.

Manchin has tried to hew himself as a center-right Democrat who can still compete and thrive in the left-wing Democratic Party. He never criticizes President Trump or his staff, but simply blames Washington DC for being a place that "sucks."

He also tries to straddle both sides of the issue, saying that he is pro-life, but also celebrating Planned Parenthood.

Now what's going on with the teachers' strike that occurred all over West Virginia over the last two weeks? This long-term union stunt was a political move to undermine Republican chances. This fight brought in the West Virginia Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey, who is running against Joe Manchin this year.

Teachers unions in West Virginia put their demands for more pay ahead of the needs of their students. They don't care about getting young children out of poverty and into prosperity. They only cared about enriching themselves on the taxpayer dime. Eventually, Governor Jim Justice agreed to a 5% raise, but didn't give the teachers everything they wanted.

This movement was a threat not just to the lawmakers in West Virginia, but to show the might of organized labor going into Election 2018. Splinter News referenced this desperate reality:

But there is no question that in the past two weeks, West Virginia teachers gave us a very clear demonstration of what organized labor is capable of. While their strike might soon be over, their movement is not.

Organized Labor is still bullying state legislatures and taxpayers, and they won't stop, even if President Donald Trump won. Big Labor still calls the shots in Los Angeles County, California.

We need Janus to strike down forced unionism once and for all. These liberals and progressive leftists will stop at nothing. They have no qualms about exploiting children for their agenda. This is all wrong.

We need to put an end to this anti-constitutional forced unionism, which is hurting working families and putting taxpayer dollars and state legislative solvency at risk.

Big Labor's Biggest Nightmare?: Janus v. Illinois

In true left-wing fashion, the Sacramento Bee is singing the praises of "public workers", when in reality they are buffing up the pride and pedigree of Democratic donors and the statist takeover of the state of California.

The public sector unions robbing the state of California right in the taxpayers' faces are about to face a day of reckoning.

The forced dues which they have stolen from workers to subsidized candidates and causes inimical to the best interests of the public are about to come to an end.

Check out this article from the Sac Bee:

‘Everything is at stake:’ California unions brace for a SupremeCourt loss

BY ADAM ASHTON

California labor leaders sound almost apocalyptic when they describe a looming Supreme Court case that many of them concede likely will cost them members and money.

They should be scared. It's over. Their easy gravy train with taxpayer dollars is about to end.

“Everything is at stake,” says Yvonne Walker, president of Service Employees International Local 1000, state government’s largest union.

“It’s a blatant political attack,” says Eric Heins, the leader of the massive California Teachers Association.

It's only a political attack because the unions

“That’s a way that the corporations are trying to take our legs out from under us,” says Kim Cowart, a state registered nurse and SEIU union leader.

They’re alarmed by Janus vs. AFSCME, the Illinois lawsuit that challenges the rights of unions in 22 states to collect so-called “fair share” fees from employees who do not want to join bargaining groups but may benefit from representation. That practice has been legal and common since 1977, when the Supreme Court favored union arguments for fair-share fees in a lawsuit against the Detroit Board of Education.

It's not a "fair share" fee, since it is unfair to force individual workers into a union which is not "sharing" anything, as much as they are stealing from workers to enrich the overpaid labor leaders and their special interest handlers.

Since then, business-backed groups and politicians have chipped away at fair-share fees across the country. They contend that the fees subsidize a union’s political activities, undermining the First Amendment rights of some workers.

YES!

Now, unions anticipate a 5-4 Supreme Court decision banning the mandatory dues with President Donald Trump’s nominee on the court, Neil Gorsuch, tilting the balance against their side just a year after the court deadlocked on a similar case against the California Teachers Association.

Thank God for Gorsuch. Thank God for Trump replacing the well-informed Antonin Scalia with a man of consummate integrity and erudition. We need to reassert the rights of workers to join or not to join.

If Gorsuch breaks the tie as expected, public employee unions in California will not be able to count on collecting some form of dues from everyone they represent. Unions that operate in both “right to work” and “fair share” states say the shift could drive down membership by 15 percent to 30 percent.

GREAT!

“It’s not right that an employee who would pay nothing to the union for representation would still receive all the benefits from the collective bargaining process,” said Steve Crouch, director of public employees for International Union of Operating Engineers. His union represents maintenance workers in California and in right-to-work Nevada.

