Minnesota - ALEC's Right to Work for Less - is Officially Here

The Center for America is Minnesota's version of the Heartland/Heritage/AFP crap.
From their webpage

Center of the American Experiment is a nonpartisan, tax-exempt, public policy and educational institution that brings conservative and free market ideas to bear on the hardest problems facing Minnesota and the nation.

Last week in a press release the following was announced:

Minneapolis, MN — Two influential Minnesota-based conservative public policy organizations – Center of the American Experiment and Minnesota Free Market Institute – today announced they are joining forces to form one new organization.

Yes - Minnesota Free Market Institute - which Representative and ALEC member King Banaian belongs to.  Free market - that's what it's all about!

And you have this tie to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a national group backed by corporate special interests, has been pushing similar legislation across the country over the last two years. A recent report identified John Gibbs from Comcast as ALEC’s Corporate State Chairman. Gibbs also serves as Center of the American Experiment’s Vice President.

WELL...........................Today, the Center of the American Expermient released the first piece of propoganda to Minnesotans - promoting ALEC's "Right to Work" for Less.

Minnesota Right-to-Work:  How the Freedom of Workers in the Workplace Enhances Prosperity

 

This statement made in the conclusion of the report :

RTW laws attract productive resources (both capital and labor) to a state, and the absence of such laws repels them.

is based on highly questionable statistics from the ALEC “Rich States Poor States” Report.

Lead author - Richard Vedder - has strong ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy...
NONE OF THE AUTHORS are Minnesotans.

The Right to Work for Less fight has officially begun in MInnesota.
Remember - Dayton has already said he won't sign this as legislation, so the ALEC members and the GOP are looking to put an amendment to the consitution.
The bill introducing the amendment "HF65 Right to Work for Less Constitutional Amendment" was authored by ALEC member Rep. Steve Drazkowski

Get ready folks.  Better start educating yourself.
Here's a start - a good read from Indiana.

The real reason for the bill has nothing to do with rights and nothing to do with work. It doesn't even have anything to do with improving Indiana's business climate - already ranked sixth best in the country. The purpose of right-to-work for less is to please corporate donors who want to lower labor costs. What right-to-work for less does is limit unions' financial resources and therefore their ability to negotiate for higher wages and benefits.

And this important document from Minnesota

Will a “right to work” law benefit workers in Minnesota?

No.  Workers in states with so-called Right-to-Work (RTW) laws have a consistently lower quality of life than in other states - lower wages, higher poverty, less access to health care, poorer education for children - according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Census Bureau.  Why should Minnesota adopt a losing RTW strategy that lowers the standard of living for workers and their families?

Update 2/1/12
after the IN RTW Bill was passed from the Indiana AFL-CIO

And while it is not a war of our choosing, over the days ahead, citizen by citizen, block by block, community by community, legislative seat by legislative seat we will wage this “war” to take back our government from the special interests and restore the hard-earned rights of all Hoosier workers.”

–—–—

ALEC members and those affiliated with ALEC in any manner

MUST NOT BE RE-ELECTED or receive our support in any means or manner!

Without state and federal legislators ALEC will cease to exist and it will implode.

For more information on ALEC –

Please read this or this or this

or this series of six articles.

This is what ALEC is About  - An Interview with Mark Pocan about the ALEC Annual Meeting.

And watch this news video  from North Carolina on how other ALEC "model legislation" is going to screw the citizens of North Carolina - legislation introduced by ALEC legislators.

Do your own "act of education" at your local precinct caucus.
Distribute materials about ALEC.
Submit a resolution against ALEC.

Become a delegate and take a "get rid of ALEC" resolution to the district and state levels.
#Alec