California’s Government Unions are the Most Powerful in the U.S.

By Edward Ring
11/08/2016
The Commonwealth Foundation, a think tank based in Pennsylvania, has recently released a study entitled “Transforming Labor – A Comprehensive, Nationwide Comparison and Grading of Public Sector Labor Laws.” It ranked every state in terms of the relative power of public sector unions. California, along with tiny Maryland, were the only states that got an...

TAGS: card check, collective bargaining, paycheck protection, release time, Right to Work

Practical Reforms to "Right-Size" Government Unions

By Edward Ring
03/29/2016
Rolling back the power of government unions in a state like California is almost impossible. Their power has been unchallenged for so long that they now virtually control the state legislature, and their grip on local politicians extends to nearly every city, county, school district and special district. But there have been reforms in some...

TAGS: paycheck protection, pension reform

Dear California Teacher

By Larry Sand
10/06/2015
An email sent to educators just 10 years ago opened a lot of eyes – including mine – about the true nature of the teachers unions. In 2005, after having taught for 24 years, I was becoming quite agitated. All along I had been subsidizing the teachers unions’ political agenda and thought I had no...

TAGS: Bain v. CTA, California Teachers Association, California Teachers Empowerment Network, Deroy Murdock, Friedrichs v CTA, Larry Sand, National Right to Work Foundation, paycheck protection, Prop. 75, seiu, teachers union

Checking Out of the Hotel California…Teachers Association

By Larry Sand
08/12/2014
A new document shows that CTA is resigned to the fact that membership in its union will ultimately become voluntary. Courtesy of Mike Antonucci, we get to peek behind the curtain at an internal California Teachers Association document which has been “declassified.” “Not if, but when: Living in a world without Fair Share…” is a...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, fair share, Friedrichs v CTA, Harris v. Quinn, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Employee Freedom Week, National Right to Work Committee, paycheck protection, Prop. 75, teachers union

Why the Democratic Party Cannot Embrace Public Sector Union Reform

By Edward Ring
10/15/2013
“Public employees have a private interest in taking more and more of the taxpayer-generated revenue for themselves. In other words, public employees have a private interest in diverting public funds from public services to their wages and pensions. In this sense, the increasing numbers of public employees and their increasing wages and benefits threaten to...

TAGS: paycheck protection, public sector union political spending