How Public Sector Unions Exploit Identity Politics

By Edward Ring
11/07/2017
As the ethnic composition of America changes from mostly white to a kaleidoscope of color within a generation, there is no better way to fracture society than to teach everyone to resent everyone else. Nurturing tribal resentment is a winning strategy for government unions, because a swollen, authoritarian, unionized government becomes the referee. Government union...

TAGS: university of california

UC administration fails the transparency test

By Marc Joffe
05/09/2017
Climb into a time machine with me and voyage back to Dec. 8, 2016. A slightly younger Barack H. Obama is still the nation’s president. Four weeks after his electoral shock therapy, President-elect Donald Trump has just been named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. And the California Policy Center has filed a state public...

TAGS: university of california

25 UC Retirees Receive Annual Pensions Exceeding $300,000

By Marc Joffe
05/03/2017
Twenty-five University of California retirees receive more than $300,000 annually in retirement, the California Policy Center has learned. The information, contained in documents released to CPC through a public records request, comes amidst controversy over excessive compensation at the UC system and revelations of a secret slush fund at the system’s headquarters. The highest paid pensioner is Professor Lewis L. Judd, a UC San Diego Psychiatry professor. He receives an annual pension of $385,765.

TAGS: $100K pension club, pensions, university of california

Auditor report a reminder that UC compensation is out of control

By Marc Joffe
05/02/2017
Last week’s report from State Auditor Elaine Howell reveals some disturbing budgeting and compensation practices at the University of California’s Office of the President (UCOP).  But the problem isn’t just limited to UCOP; it is a systemwide phenomenon.  We have previously reported that Robert Reich makes close to $300,000 annually to teach one class at...

TAGS: public employee compensation, public pensions, university of california

At UC Berkeley, It Pays Well to Worry About Inequality

By Steven Greenhut
02/21/2017
This article originally appeared in The American Spectator. Former Clinton-era Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now a public-policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has warned that “we are heading back to levels of inequality not seen since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century,” invoking the term applied to a society festering...

TAGS: income inequality, Robert Reich, university of california

How to Get Rich by Teaching at UC

By Marc Joffe
01/03/2017
They may not have won a Nobel Prize, but California taxpayers and students are awarding ten retired University of California professors an attractive consolation prize: pension benefits amounting to more than $300,000 each per year. Topping the list of UC pension beneficiaries is Fawzy I. Fawzy, M.D. a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. He received over $354,000 in 2014, an amount that will continue to grow each year with cost of living increases. Recently, Dr. Fawzy generously helped his junior colleagues by explaining their compensation and pension benefits in a lecture uploaded to YouTube. His knowledge of the ins and outs of the UC payroll and retirement systems is truly impressive.

TAGS: $100K pension club, university of california

Teamsters, Researchers Play Hunger Games with UC Contract Talks

By Andrew Heritage
11/02/2016
Outside the headquarters of the University of California in Oakland, researchers Peter Dreier and Megan Bomba sat alongside two officials of Teamsters Local 2010. Behind them: signs that read “UC: Pay Workers Enough to LIVE.” The Teamsters Local is negotiating with the university system over clerical and administrative support salaries. Part of the union’s campaign...

TAGS: Teamsters, university of california

UC Berkeley’s ‘income inequality’ critics earn in top 2%

By Marc Joffe
06/16/2016
Scholars from the University of California at Berkeley have played a pivotal role in making income inequality a major political issue. But while they decry the inequities of the American capitalist system, Berkeley professors are near the top of a very lopsided income distribution prevailing at the nation’s leading public university.

TAGS: income inequality, Robert Reich, UC Berkeley, university of california

University of California Hikes Tuition to Fund Soaring Pensions of up to $350,000 a Year

By Robert Fellner
07/02/2015
The University of California (UC) is implementing major changes to their retirement system to address its $12.1 billion unfunded liability, which has been cited as the driving factor behind recent tuition hikes. The proposed changes include a cap on pension benefits and the possibility of offering a 401(k) defined contribution plan to new hires. Looking...

TAGS: pension, Public sector pensions, university of california

When Teachers Unions Attack

By Larry Sand
12/02/2014
Coca Cola, Teach For America, Walmart and banks are the latest targets of Big Labor. Attempting to get over the millions of dollars they spent backing losers in the November election, America’s teachers unions are on a mission to find new bogeymen. First victim: Coca Cola. Yup, the American Federation of Teachers has adopted a...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Eric Owens, Janet Napolitano, Jesse Sharkey, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Teach For America, teachers union, university of california