Bruce Vail at Talking Union reports:
Backed by powerful national business interests, conservative legislators in Pennsylvania announced last week a new push to bring so-called “right-to-work” laws to the Keystone state. State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe said January 22 that he and five other Republican legislators would introduce a package of bills aimed at crippling the ability of labor unions to collect dues from members.
Pennsylvania labor leaders say the package is part of a broad assault on labor that began in 2010 when the GOP won control of the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature.
It’s no coincidence that the proposal comes hard on the heels of similar legislation in Michigan ... the Pennsylvania effort is part of a nationwide campaign against unions by rightwing business groups such as the David Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party organization FreedomWorks... (A) January fundraising appeal by FreedomWorks asking donors to finance a 2013 campaign to de-fund unions specifically named Pennsylvania.
All of these attacks can be linked back to the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, he says, a business-funded group supporting anti-worker initiatives nationwide. Legislative language in the Michigan and Pennsylvania anti-union bills are strikingly similar to ALEC’s own model right-to-work bill, he notes, and Metcalfe has well-documented ties to the group.The good news, reports Vail, is that Pennsylvania labor leaders don't think it will pass because there are enough union-friendly Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature.
Let's hope.