Then find ways to prevent people who do not join unions not to enjoy the benefits of union membership.

In that scenario, public employee unions would have less money to negotiate contracts, fund political campaigns and defend public employee pensions from the occasional voter initiative that aims to undo them. A Beverly Hills city councilman earlier this month, for instance, wrote an article for a California conservative blog that suggested weakened unions would help reformers address the state’s underfunded public employee pension plans.

“Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, public sector unions could lose some of their power, which might – just might – open the door to real and lasting solutions to California’s pension crisis,” John Mirisch wrote.

"The union voice is not my voice. The union's fight is not my fight." - Mark Janus, plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCMEhttps://t.co/igauJqwBuH

— Right To Work (@RightToWork) September 25, 2017

To hold on to power, public employee unions will have to shift to a model already used by California’s private sector unions that centers on motivating people to opt in to union membership even though they don’t have to. The model works for groups like the California Medical Association and the 400,000-member State Building and Construction Trades Council.

That's fine. At least they will be relying on persuasion instead of coercion. That is not a bad thing at all, but should be the moral expectation of every union.

“I think the public employees in the end will figure it out that they need a voice up here because there’s going to be a lot of voices against them,” said Robbie Hunter, president of the trades union.

Here’s a look at how the state’s public employees unions have been preparing for a loss at the high court.

Leaning on lawmakers

California unions worked the halls of the Legislature this year to give them a hand in solidifying their membership just in case the Supreme Court strikes down their fair-share fees.

One new law guarantees unions the right to meet with new public employees almost as soon as they start their jobs. Another bans public agencies from releasing private phone numbers and email addresses of workers, information that could be used by anti-union groups to persuade people to quit their bargaining groups.

Now I have a different set of concerns. We may be facing a set of in-house limitations to stop forced unionism. Will all of these sudden measures hurt taxpayer and municipal measures to stop forced unionism, coerced dues, and Big Labor bullying in our statehouse and throughout our state?

And one more law allowed 500 California Judicial Council employees to gain new bargaining rights.

Wow. Now our court system is filled with union hacks. No wonder court cases against Big Labor have fallen hard in California.

Union leaders say the law that gives them access to new employee orientation is particularly significant.

The union that represents California Highway Patrol officers, for instance, has an opportunity to meet new cops as they graduate from their academy. That gives officers a shared identity that helps translate to high union membership. The California Association of Highway Patrolmen does not charge fair-share fees, and its membership rate is north of 97 percent.

Those pension liabilities are killing the state of California coffers. Will they remain California's finest

Carrie Lane, the union’s chief executive, said the employee orientation law gives other labor groups similar opportunities to meet new workers early.

There is nothing wrong with labor leaders meeting with new members of any association or organization. There is something wrong with false advertising and coerced membership.

“A lot of the unions don’t have that. They don’t even know they have another (potential) member. It’s really important to be able to clearly demonstrate to their members the value of membership,” she said.

Talking about the case

The highest profile right-to-work campaign in recent memory took place in Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker advanced policies that led to steep declines in union membership since 2010.

Nope. They forget about Michigan, where labor unions across the state and the country overwhelmed Lansing, Michigan. One union member punched a reporter on the ground who was reporting on the incident. They were violent and desperate in their actions.

Labor unions have relied excessively on mob violence during these desperate times. If they were providing such welcome services why are more workers leaving labor unions and opting for non-membership?

SEIU Local 1000 is pointing to Wisconsin on a section of the union’s website dedicated to the Janus case. The page contrasts low wage increases for Wisconsin civil servants since the state adopted right-to-work policies with SEIU’s latest contract, which netted a base wage increase of 11.5 percent over 42 months and higher raises for about a fifth of the workers represented by the union.

Yes, but the cost of living has decreased in Wisconsin, while all the forced wage hikes and arbitrary perks in California have not made the once Golden State any more affordable.

That lie about "right to work for less" is one of the basest canards pushed on the reading public. Forced unionism states may boast about higher wages, but those "higher" wages don't translate to stronger buying power.

In fact, costs rise so abruptly with these measures, that more people are fleeing forced unionism states. Job growth is stagnant or in decline, all while pension and benefits liabilities eat away at the already strained coffers.

