While its fair to wonder what Rick Perry was doing addressing the NH Legislature before a vote, this was left out of the story:

When asked to comment after the vote, Presidential Candidate Rick Perry said, "You Yankees are durn weird. How'n hell y'all count to 'two-thirds' anyway. Why can't you just do 'one....two.....uh...21....like everyone else."

Thank you to the 139 members of the New Hampshire legislature who stood behind the governor and voted to sustain his veto of the so called "right to work for less". I hope that Merrimack Representative Stroud voted to stand with the working men and women of this state and did not fall for this anti-worker and anti-union legislation. I would also hope that some of her Merrimack colleagues joined with her.

To answer John Grady, Rep. Stroud did vote to sustain the Governor's veto, as did I. For a complete listing of the representatives roll call vote, go to the below link. (A "Nay" vote was against HB 474 and in support of the Governor's veto.)

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/Roll_calls/billstatus_rcdetails.aspx?vs=265&sy=2011&lb=H&eb=HB0474&sortoption=&txtsessionyear=2011&txtbillnumber=hb474&ddlsponsors=&lsr=609

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2009 and 2010 unions lost 612,000 members - a loss of 339,400 on private payrolls and a loss of 273,000 in government employment.

As a result, the percent of the total workforce that belonged to unions fell from 12.3 in 2009 to 11.9 in 2010. On private payrolls it fell from 7.2 to 6.9 percent and in government employment it fell from 37.4 to 36.2 percent.

The source of the information is the BLS's Current Population Survey. In both instances the small increases were within the margin of error for the survey.

There's a good reason union membership is so much higher in government. Politicians have bartered the dues of public employees for union political support. Maybe public employees are getting tired of being exploited for the political gains of their union bosses and the politicians.

There was a time when things were different. In the mid 1950's more than 35 percent of all employees on private payrolls were union members. But then unions decided to focus more on political power than representing the interests of workers. Not surprisingly union membership has been on the decline ever since.

Unions like to blame their failure on opposition from management but the fact is that the working people of American have rejected the unions' class-warfare, us-against-them approach to employment.

Our state "rulers" are out of touch with reality......reality is on it's way!!!

It would have been worth it to look at this issue a bit longer, because a lot of the talking points that try to demonize “right-to-work” legislation don’t really hold up when you look closely. Despite the claim that ending forced unionization would drive wages down, there’s little to evidence to support that being the case. Usually there’s little movement in wages one way or another, and if anything, after controlling for a cost of living adjustment, research shows workers in right-to-work states have, if anything, slightly higher wages (http://eng.am/uq7nrk).

In the end what you want, is to ensure all workers are given fair representation. The problem is that public sector unions almost exclusively support one party come election time despite the fact that 37% of their members voted the other way in the most recent election (http://eng.am/uO8Ww7).

Ultimately if these types of trends continue to hold, we shouldn’t be surprised if this debate over this issue arises again.

A large part of the drop in union enrollment in the private sector has to do with globalization. For all the talk of union political force, they were unable to block trade deals when the Democrats held both the executive and legislative branches. Those trade deals then pitted union and non-union private sector workers against workers in other countries who make pennies on the dollar. I've spent nearly two decades studying this issue since I became curious about the Uruguay Rounds in the late 1980s and I have been astounded by some of the things I've seen happening. In many ways, municipal unions, teachers, police, firefighters, etc., are all the unions have left to fight for. And even those jobs are getting chipped away at because private sector earnings have dropped while the cost of government has become more and more expensive. I asked Newt Gingrich about globalization last month, since the U.S. Census stated that median American income has dropped to 1996 levels, a year after GATT/WTO was implemented. He ducked the question a bit and offered ideas on how to make America competitive again. But in reality, we've come full circle from the effects of those disastrous bipartisan trade deals.

Studies by the Heritage foundaton are not worth the paper they are printed on. The study you cited even said wages are lower, but by accounting for certain variables, they are reallyy higher. Up is down down is up.

