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.
Politico’s Jeanne Cummings writes that while most new House members spent their first few months in Washington promoting standard-issue conservative legislation, nine of the 96 House freshmen used the legislative process to “assist donors, protect favored industries or settle scores with their political enemies.” Rep. Frank Guinta was singled out for using his new power to settle scores with organized labor.
Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), whose candidacy was attacked with about $140,000 of independent expenditures by the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, introduced a measure that would prohibit funding for any government contract that requires a labor agreement, which critics say gives unionized contractors an edge.
The measure was endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which countered the labor Guinta attack ads with more than $30,000 in ads and mailings, and by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which invested nearly $150,000 in independent expenditures supporting Guinta’s candidacy.
Defying logic, Guinta’s spokesman J. Mark Powell explained, ”We can’t afford to divert limited taxpayer resources into union pockets…. It’s not anti-union.”
Today, the New Hampshire State Senate passed a Right-to-Work bill by a veto-proof, 16-8 vote. GOP State Rep. Lee Quandt explains:
What happened this morning? This morning, 16 members of our state Senate forgot who they are supposed to represent. They voted to approve legislation written and promoted by a Virginia-based lobbying group, even after it was clear that the bill would harm New Hampshire families.
This morning, those 16 Senators ignored decades of legislative history in New Hampshire. Our Legislature has repeatedly rejected “Right to Work” (for less) bills under both Republican and Democratic leadership. For decades, our Legislature respected the autonomy of private businesses, and allowed companies to decide for themselves what provisions to include in their employment contracts. This morning, those 16 Senators decided they know better than the employers do.
The House will now vote on whether to accept the Senate amendment removing a House provision eliminating the obligation of unions to represent nonunion workers. If not, a Committee of Conference will work to craft a compromise. If the House accepts the amendment, the bill goes to the Governor for his signature.
Protect NH Families has announced a Red Alert for the Middle Class Emergency Action on Saturday morning to hold state Senators accountable for this attack on the middle class. Literature drops in target neighborhoods and/or Main Street visibilities will be held in Hampton (Sen. Stiles), Derry (Sen. Rausch), and Nashua (Sen. Lambert). Sign up here. Details below the fold.
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First, Republican State Sen. Sharon Carson is attacked by the out-of-state National Right to Work Committee with a smear so vicious and unscrupulous that a GOP Representative is moved to label them a “hate group.”
The antics of this hate group which claims the “Right to Work” organization they work for supersedes NH’s right to govern itself in a way which is most beneficial to the most people, is currently trying to beat Senator Sharon Carson from Londonderry into submission by papering her district with untrue, distorted and outlandish claims about her voting record in the hopes of intimidating her into changing her mind.
Then she’s threatened by a GOP Town Committee Chair.
Police are keeping a watchful eye on Sen. Sharon Carson’s home after the legislator received a threatening phone call about her stand on right-to-work legislation from a man who identified himself as Newmarket Republican Town Committee Chairman Joe Barton on Sunday morning.
And all we hear about are union thugs.
The voters, I thought, they told us they wanted the budget (spending) cut and taxes reduced and job creation. In this process everyone knew that there would be layoffs and program reductions. What I don’t think they directed was the horrific attacks on our public employees, police, fire, and state workforce that started a war you didn’t want and cannot win. Anyone who goes out looking for a fight no one wanted and they can’t win, has misread the tea leaves.
— Republican State Rep. Lee Quandt
We’re not sure what we find more disturbing: That House Republican leaders want to take a jackhammer to the state’s collective bargaining laws or that they chose to do so through a 70-word amendment in a 146-page budget trailer bill, rather than through separate legislation that would have been subject to its own public hearing and up-or-down vote.
But what House Republican leaders are advocating here — despite their lame protests to the contrary — is far more than a leveling of the playing field. It is a blatant assault on the principles of good-faith bargaining dictated by political ideology under the guise of fiscal responsibility.
— Nashua Telegraph, on the Kurk amendment that effectively ends collective bargaining rights for public workers
“We started a war we don’t belong in. No company or government lasts long when you go to war with your own employees.”
— Republican State Rep. Lee Quandt, on GOP proposal to end collective bargaining rights for public workers
“This is an unprecedented attack on the middle class in the State of New Hampshire. … Rep. Kurk is pushing forward an amendment that’s never had a public hearing or any other opportunity for public input. These legislators should be ashamed of themselves for treating working families this way, without even giving them a chance to defend themselves. This is politics at its worse, dirty and underhanded.”
— Diana Lacey, President of the State Employees Association, on the House Finance Committee’s vote to repeal collective bargaining rights for New Hampshire public workers
In a dramatic move, the New Hampshire House Finance Committee voted in favor of an amendment to the state budget bill that would repeal collective bargaining for public workers.
In stark language, the amendment declares, “upon expiration of a collective bargaining agreement, parties subject to the agreement shall become at-will employees whose salaries, benefits, and terms and conditions of employment shall be at the discretion of the employer.”
The amendment was approved by the Finance Committee without a public hearing or any other opportunity for public input.
