Highlights: PA Senate expected to pass school voucher bill, as protests mount against anti-worker legislation; NH Senate committee to vote on anti-union bill; Gov Walker heads to Washington to meet with NRTW and others; Maine budget vote pending; Referendum efforts start off strong in Ohio, demonstrations continue; Legislation in Florida would loosen rules around wage theft; Virginia US Senate candidate endorses eliminating minimum wage; Full Scrooge Alert here http://dailyscroogealert.blogspot.com/

Pennsylvania

Unions rally to oppose bill that would end required dues
Tribune Review
Twenty-two states in the South and West have right-to-work laws. Wisconsin recently enacted legislation to prevent forced dues for most public employees. In Ohio, a similar measure for public workers won legislative approval, but unions are challenging

Unions blast right-to-work legislation
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The legislation would not end collective bargaining, he said. Current law, he said, amounts to union membership "by default" and that needs to be changed. "Make no mistake about it: if they try to shove this bill down our throats we'll have 10000

Unions protest anti-labor legislation

A Teamsters rally Monday drew almost 400 laborers to the Capitol, where union leaders promised to bring thousands next time if the Legislature keeps pushing legislation they view as anti-labor.

Teamsters come to capitol to protest
CBS 21
This year the right to work issue took over the national spotlight after Wisconsin union workers and lawmakers caused a standoff. In March, Wisconsin lawmakers voted to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from the state's public workers

Unions not to blame for economic troubles
Altoona Mirror
... in Wisconsin and soon in Pennsylvania, the facts don't bear out his conclusion. ... Walker blamed public employee unions and collective bargaining

Senate passage expected on school voucher bill School voucher legislation is poised to pass the state Senate as early as today

Is This the Beginning of the End of Pa. Public Education? Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed deep cuts in state government spending have not gone over well with many citizens and organizations that depend on that spending. Probably the most controversial budget cuts are to the basic education subsidies that tend to make up about half of school district budgets.

Wisconsin

Gov. Walker to Testify Before Issa Panel
By Scott L. Greenberg Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is coming to Washington to testify ... president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

Scott Walker heads to Hill
Politico
Democrats in Congress have been vocally opposed to Walker's tactics to eliminate collective bargaining in Wisconsin. He'll testify alongside the American Enterprise Institute's Andrew Biggs, Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Legal Defense

Collective Bargaining -- Essential to Democracy
Monthly Review
by Bruce T. Boccardy Recent events in Wisconsin have highlighted the necessity of collective bargaining. The governor of Wisconsin notwithstanding, collective bargaining is recognized internationally in numerous conventions, constitutions,

Maine

Maine Voices: Unions are women's best friend in equal-pay-for-equal-work quest
Press Herald
The second way is to be part of a collective bargaining agreement, which levels the playing field for everyone. If Mainers allow these "right to work" bills to pass in the Legislature this year, Maine women will pay the higher price.

Budget gap vote expected today in House

The House of Representatives could vote as soon as today on a second supplemental budget to get the state through this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Maine AG says mural removal is 'government speech'

Gov. Paul LePage's administration was exercising its right to "government speech" when it removed a labor history mural from the state Labor Department headquarters, the Maine attorney general said Monday.

New Hampshire

NH Senate committee to vote on anti-union bill
Boston Globe
CONCORD, NH—A New Hampshire committee is making its recommendation on an anti-union bill ... nonunion members to pay a share of collective bargaining costs

Hampton rally to protest House budget
Hampton Union
Specifically, protesters want their local representatives to vote against the Right to Work bill, the elimination of collective bargaining for public employees and "budget cuts that will hurt our most vulnerable citizens, Muns said. Former state Rep

Florida

Florida’s Senate Bill 982 Would Eliminate Local Efforts to Battle Wage Theft

Florida Independent reports that Senate Bill 982, which “preempts regulation of wage theft to state, except as otherwise provided by federal law, & supersedes any municipal or county ordinance or other local regulation on such subject,” is one step closer to becoming reality. The business lobby and its co-conspirators are singing a...

Ohio

Gov. John Kasich moving the Kasich-O-Meter dial: PolitiFact Ohio
Plain Dealer
Legislation that reworked the state"s collective bargaining rules for public employees did just that. Known as Senate Bill 5, it included provisions for merit-based pay for teachers. Kasich signed the bill on March 31, prompting us to update the

Board and union say collective bargaining was working here
Delaware News
By DUSTIN ENSINGER Recent passage of a state law that drastically reduces collective bargaining rights for public employees might have stoked the flames of resentment for school boards and teachers unions across Ohio. But in the Big Walnut school

Thousands rally to kick off SB 5 repeal effort; Cleveland schools eliminate ...
WKSU News
by WKSU's AMANDA RABINOWITZ Thousands of people seeking to repeal Ohio's new collective bargaining law rallied at the Statehouse over the weekend. The gathering was organized by the We Are Ohio campaign, which bills itself as a grass-roots

Protesters fight for collective bargaining rights at City Hall
MU The Parthenon
Williams said he believes the recent unrest with city workers stems from recent developments in Wisconsin and Ohio. "I think they're doing this to make sure it doesn't get traction here in this area," Williams said. People from several Huntington

Marion police unions say they can't accept concession
Marion Star
MARION — Representatives for two city police collective bargaining units took to Marion City Council their concerns about concessions being asked of them by the mayor. In what Ptlm. Dave Troutman, a member of the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor

Missouri

MO: Democrat in Missouri to oppose health care law
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri's Democratic attorney general broke with his party on Monday and urged a federal judge to invalidate the central provision of the new health care law.

Virginia

Virginia Tea Party Senate Candidate Jamie Radtke Endorses Elimination Of The Minimum Wage