A Mother’s Day Gift for Working Moms

On the day we honor mothers, it’s worth noting that 71% of women with children under 18 years of age are in the labor force. And as the New Hampshire GOP continues its assault on workers and unions, it’s particularly meaningful to note the advantage these unions provide for working mothers.

A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents the dramatic advantage unions provide women workers in pay and benefits.

The data suggest that even after controlling for systematic differences between union and non-union workers, union representation substantially improves the pay and benefits that women receive. On average, unionization raised women’s wages by 11.2 percent — about $2.00 per hour — compared to non-union women with similar characteristics.

For the average woman, joining a union has a much larger effect on her probability of having health insurance (an 18.8 percentage-point increase) than finishing a four-year college degree would (an 8.4 percentage-point increase, compared to a woman with similar characteristics who has only a high school diploma). Similarly, unionization raises the probability of a woman having a pension by 24.7 percentage points, compared to only a 13.1 percent increase for completing a four-year college degree (relative to a high school degree).

So, by all means, take Mom out for lunch. But to honor working moms all over the state, call your legislators and demand they stop the assault on unions and put an end to the so-called “Right to Work” charade.

This post first appeared on May 8, 2011

Rep. Will Smith’s Offensive Right to Work Explanation

At the GOP’s fundraiser in Rye yesterday, most of the attention was focused on right-wing provocateur James O’Keefe, who was a last-minute no-show in order to avoid being served a grand jury subpoena.

But even more offensive than the party elite seeking to hobnob with the convicted filmmaker who is being investigated by the state attorney general’s office, was a speech by one of the candidates in attendance.

New Castle state Rep. Will Smith was quoted by the Portsmouth Herald as claiming his proposed Right to Work legislation is a civil rights bill.

The [Right to Work] bill, which would prevent requiring all employees to pay union fees, is a “civil rights bill and a good jobs bill,” Smith said.

It’s a particularly offensive and inappropriate characterization. Right to Work originated as a response from southern segregationists to fight union efforts to organize workers and end Jim Crow discrimination.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s last march in Memphis was in support of public workers in their fight against segregation and right-to-work laws written to keep them divided and powerless. Dr. King was clear:

In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.

Right to Work Fails — Again

Today, the state Senate rebuffed House efforts to pass so-called Right to Work legislation. In a voice vote, the Senate tabled House Bill 1677. The bill, as amended by the Senate, is virtually identical to one the House failed to pass over Gov. Lynch’s veto last year.

Senate sponsor Sen. Jim Forsythe explained, “Given the numerous bills that we have coming over from the House it is important to focus our efforts this year on bills that can pass into laws and have an immediate positive impact on jobs and the economy in New Hampshire.”

The vote was a setback for House Speaker Bill O’Brien and his obsessive quest to impose Right to Work on the state. “Today we saw our senators demonstrate leadership by putting aside Speaker O’Brien’s never ending war against working families,” noted State Employees Association president Diana Lacey.

Concord Today: GOP Advances Radical Social Agenda

Writing on Blue Hampshire, House Democratic Leader Terie Norelli detailed the “highlights” of the brutal day in Concord, where the House GOP advanced their radical social agenda on several fronts. The House will be back in session tomorrow.

85 Republican State Reps vote for House Bill 1264 to legislate allowing discrimination!

The House voted 246-85 Wednesday to kill legislation that would have allowed providers of wedding-related goods or services to withhold those services if they believe doing business with a couple would violate their conscience or religious faith. [WMUR]

House Republicans passed another Right to Work for less bill

They just can’t take no for an answer. They wasted time yet again debating a bill that already failed last year. The vote was 198-139 which once again isn’t veto-proof.

House Republicans vote to Raise Health Care Costs

House Democrats supported the unanimous, bipartisan committee recommendation to look how we could improve Certificate of Need law but House Leadership overturned that recommendation and passed an outright repeal.

House Republicans pass the so-called “Women’s Right to Know Act”

First they vote to defund basic preventive health services, then they vote to repeal contraceptive coverage. Now, they vote to require doctors to provide MISinformation to their patients in violation of physician’s responsibilities and the woman’s rights.

House Republicans Repeal Workforce Housing

House Republican Leadership again overturn a committee recommendation and pass an anti-business and anti-economic development bill.

Here We Go Again: Right-to-Work Hearing Today

It was just two months ago that House failed to override Gov. Lynch’s veto of right-to-work legislation and the union busting law went down to defeat.

Today, the House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee meets to hear testimony on House Bill 1677, a similar bill that would prohibit collective bargaining agreements from requiring non-union employees to pay union fees and would eliminate the requirement that public unions represent non-union members.

House Speaker Bill O’Brien continues to pursue his white whale and has, once again, made the anti-union legislation his highest priority. He claims passage would grow our economy and attract manufacturers — despite all evidence to the contrary. New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie disagrees.

“We should be talking about the condition of our secondary roads, our crumbling schools and bridges and expanding I-93, to finish that project,” he said. “We should be investing in New Hampshire and its infrastructure so we can be the kind of state we want to be and provide opportunities going forward. That’s what our focus should be.” [Union Leader, February 8, 2012]

Protect New Hampshire Families has organized a Grassroots Lobby Day to push back against this politically-motivated attack on New Hampshire’s middle class. The fun starts with a pre-hearing briefing at noon at America Votes in Room 302 at 4 Park Street in Concord.

Right-to-Work an Affront to Dr. King’s Memory

John Nichols traces the origins of right-to-work legislation to the Jim Crow era, when Southern states acted to prevent unions from fighting against segregation.