The only rationale for right-to-work legislation is that the owners of the business deserve to get an even greater share of the pie at teh expense of the wrokers.

Even putting aside the wages issue, workplace safety is worse in right-to work states, as are many other indicators of health and well-being.
This is all about punishing Unions because they have historically voted for the party that tried to prevent employers from killing their workers.

Even the name of the bill is designed to trick people. "Right to work." Most people don't know anything about politics because they don't care, but if you ask anyone if they would vote for it, they probably would just based on the sound of the name. It's the same trick that they used with the "Defense of marriage act." Well, who doesn't want to defend marriage? It sounds good. Until you realize that the former bill is about driving wages down (employers can and will maximize their own profit at anyone's expense) and the latter bill is about bigotry.

It's all the same argument folks. Stop taxing rich people because they will create jobs, and stop making them pay wages to their employees because it's good for jobs- bull! When are people going to stop falling for the rich people's party, the Pied Piper on the right, the Republicans? Some people are calling it class warfare; sounds about right if the rich are trying for yet another break.

A quick Google gave me this link to the text of the bill, if people are interested in actually reading what the bill says and bring themselves above the rhetoric on both sides of the issue: http://e-lobbyist.com/gaits/text/351509

Unions leave Companys and States . Broke ,
In the end ,look at all our airlines folding up .and goverment contracts costing so much to feed the unions ,that look for ways to get more for less .

These People like rginnh and Regina Concord who never truly identify themselves are either paid by a GOP pac group or just just so far right they have no room to think with common sense. All we can do it get out the true facts and make sure we get people out to vote a sensible way.

Jane, or anyone else for that matter. Here's one of my biggest issues when it comes to Unions. If I were to get a job in a unionized shop but didn't want to belong to it, and didn't want their protection. Why should I be forced to pay their dues and join that union.

You dont want their protection? So you want to freely negotiate for the right to earn less, or get no insurance or days off?

@Jan: One of the anti-Right-to-Work Reps. yesterday stated, paraphrasing, If you don't want to belong to the union, you don't have to, just don't accept the government job. Is that really the best way to look at things?
As well, while on the topic of government jobs, I know that when I was out of work in 2007, I applied for two positions with the state that I was more than qualified fo. But because I was not a current state employee, I was told I was not going to get an interview for the positions. Is that fair, just, or the best option for government? Shouldn't those jobs be open to everyone so the most qualified candidates can apply?

@Jane: Why is there some assumption that people who post on any website don't believe what they believe? That is almost as ridiculous as the people who were berating the firefighters at the Statehouse, wondering if they were getting paid for hanging around, holding signs. People have their own opinions and that's what is so great about our political system.
I would add, the assumption that the Right-to-Work motivation was foisted on the state from out-of-state interests is also ridiculous. The bill had a number of local sponsors who are very conservative. In the cafeteria before the vote, it was clear that these were local folks. Many wore their Rep. badges, many were retired, and many were people I've seen at other Republican events (I know this because they saw my Patch badge and began to be a bit more reserved).

@Jeff.

No Jeff - you pay a fee that defrays the cost the union incurs
in negotiations and other protections, such as a lawyer if you need one.

The union is required to protect you --- the fee is not an attempt to shake you down, its a real cost to them and a real benefit to you.

You pay dues if you choose to join the union itself - and then you receive other benefits. I just went to a site that explained the goodies you can get and the things you have access to.

Honest, the people who tell you are forced are lying to you. O'Brian got his marching orders from ALEC on this, and they are a paid by corporations to write laws for states like ours... ripe for the picking. Don't let them lie to you Jeff - you're worth more than that!

I'm smart enough to know most so called grass root efforts are not grass root efforts at all. Reguardless of what side of the fence they start on.

Unions hold a strangle holt on production and company relations .Unions are now to large to control why, Money and Greed set in .Unions belive there is no end to the money flow untll the company goes broke or a state .by state .There demand more money for less production .less productin means the company cant pay its bills in end they all go broke .