We’re not going to give up our rights. #iChooseMyUnion pic.twitter.com/Z75B0Lj3Oj

— SEIU Local 1000 (@SEIU1000) October 11, 2017

I have one question: since when is forcing a free individual to join a union "a right"?

Walker, the SEIU president, said the difference in how public workers have fared in the two states shows the value of collective bargaining.

Those public sector unions should have never existed. There is no right for public workers to go against the public interest anywhere anytime.

“None of our members are billionaires, none of our members are large corporations with millions and billions of dollars,” she said. “My members are just average working people who want to have a collective voice in the things that are going to impact their lives and their communities.”

Blah, blah, blah. Unions want to play the Bernie Sanders "people are too rich" card. No one is listening anymore. The country has gotten richer in the last ten months since President Trump was inaugurated. Everyone is experiencing the new-found wealth, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Nothing.

Labor unions needs to serve their laborers, or they might as well as close up shop and go home.

Signing up new members

Union leaders are careful to say that they’re always trying to recruit more members, but some of them acknowledged those efforts are taking on greater intensity this year. The idea is to get workers in the union fold now and have a better chance of keeping them there if the court decision makes membership optional.

There you go. Unions are cover in their efforts to recruit and retain. They do not want the world at large to know that they poach workers and take their money, only to spend the cash on candidates and causes which are inimical to worker interests, including open borders, illegal immigration, bad trade deals, and the undermining of state and local safety.

“It does give all organizations a renewed emphasis to go out and recruit members,” said Bruce Blanning, president of Blanning and Baker, a consulting firm that represents state scientists and state engineers.

I forgot about the consultant class. They want to keep their jobs, too, do they not? They profit off of fear-mongering spread by labor unions. How abysmal.

Finding common ground

It’s hard to miss the Democratic leanings of most unions. SEIU 1000’s motto, “stronger together,” echoes Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Yet many labor union members did not feel stronger with Hillary Clinton. She announced to West Virginia coal miners that she would put them all out of business. She further announced her intent to allow cheap labor to cross countries and run around in the continents in the Western Hemisphere.

Purple-shirted SEIU members have shown up in force at immigration-related events this year, and fliers that read “#Resist” are common features at union offices around Sacramento.

Yes, unions who claim to care about workers are recruiting to bring in more cheap labor. What a concept! How again does expanding the labor pool help American workers? Increasing supply of any commodity actually increase the price of that commodity? It doesn't.

Scott Walker beat down Big Labor
in Wisconsin

As I have written before, labor unions are actually hurting their workers instead of helping them. The next question: why?

But huge public employee unions like SEIU 1000 and CTA are full of people with different viewpoints and political leanings. That’s why some unions are focusing on local workplace issues to connect with workers and make a case for continued membership.

How about that? And maybe labor unions should focus on just ensuring that workers' rights and needs are taking care of, instead of harassing them and promoting illegal aliens and corrupt, illiberal Democratic policies.

Leaders at the Sacramento City Teachers Association visited dozens of schools over the past month and asked their members whether to authorize a strike. Those face-to-face interactions centered on shared goals, not state politics.

Well ... it looks like there are some changes for the better. Some.

“We all want more art and music in the classroom. We’re advocating for that,” said David Fisher, the union’s president. “Almost everybody wants lower class sizes. Almost everybody realizes we need credentialed teachers in the classroom who have resources to support them. These are things we’re advocating for that improve learning conditions for students and working condition for teachers.”

But for all the years, the decades in which teachers unions have been hustling for teachers, why have these goals not been met? Why do teachers still struggle with relatively low pay, large class sizes, and bad working conditions, plus low morale?

Why indeed.

Big Labor is a Big scam for many working people. They want to see improvements ad economic opportunities. Labor unions have been frustrating those goals while claiming that they are committed to improving the working life and labor of their members.

Not a chance. Is it any surprise that laborers like Mark Janus assert that his union does not speak for him, that their fight is not his fight? I would go further and assert that the union's fight has ended up as a fight against the workers like Janus.

And this needs to stop. Thank goodness for this lawsuit, one which I am sure Governor Bruce Rauner helped to launch. 

Let's hope that the Supreme Court rules on this matter in line with the true spirit of the First Amendment, and in the best interests of working people and burdened taxpayers.