We will announce soon our targeted date for the new website. This site will stay alive as an example for others in states where “right to work” will take its next fight. This is an example of what ordinary citizens can do to get bad legislation voted down through educating and enlightening state citizens.

Thank you to all who have made TheTruthAbout47.com a regular web stop, and especially those who have read the blog often. Thank you to all who jumped into battle, took on the right-to-work pushers, and won.  Colorado won by voting NO on 47.

We will re-direct you soon and announce our new website. Until then, keep talking and eroding the message about why right to work is wrong for any state, especially Colorado.

Sincerely yours,
Carpenter Joe

Here are two statements directly from their letters:

The fact is, forcing workers to pay union dues to get or keep a job is just plain wrong.”

-and-

“A state Right to Work law would restore every Colorado worker’s right to decide whether or not to join or pay dues to a labor union.”

Unions typically agree that forcing any worker to pay union dues to get or keep a job is just plain wrong. Why? Because this practice would be counter-productive to the collective bargaining mindset. Unions believe businesses and workers freely choose to negotiate collectively and this freedom should not be interfered with by third parties or special interests. The NRWC is one of those special interest groups. If they succeed in passing a federal “right to work” law, they will alter the collective bargaining process that has existed in the United States for over 125 years. In order to help achieve this objective, the NRWC spreads rhetoric that workers are “forced” to pay dues or join unions. Just as the retail giant Costco charges a fee to become a member to purchase their goods at a discount, they also do not let non-members guy these goods without membership. Unions require membership “IF” the employer/business has agreed to a collective bargaining contract. It becomes the prerogative between these two parties. Employees then do not have a choice to join a union. They do and always have a choice in who to work for.

The same is true for companies who do not sign a collective bargaining agreement. No one joins a union or pays dues if the company is non-union. Workers have the freedom to work for a non-union or union company. No one forces them to want to work for either. There are plenty of companies to choose to work for.

Think about this for a moment. The NRWC wants to force union members to work with non-union members through a right to work law. This now becomes forced “anti-unionism.”

There would be no restoration of any Colorado workers’ rights as stated above. You cannot restore something that does not exist. Collective bargaining and the issue of being a union member if the employer signed a contract has existed since 1884 in Colorado. Do they intend to restore something that hasn’t existed for 125 years? This is nothing more than a play on words. The NRWC lives off of working to grant things that do not exist. Exaggeration is one of their ploys.

What the NRWC is attempting to do with a federal law is permanently alter the function of collective bargaining in the United States. They see this as providing some sort of freedom or restoring some type of liberty. At best, the NRWC is a special interest attempt at destroying collective bargaining as we know it. At worst it is a tool to restrict workers, their pay and benefits, and create a race to the bottom of our economic barrel.

Working hard to keep it simple,
Carpenter Joe

Until then,
Carpenter Joe

Union version of the right to work: “The right to be paid the best available wages and benefits for the maximum personal advancement of the worker who works for them.”

NRWC version of the right to work: “The privilege of receiving all the wage and benefits negotiated under a collective bargaining agreement without paying anything for the negotiated contract.”

A right to work is the right to use our minds and bodies for one’s individual advancement and gain. This right is often performed in the service and pay for someone else. This is called “employment.” All employment is not the same except that time and labor, whether mental or physical, is exchanged for money, merit or possession. This can be done by contracting the work or by a traditional employer/employee relationship. Simply put, it is an exchange of time and effort for money. It is for the advancement of the worker as well as the employer.

The NRWC believes it is the right of workers to be able interrupt or break the agreement between a collective group of workers and their employer by passing state laws that force employment without rightful dues to the union. This is their version of right to work.

If the NRWC were consistent, they would say it is the right of union workers to be able to work for any non-union company for the same wage rates and benefits they enjoy working under a collective bargaining agreement. If they are fighting for the rights of non-union workers, then why not work for union workers too?

Union jobs are among the best paid jobs for the middle class. People generally want the most gain for the least given. It is known as leverage, just like in banking circles. What the NRWC does not say in their literature is that they believe it is a right for non-union workers to GET THE MOST BENEFIT OUT OF THE LEAST SPENT. It truly is a worker-welfare type of legislation that hides beneath the cloak of rights and freedoms language.

If it is “right” for non-union workers to get the same wages/benefits as union workers without paying for them, it is also right for union workers to get the top paying wages and benefits of non-union companies instantly, too. This is something the NRWC will never work for.

Secondly, this could be said about people in our families, in our churches, in our schools, in our police departments, in our armed services, in our companies, in our neighborhoods, and in every aspect of life in the United States. So, when people do these things we can throw the baby out with the bathwater or we can calm down, take a full and complete perspective of any given situation and adjust accordingly. Unless, of course, you are involved as a member of the National Right to Work Committee.

