Union dues hike spotlights need for high-court intervention

By Steven Greenhut
06/27/2017
Sacramento —A recent action by one of nation’s largest public-employee unions illustrates the importance of an Illinois case that might make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court sometime next year. The technical dispute involves the complex process by which public-sector unions assess dues to those who don’t want to be members. But the real...

TAGS: Friedrichs, Janus, U.S. Supreme Court

Brown’s union ploy shows unions still fear end to mandatory dues

By Steven Greenhut
06/16/2017
Sacramento On first blush, the latest effort by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislators to give public-employee unions access to public agencies to hold “orientation” seminars with new hires is an unfair special privilege not normally provided to private groups. It’s even more disturbing that the legislation authorizing such access is being rammed through the...

TAGS: Friedrichs, Janus, Supreme Court, Unions

Will Janus open the right-to-work door?

By Larry Sand
06/13/2017
A lawsuit on track to be heard by the Supreme Court could free all public employees from paying forced union dues. The Friedrichs lawsuit should have done the trick. The case, which would have made belonging to a public employee union optional as a condition of employment nationwide, was set to pass muster with the...

TAGS: "free rider", F. Vincent Vernuccio, Forced Unionism, Friedrichs, James Sherk, Janus v. AFSCME, Jason Hart, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Right to Work, teachers union

The Unions’ Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

By Larry Sand
02/14/2017
Which meant it was a very good week for the rest of us.  Last week, labor unions took a series of body blows. First, it was announced Monday that Missouri had become the 28th right-to-work state. The Show-Me State showed the unions that worker freedom now takes precedence over their forced dues racket. Not only that, but...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Betsy DeVos, California Teachers Association, Center for Individual Rights, Eric Heins, F. Vincent Vernuccio, Friedrichs, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, Mike Petrilli, National Education Association, release time, Right to Work, school choice, seniority, teachers union, tenure

Friedrichs v. 2.0? U.S. Supreme Court May Get a Second Chance to Free Teachers from Forced Unionism

By California Policy Center
01/19/2017
For Immediate Release January 19, 2017 California Policy Center Will Swaim, will@calpolicycenter.org (949) 274-1911 In a case that will cheer education reformers, four Pennsylvania teachers today sued their unions, school districts and district officials for making union membership a condition of their employment. The suit – and the likely appointment of a reform-friendly Supreme Court...

TAGS: Abood, Antonin Scalia, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Rebecca Friedrichs, Supreme Court

Friedrichs 2.0? Supremes May Get a Second Chance to Free Teachers from Forced Unionism

By Will Swaim
01/19/2017
In a case that will cheer education reformers, four Pennsylvania teachers today sued their unions, school districts and district officials for making union membership a condition of their employment. “Teaching is my calling, but I fundamentally disagree with many teachers’ union stances on personnel and political issues,” said lead plaintiff Gregory J. Hartnett, an art...

TAGS: Abood, Antonin Scalia, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Rebecca Friedrichs, Supreme Court

Teacher Union Political Spending: Liberal as Ever

By Larry Sand
10/11/2016
AFT continues to use teachers as ATM machines to fund their pet leftist causes. The latest American Federation of Teachers annual financial disclosure has been released (H/T RiShawn Biddle). This year’s LM-2 is filled with goodies that are sure to warm the cockles of leftist teacher union members, but apolitical educators, centrists and certainly those...

TAGS: agency fee payer, Al Sharpton, American Federation of Teachers, Association of American Educators, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Center for Popular Democracy, Friedrichs, Larry Sand, Mary Kay Henry, Mike Antonucci, National Action Network, Randi Weingarten, seiu, teachers union

CTA’s New Gambit to Cheat Taxpayers Annually

By Larry Sand
08/30/2016
A bill, near passage, would require you and me to pay for union indoctrination sessions in California.  California is a fabulous place. Fantastic weather, fertile fields, glorious mountains and a thousand mile coastline have long beckoned many to the Golden State. And then there is the state legislature. This law-making body is very far from...

TAGS: California Nurses Association, California School Boards Association, California Teachers Association, Friedrichs, Heritage Foundation, Larry Sand, League of California Cities, Michael Lovenheim, seiu, teachers union

Dear South Side Teacher

By Larry Sand
04/05/2016
An open letter to the idealistic teacher in Chicago who may have defied the teachers union by not striking on April 1st. In a recent newspaper article you said you were “morally and ethically” against the Chicago Teachers Union one-day strike (or “Day of Tantrum,” according to a Chicago Tribune op-ed) last Friday and that...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Antonin Scalia, Association of American Educators, charter school, Chicago Teachers Union, first out, Friedrichs, Larry Sand, last in, LIFO, National Education Association, pension pick-up, Rick Hess, seniority, Supreme Court, teachers union

Biden, Bork, García and Weingarten

By Larry Sand
03/22/2016
Positioning themselves as strict Constitutionalists, teacher union leaders cry foul over a precedent that the unions helped create. In the wake of Antonin Scalia’s untimely passing, two national teacher union leaders are in a self-righteous snit because the Republican-led Senate is remaining firm in its conviction to hold off consideration of a new Supreme Court...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Antonin Scalia, Friedrichs, Joe Biden, Larry Sand, Lily Eskelsen Garcia, National Education Association, Randi Weingarten, Supreme Court, teachers union