Fundraising Effort Supports Pa. Campaign for ‘Right-to-Work’April 26, 2013 When Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, joined with his Democratic colleague W. Va. Sen. Joe Manchin, to propose a bill on background check for gun owners, he was hailed as a “voice of reasonable compromise.” Not so fast.A letter Toomey sent out in March endorses the fundraising call of the Commonwealth Foundation, a right-wing think tank, to put unions under the political gun by passing right-to-work legislation in Pennsylvania. In an article in The Nation, “Pennsylvania Think Tank Plans to ‘Slay’ Unions, Like in Wisconsin,” Lee Fang writes:
Targeting public employee unions and prevailing wage laws and defining the battle as between the “Taxpayer Party” and the “Big Government Party,” the foundation’s letter says, “Like David of the Bible, now is the time to come forward and slay Pennsylvania’s Big Labor Goliath.” The Pennsylvania Senate and General Assembly are both controlled by Republicans. But Gov. Tom Corbett, also a Republican, has told the Associated Press that the state lacks the “will” to pass right-to-work legislation. The Commonwealth Foundation, funded by a nearly $2 million budget that has doubled in the past three years, challenges residents who say right-to-work can’t pass in the state, comparing Corbett to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder:
Urging members to take Toomey’s and the Commonwealth Foundation’s threats seriously, International President Edwin D. Hill says:
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