“Coercive union power” could be referring to just about anything that is distasteful to those running the NRWC. For the sake of argument, let it refer to the really bad stuff we all read about at times that involve a union and/or one involved in a union, paid or unpaid. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in 2007 there were 15.7 million union members in the United States. Question: How many of these nearly 15.7 million people are thugs, exert some kind of abusive power over another, are mean-spirited, are bad people and regularly exercise bad judgment?

The right-to-work crowd loves to overstate the facts, instill fear, and basically do whatever it takes, including but not limited to, exaggerating the “abusive power of unions” to prevent them from existing. The NRWC will not be content until unions do not exist in this country. That would be bad for any country.

Spelling it out as clearly as can be done,
Carpenter Joe

“No one should be forced to pay tribute to a union in order to get or keep a job.”

The word “forced” implies a negative action placed on someone unwilling to receive the action. “Tribute” is a word implying money paid to someone in a compulsory way. In other words, the idea is that workers are being made, beyond their willingness, to pay money to a union when they are opposed to paying money to that union. Listening to the Right to Work crowd, they make it sound like this is a heavy-handed practice and that people by the thousands are all lined up detesting the idea of their money going towards the support of the union who has jurisdiction in the line of work they are performing.

Do you enjoy paying taxes? Whether it be sales taxes, gas taxes, excise taxes (especially on cell phones), food taxes, air fare taxes, income taxes, or any other kind of tax — do you enjoy it? Or is it something you do, like most people, because you have to? Guess what? You don’t have to. Really? Yes. You have the choice to not work, not spend money, not live in the United States, or just not live anymore. But, no one is making you stay in this country. If you do live in this country, you will pay taxes of some kind, somewhere!

Anyone working for a company who signed a collective bargaining agreement can choose to keep working for that company and paying the dues or fees under the agreement their employer signed or they can work for the other 88 % of employers in this country who have not signed an agreement. But if that employer exercised his or her right to sign a CBA, those employees must abide by the agreement or find another job.

If this is being forced to join a union or pay tribute unduly, then the moon is made of cheese and the Cubs won the World Series in 2008. There are many things in life we will not like to do, but calling things “forced” or “having to pay tribute” because of an anti-union bias is not looking at the employment issue clearly.

Working hard to expose stretching fiction taught by the right-to-work crowd,
Carpenter Joe

One of the ideas behind the term is to use a word that emphasizes a negative connotation when read or spoken. The word “forced” immediately gets the message of negativity across. After all, who wants to be forced to do anything? No one does. So one of their chief phrases you will hear used by the right to work crowd is forced unionism. Be ready for it.

So what is forced unionism? For them, it is the notion that if anyone employed has to join a union or pay union dues to keep a job or get a job, it is forcing that person to become a union member whether they want to or not. There is some truth in that definition, but with a totally different meaning than implied. Some truth, the phrase is not at all totally true. But this is how the NRWC works: Take an inch and stretch it a mile.

It is true that when a company of any type signs a collective bargaining agreement with a union (and there are dozens and dozens of different types of unions) the agreement typically states that the company will only use employees who are members of that union. So it is true that every employee must join a union and pay the appropriate union dues and fees, whatever they may be. Usually, they are very small amounts.

Question: Does an employer have the right to sign a collective bargaining agreement? It has been legal and a standard practice of conducting business in this country for over 125 years. We would agree that any employer is free to sign a collective bargaining agreement.

What the National Right to Work Committee doesn’t say is that their legislation prohibits employers from freely having a collective bargaining agreement with a union. The NRWC places restrictions and makes laws to make it illegal for a company to have a traditional agreement. The NRWC drastically alters the rights of employers to hire this way.

So why don’t they call themselves the “Restrict Employers and Unions Committee?” Because talking about workers and their rights sounds more attractive. “Right to work” restricts more of the worker’s rights than it does grant freedom. For every employee that gets a job with a union company and doesn’t become a member of that union, they take away some of the rights of the employees who have collectively bargained under that contract. It is not equitable, morally right and should not be legal.

No one is forced to work for a company with a collective bargaining agreement. They can get employment elsewhere. If they want to work for a company who signs a CBA then they must join the respective union. It is simple, it is legal, it is fair and it is right.

Working hard to keep it simple and straight,
Carpenter Joe

The same is true on a smaller scope in Colorado. The National Right to Work Committee has been watching what happened with our election concerning Colorado Amendment 47. It was soundly defeated, but what is and will be the climate post-election? How badly did business get bumped? Did it suffer loss due to ads, misinformation, money, lack of mobilization, etc? They are talking about it now.

What does that mean for you and for me? Those of us who believe that “right-to-work” is bad legislation for all workers, non-union and union alike, have a test for the rest of Colorado to see as well as the NRWC. Are we going to lay down, breathe deep, sigh, and get lethargic? Or are we going to become better informed, clearer in our thinking, succinct in our explanation of dissecting and destroying the attitude of right to work? We need to begin an offensive to defeat one of workers’ biggest enemies in the workplace, and that is the National Right to Work Committee. It does not take a lot of money to do this. It takes the good people of Colorado who voted NO on 47 to understand why they did and to talk about why they did. It takes these same good people to develop a mentality of real rights for workers and not some illogical “right to work” phrase.