When the Congress of Industrial Organizations launched “Operation Dixie” in the aftermath of World War II, with the goal not just of organizing unions in the states of the old Confederacy but of ending Jim Crow discrimination, Southern segregationists moved immediately to establish deceptively named “right-to-work” laws.

These measures were designed to make it dramatically harder for workers to organize unions and for labor organizations to advocate for workers on the job site or for social change in their communities and states.

The resurgence of attacks on collective bargaining rights, says Nichols, is an affront to the memory of Dr. King.

King’s last march was with African-American public employees in Memphis, who were oppressed not just by segregation but by right-to-work laws that were written with the purpose of keeping workers divided and powerless. We honor King today by opposing the new push for right-to-work laws in Northern states and by campaigning to overturn the right-to-work laws passed decades ago by the Jim Crow legislatures of Southern states that were determined to prevent the arc of history from bending toward justice.

Today in Concord: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It was another wild and woolly day in Concord.

The good: the House killed a bill that would have eliminated compulsory school attendance (claiming parents have a “natural right” not to educate their children). The bad: so-called “right-to-work” legislation for state employees passed — though 128 lawmakers opposed the bill. The ugly: two more bills weakening or eliminating gun regulations passed. One allows anyone to carry a firearm, open or concealed, without a license. The other permits rifles and shotguns in vehicles with an attached magazine or clip.

The bills will have to be approved by the Senate and signed by the Governor before they can become law.

HB 194 (as amended): Allows rifles and shotguns in vehicles with a cartridge in a magazine or clip attached to the gun. Passed 204-110. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 219 (as amended):  Restricts rulemaking authority of state Board of Education and establishes a legislative oversight committee. Passed 214-110. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HR 383 (as amended): Provides so-called “right-to-work” for state employees. Passed 212-128. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 446 (as amended): Eliminates requirement for numerous occupational licenses, including those for landscape architects, court reporters, barbers, cosmetologists, massage therapists and fish and game guides. Killed 116-214.

HB 475: Increases the penalty for violations of the consumer protection act. Tabled.

HB 536 (as amended): Eliminates requirement for a license to carry a firearm, either openly or concealed. Passed: 193-122. Moves to Senate for consideration.

HB 595: Eliminates compulsory school attendance and repeals laws regulating home schooling. Killed 82-263.

HB 628: (as amended). Requires law enforcement officers to document complaints involving searches by TSA. Passed 188-136. Moves to Senate for consideration.

CACR 8: Constitutional amendment eliminating requirement for the state to fund public schools and allowing state funding of religious schools. Sent back to committee.

CACR 11: Constitutional amendment to commission judges for renewable five-year terms. Sent back to committee.

The Lobby: “Are Bully-O’s Days Numbered?”

The Lobby’s Mr. Snitch recently interviewed 17 GOP state House representatives. They’re conservatives who voted for Right-to-Work, but who say House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s obsession with the anti-union legislation could be their undoing — and his.

All of them — all seventeen (17) — said Bully’s got their butts tied up in a PR disaster that has them worried about re-elect time next year.

They figure Bully’s aiming to ramp up his antics in ‘12, which means there ain’t no light at the end of the tunnel for ‘em.

It also means that the ducks are already being lined up to dump Bully as speaker — if he wins re-elect himself next November, that is.

Update: Corrected summary.

Grover Norquist Fails to Sway Right-to-Work Vote

Kevin Landrigan has the latest story detailing the extraordinary effort from House Speaker Bill O’Brien in his failed quest to override Gov. Lynch’s veto of Right-to-Work legislation.

Two days before the vote, Right-to-Work opponent Rep. Frank Sapareto received a personal call from Grover Norquist. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and godfather of the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” invited him to an all-expense-paid trip to Washington to speak on New Hampshire tax policy.

“I said, great, I’ve always wanted to do it, when is it? He said it was on Wednesday and I said no, I’ve got a responsibility to my constituents and have to be there at session.”

Sapareto agrees it’s a “pretty incredible coincidence,” but has no evidence O’Brien or any Right to Work leader orchestrated the invite.

Quote of the Day: O’Brien’s White Whale

Let’s see now: He fiddled, diddled and finagled for five months to override Governor Lynch’s right-to-work bill veto. Didn’t work, thanks to votes by some of his own party members. And a new BIA survey says right-to-work is way down on the bottom of businesspeople’s concerns. But the speaker insists he’s going to try again next year. Is RTW O’Brien’s white whale?

— Jeff Feingold, Editor of New Hampshire Business Review, on state House Speaker Bill O’Brien.

Keene Sentinel: Anti-Labor Fights Have Only Begun

One day after New Hampshire pro-labor supporters were victorious in their long and emotional fight to kill right-to-work legislation, the Keene Sentinel warns anti-labor fights in the legislature “have only begun.”

Bills lined up for the legislative session that starts in January will call for the end of agency fees … for public-sector unions, will try to establish which issues can be covered in collective bargaining, will limit who can be in a bargaining unit, will bar unions from collecting dues and fees through payroll deductions and will restrict public workers’ abilities to hold public office.

These are all part of an anti-labor campaign of curious purpose. There’s no expressed taxpayer angst in it. No one is saying that the products that we buy or the government services that we receive are unreasonably more costly because of unions. No one shows evidence that unions weaken the state or nation economically.

The editorial concludes by noting all Americans benefit from the health, social and workplace safety programs promoted by organized labor — a message that must be effectively communicated to ward off the “destructive missions” of anti-union critics.

N.H.’s Epic Win Over Right To Work — The Video