Government Unions

Teachers beat San Diego union in remarkable rematch

Teachers beat San Diego union in remarkable rematch

Take a break from doom scrolling California stories to celebrate the victory of charter school teachers over the union that came to crush them.  Teachers at Gompers Preparatory Academy, a public charter school in the Chollas View neighborhood of San Diego, have successfully voted to remove San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union bosses from their...

By California Policy Center

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

SCOTUS confirms unions can be sued for property damage

In an important ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unions can be sued in state court for damages if striking workers intentionally destroy their employer’s property. The decision is a victory for employers that puts unions on notice that there are consequences for their reckless actions during strikes. In Glacier Northwest v....

By Houston Reese

Oakland Teachers’ Union Puts District’s Most Vulnerable Students Last 

Oakland Teachers’ Union Puts District’s Most Vulnerable Students Last 

The Oakland Education Association — the teachers union in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) — is at it again. Last week, the union announced that 88 percent of its members voted in favor of authorizing a strike. The strike is scheduled to begin May 4th, unless the district and union come to a last-minute agreement....

By California Policy Center

AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws

AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws

In the devil’s workshop we call the state legislature, government union leaders are hard at work — destroying another of California’s democratic institutions. Fresh off the shutdown of Los Angeles Unified schools and the overthrow of their own elected president — and facing steep declines in membership and revenue — Service Employees International Union (SEIU) activists are...

By Will Swaim

SEIU Faces Steep Declines in Membership and Revenue

SEIU Faces Steep Declines in Membership and Revenue

SEIU Local 99’s massive strike in LA Unified ended last week with union leaders bragging that the  strike showcased the union’s strength. But the reality is more stark for the union: SEIU is facing steep declines in membership and revenue, and the strike appears more like an act of desperation. According to internal LAUSD documents,...

By Jackson Reese

Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families

Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families

Two employee unions in Los Angeles Unified are poised to strike this week, shutting down schools and leaving many parents angry that students are — once again — being used as leverage by the unions in contract negotiations. The unions are demanding huge pay raises despite financial reports showing LAUSD is already upside down $16.4...

By California Policy Center

Unionized Public Education is Destroying California

Unionized Public Education is Destroying California

Behind any popular mass movement there are often good ideas and noble objectives. Public sector unions—including teachers’ unions—are no exception.  Organized labor, ideally, offers collective power to ordinary workers and provides a counterweight whenever business interests become exploitative. How to regulate that balance is a topic that deserves vigorous and ongoing debate, but most of...

By Edward Ring

Unions Are Behind California’s Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

Unions Are Behind California’s Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. This adage applies well to ideas for new ways to tax Californians. Every election cycle we see new ways to be taxed, and higher tax rates, but rarely will we see a tax get repealed. So it is that Assemblyman Alex Lee (D, San Jose) has introduced Assembly...

By Edward Ring

How the Government Union Machine Conquered California

How the Government Union Machine Conquered California

With the November 8 election already ten days ago, we are now conditioned to accept that some final results will not be known until December 16, five weeks later. Counting proceeds at a crawl in counties up and down the state, and those among us with housebroken political sentiments are expected to be impressed at...

By Edward Ring

Tracking Political Spending by Government Unions

Tracking Political Spending by Government Unions

With a rough top-down analysis, it’s easy enough to estimate how much government unions collect and spend every year in California. They have roughly a million members, paying roughly $1,000 per year in dues. That would be one billion dollars per year. They spend about a third of that to fund political campaigns for candidates and ballot...

By Edward Ring

How to Be a Successful Politician in California

How to Be a Successful Politician in California

The following conversation never happened. It is for the reader to decide to what extent, however, this conversation reflects political reality in California today.   Candidate (C): It’s a surprise that you contacted me. I never thought I would run for office, I don’t know how to run a campaign, and I’m not well informed...

By Edward Ring

California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline

California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline

Boosted by Covid emergency funding, California governments have gone on a hiring frenzy, but membership in California’s government unions has hit a 20-year low, documents obtained by California Policy Center show. State and local government payroll records, obtained by CPC under the state’s Public Records Act, reveal that governments have added some 200,000 new employees after four...

By California Policy Center

California’s Unions Are Misusing Their Power

California’s Unions Are Misusing Their Power

On every major issue affecting cost-of-living in California, unions supported political agenda of self-serving ruling elite.   If you go to the “what we do” page of the California Labor Federation, the lead paragraph starts with this sentence: “The California Labor Federation is dedicated to promoting and defending the interests of working people and their...

By Edward Ring

Who Owns the California State Legislature?

Who Owns the California State Legislature?

There is only one answer to this question: Public sector unions. Anyone who argues otherwise is either misinformed or has a personal or professional motivation to delude themselves and others. Before offering evidence of the financial power of public sector unions, consider the power these unions wield that is not explicitly financial. These unions operate...

By Edward Ring