Unions have never represented a majority of the American workforce. However, to listen to today’s union bosses, one might be led to believe that they did. Ever since their peak, in 1945, when unions represented a total of 35.5 percent of the workforce unions in the private-sector have been on an almost steady decline. The common fallacy is that the union decline is due to the Reagan Era. That, however, is a false narrative.

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On December 27, 2010, Alfred E. Kahn died. He was 93 years old. You might not know who Alfred Kahn was, but if you are an air traveler or work in the airline industry, you have been affected by his work. In fact, most likely, the vast majority of Americans have benefited by Kahn’s work without knowing who to thank. Alfred Kahn was a Cornell University economist and, according to the New York Times, “best known as the chief architect and promoter of deregulating the nation’s airlines.” More importantly, Alfred E. Kahn worked for President Jimmy Carter.

Kahn’s work in deregulating the airline industry during the Carter administration was an economic boon to tens of millions of middle-class Americans who, due to lower costs, were suddenly able to travel by air, rather than by car, rail or bus. Deregulation also lowered the costs for companies, as the increasing competition made business travel more affordable. By largely getting rid of bureaucratic inefficiencies and increasing competition, according to a Heritage Foundation study, prices fell 40% for travelers within the first 20 years of airline deregulation giving more and more of the American public the ability to fly affordably. Airline routes, instead of taking up to eight years to be approved (or disallowed altogether) under the old Civil Aeronautics Board were established much more quickly; and, perhaps most importantly, under deregulation, air travel became safer.

However beneficial Kahn’s work has been to the American flying public, it is only one of several keys to unlocking one of the biggest fallacies ever foisted on the American public. That fallacy is that the policies of Ronald Reagan are the primary cause of the fall of private-sector unions. The fact of the matter is, they are not. Reagan’s policies are not what has busted unions over the last 30 years. In fact, it is the work of Democrat Jimmy Carter and his deregulators that has had a far more detrimental impact on unions than Reagan ever did. In addition, it is also why, regardless of the efforts of union bosses and their Democrat stooges in Washington, despite a potential temporary upswing, no amount tinkering with the National Labor Relations Act will enable private-sector unions to regain their footing in a 21st Century economy.

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate voted Wednesday night to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers after discovering a way to bypass the chamber’s missing Democrats.

All 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois nearly three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to consider Gov. Scott Walker’s so-called “budget repair bill”—a proposal introduced to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.

The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spend money. But Republicans on Wednesday split from the legislation the proposal to curtail union rights, which spends no money, and a special conference committee of state lawmakers approved the bill a short time later.

The lone Democrat present on the conference committee, Rep. Tony Barca, shouted that the surprise meeting was a violation of the state’s open meetings law but Republicans voted over his objections. The Senate then convened within minutes and passed it without discussion or debate.

Spectators in the gallery screamed “You are cowards.” (more…)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – About 700 people rallied Sunday in support of Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-union plan to balance the budget—a demonstration meant to counter three weeks of large anti-Walker protests in and around the state Capitol.

The rally was the culmination of a 10-stop bus tour sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity that started Thursday in Kenosha. It took place at the Aliant Energy Center in Madison, which is a couple of miles from the Capitol, where thousands of pro-union demonstrators rallied Saturday and Sunday.

Hundreds of pro-union counter-protesters lined up outside the arena entrance and parking lot carrying placards and chanting “Shame!” at the Walker supporters. The governor’s backers held their own signs with messages such as “I Stand with Walker” and “Dems Serve Unions not ‘The People.’”

Matt Seaholm, the state director of Americans for Prosperity, said the purpose of the bus tour and rallies was to show that Walker still has support among those who voted him into office in November.

“We’ve got to continue the push!” he said at the rally to loud cheers. “It’s not going to end anytime soon.” (more…)

Today’s Wall Street Journal has this story about an Obama appointee to the NLRB:

One of Big Labor’s priorities in Washington is to place allies in key government jobs where they can overturn existing labor policy without battles in Congress. This is a very good reason for the Senate to hold a hearing on the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Mr. Becker is associate general counsel at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which is most recently in the news for its close ties to Acorn, the disgraced housing shakedown operation. President Obama nominated Mr. Becker in April to the five-member NLRB, which has the critical job of supervising union elections, investigating labor practices, and interpreting the National Labor Relations Act. In a 1993 Minnesota Law Review article, written when he was a UCLA professor, Mr. Becker argued for rewriting current union-election rules in favor of labor. And he suggested the NLRB could do this by regulatory fiat, without a vote of Congress.

Yet now that he could soon have the power to act on this conviction, Mr. Becker won’t tell Congress if this is what he still believes. In written responses to questions from Republican Orrin Hatch, Mr. Becker promised only to “maintain an open mind about whether [his] suggestions should be implemented in any manner.” That sounds like his mind is made up but he won’t admit it lest it hurt his confirmation.

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