So today begins our new fight, our new journey, our new challenge. Educate, agitate, and organize a workers right’s philosophy and spread it into our workplaces where it is as commonly spoken about as the Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Rockies, and the Colorado Avalanche. Stay tuned, folks, and bring your co-workers along. The Truth About 47 website has just begun. Be here Monday through Friday for its blog. Jump on board and send us a note yourself on the blog replies. We have posted your comments, both positive and negative. We are not hiding our message, nor do we fear the opposition. We believe if we give light, the people of Colorado will find their own way.

Working hard to keep working hard,
Carpenter Joe

Colorado is an “at will” hiring/firing state. In other words, all employment is the choice of the employer in this state. Employers can hire at will and fire at will. As long as they do not violate hiring or firing with an illegal practice such as discrimination based on race, religion, or gender, they can do what they want, hire whomever they choose and fire whomever they choose for any reason. Not all states are at will, but Colorado is one of them. Those involved in the “right to work” movement support “at will” hiring since it is “pro-business,” particularly “pro small-business.”

So, if they want and enjoy at-will hiring, why would they also promote an amendment like 47 that restricts and binds an employer from hiring whomever he/she will? Amendment 47 would unfairly restrict and make illegal the collection of fees or dues from any employee if that employer had a collective bargaining contract with any union. Amendment 47 would have made illegal a practice that has taken place in business for over 125 years.

It is speaking out of both sides of one’s mouth to promote “at will” but restrict an employer and make illegal the mandatory collection of union dues. There are proprietary agreements in the business world. An example is network broadcasting agreements. Most broadcasters sign an agreement that prohibits them from working in the business as an anchor once they leave their station for an agreed period of time. This is usually no less than six months. How unfair is it to have this type of agreement in this industry? Or, high-tech companies like IBM, Sun MicroSystems, HP, and Dell prohibit using any information gained from working at these companies for another company. They make these agreements to force legal action on those who break the arrangement. There are many such agreements made at the discretion of individual employers. The National Right to Work Committee is doing nothing about these type of things. They have a set bias against unions, and an agenda to go after unions.

If the right to work clan is really pushing for consistency, they should work to change the “at will” employment status in Colorado and any other state that is “at will.”

Rather than the NRWC seeing it is well within the right of employers to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a union which requires mandatory union membership, they manufacture some kind of “right” against unions and let big corporate America conduct business as usual as noted above.

We at TheTruthAbout47.com would love to see NRWC take on Big Blue (IBM).

See ya Monday for more of the right to work nonsense.

Carpenter Joe

The motivation about developing this site was the proposition that the union carpenters of Denver (some of whom have been in our local union for 65 years and are now retired) could lose their livelihoods to “right to work” legislation. In an August union meeting, one of our local leaders spoke on how different life would be for us, union carpenters, if Amendment 47 went into effect. Several carpenters knew they couldn’t just idly sit by and be apathetic. We were compelled to action.

So, through a level of planting grass seed and watering, grass began to grow with the conception and development of this website. Several people sat down and said, “What do we do?” Plans were made and action happened. This site was officially launched September 15th and we let our feet run with our enthusiasm. We felt we needed to keep the issues simple and kept clear. That’s why every page contains our platform. No hidden agenda, just give light and let the people decide. The blog page would become the “battleground” page for daily and weekly updates about the rhetoric surrounding the battle over workers’ rights.

Over 30,000 IP addresses logged onto TheTruthAbout47.org. On election day alone, nearly 2,200 Coloradans logged on trying to get a sense of how to vote, what the amendment was about, and who was behind the yes and no sides before getting out to the voting booth. Over the weeks since inception, Coloradans at home used the tools in this site to take their neighborhoods and influence their local worlds. Out of the 100,000 plus who tipped the scales against the amendment, we believe we helped educate, influence and agitate enough people to contribute toward the victory of Nov. 4th.

We hope to keep this site alive as one example of what others in future states can do to help defeat bad legislation. If old carpenters can get engaged in political action, anyone can. If craftsmen who are used to pounding nails and cutting wood can click a mouse and peck the letters on a keyboard, then just about anybody can help a cause this large be effective. The key is knowing WHY we had to do it. We needed to do our part in keeping our union wages, benefits, retirement incomes and working conditions moving in an upward direction.

This blog page will stay active and keep you informed to what is brewing in labor circles, reporting on workers’ “real” rights, and where the National Right to Work gang is setting up camp. Coloradans helped Colorado on Tuesday. Now, we need to help the rest of our nation. It is the least we can do.

See you tomorrow!

Working hard to keep our wages, benefits and retirement incomes coming,
Carpenter Joe