The National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), a proponent of right-to-work policies, recently released a report that the demands of unions have greatly added to the financial woes of New York, California, and New Jersey. The Cabot Institute for Labor Relations has also been studying this phenomenon, and it concurs with the findings of the NILRR. The percentage of unionized workers in those three states ranges from 20% to 27%, while the number of unionized workers in the rest of the country is between 12% and 13%. In the three heavily unionized states, workers receive the largest hourly wages in the country, and public-service employees receive the most generous pensions. For example, a retired police officer in Westchester county receives $200,000 a year and another in Suffolk county, New York, receives $100,000 a year. When one multiplies those numbers by the number of public-service retirees, many of whom retire...

For many years, unions had sent their organizers to the personnel offices of companies so that they could be hired to infiltrate workforces. Once they had joined the workforces, they proselytized in favor of union representation and often spoke of management as selfish ogres. Such people became known as “salts” and their words and deeds [...]

Congress is determined to promote the unionization of FedEx Express drivers by passing a bill that would change the labor status of those drivers. Rather than operating under the Railway Labor Act, FedEx Express would have to operate under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Under the rules of the Railway Labor Act, drivers can only join a union if there is national vote. Under the rules of the NLRA, however, drivers could vote to join unions in individual geographical areas.

In the third of her series of reports from Russia, Margaret Warner talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the future of U.S.-Russian relations, last year's Georgian War, and negotiating a new nuclear arms treaty.

Richard Trumka, who is running to become the next president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., is expected to bring a more combative style to Big Labor.

A local labor-relations expert tells us Forum Health's request for "relief" from its union contracts is not usual. YSU "Working Class Studies" professor John Russo says it's important to keep in mind tentative agreements are just that -- tentative -- and are subject to ratification votes both the union and management. But he still believes relying on a federal judge to abrogate contracts ...