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Show ac. in NE'jSEU Sec. 29, T32S, R19W. Protests resisting the granting of these applications with reasons therefor must be filed in duplicate with the State Engineer, 442 State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114, on or before April 23, 1977. Dee C. Hansen STATE ENGINEER Pub. Mar. 10, 17, 24, 1977. The Birch Log Coercing The Working Man by John F. McManua llflnumt, MctKscichusetts Just imagine the size of the uproar if a businessman could compel his employees to finance a particular particu-lar candidate in any given election. elec-tion. Yet a labor union is allowed to practice this kind of compulsion compul-sion over working Americans as a matter of course. Labor's Political War Chest In most states, workers are required by law to join a labor union whenever a majority selects se-lects that union as its bargaining agent. Twenty states, known as right-to-work states (right-to-re-frain-from-joining-a-union states would be a better label), still leave the matter of union membership mem-bership to the individual. In either case, union dues some paid by choice but a goodly portion por-tion taken by coercion deliver millions of dollars to labor bosses boss-es each year. Much of this huge bankroll becomes a political war chest during election years. The candidates who receive it, of course, are selected not by those who pay the dues but by the labor bosses. A good example of how Labor is thus enabled to exercise tremendous tre-mendous political clout is the case of Senator Harrison Williams Wil-liams (D.-New Jersey). In 1970, he received $lM,:jfi6 from the big unions during a reelection light. When he won, he told labor leaders, "I owe everything to you .... What you want you've got." Big Labor wanted the monstrosity called OSHA, and Sen. Williams just happened hap-pened to co-author the Act. He is, unfortunately, only one of scores who owe their political lives to Labor. "Common Situs" Bill Another pet project of Big Labor is the so-called "common situs" picketing bill. It would give construction unions power to shut down an entire project on behalf of any participating union, even if the dispute concerned con-cerned only a single small subcontractor. sub-contractor. The construction industry, in-dustry, and the construction workers, could easily be big losers, while the unions gained even greater power. "Common situs" picketing passed in the last Congress but was vetoed by President Ford. On February 2, 1976, a list of those Senators and Congressmen who had voted for this dangerous danger-ous bill was published. Beside each name was the amount of labor union money contributed to the candidacy of that individual. individ-ual. The grand total of Labor's investment in its brand of Congressman Con-gressman was $5.7 million, with twenty-seven Senators receiving over $50,000 each and varying shares of Labor's largesse going to 236 members of the House. George Meany "Common situs" picketing isn't all that Big Labor wants from those it finances. It also wants repeal of" the right-to-work law which allows states to curb union power. And Big Labor La-bor seeks to hike the minimum wage to $3 per hour, a scheme that has consistently hurt small business and thrown many out of work. At a February 22 news conference, AFL-CIO President George Meany said that "the climate is good" for passage of Labor's bills, since he feels that a new man in the White House will follow his lead. George Meany has always thrown labor's heavy weight behind be-hind the very pieces of legislation legisla-tion that have resulted in gargantuan gar-gantuan government, frightening frighten-ing inflation, and the increasingly increas-ingly rapid conversion of our nation na-tion into a socialist state. Whether the matter is wage and price controls, foreign aid, forced busing, federal regulatory regula-tory agencies, deficit spending, or even boycotting grapes measures that the American people and a sizeable percentage of labor union members do not want George Meany and Big Labor are behind them. Financial backing by Big Labor La-bor has "bought" the votes of many a Congressman and Senator. Sena-tor. Coercing Americans to support sup-port this practice with their union dues is indefensible. 1 Thr J'thn litn h Sonrty Frtlturcs |