The New York Times Blasts Home Care Right to Work Lawsuit in Minnesota
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/10/new_york_times_blasts_home_care_right_to_work_lawsuit_in_minnesota.php
The Grey Lady is seeing red in Minnesota.
In July, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to undermine the state's new union of 27,000 home care workers. The attorneys argued here -- as they have elsewhere -- that forcing some workers to join a union violates constitutional guarantees of free expression and association.
"This a specious and ideologically driven argument," the New York Times editorial board declared Wednesday, "akin to saying that a United States senator should not be deemed to represent all of the people in a state because some residents voted for an opponent."
Not sure why the paper waited until October to speak its mind, but it's clear that a previous precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court had something to do with it. In a 5-4 decision, the highest justices in the land ruled that home care workers who opt out of unionization do not have to pay their portion of collective bargaining costs. But they still get pay raises and benefits like everyone else.
We reached out to the foundation for comment Thursday, but never heard back. Either way, their interest in this matter, and all union matters, is no mystery. Its connection to the free-market fanatical Koch brothers has been well articulated. Freedom Partners alone gave the foundation $1 million in 2012.
More at link.